Sci-Fi Movies is back with updates on the latest in sci-fi and genre movies, including The Amazing Spider-Man, The Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises, Man of Steel, World War Z and even news on a sequel to Beetlejuice. All that plus much more, including the latest images and video previews.
GENRE MOVIE NEWS
Man of Steel: First official look at Henry Cavill in Superman costume + Michael Shannon talks Zod motion-capture suit
If you haven’t seen it already, above is our first official look at Henry Cavill in full Superman costume for the Zack Snyder-directed / Christopher Nolan-produced "Man of Steel". Also released in the time we were away, was an official synposis for the film, which is now scheduled to be released on June 14, 2013 (versus a previous December 2012 release date):
"In the pantheon of superheroes, Superman is the most recognized and revered character of all time. Clark Kent/Kal-El (Cavill) is a young twentysomething journalist who feels alienated by powers beyond anyone’s imagination. Transported to Earth years ago from Krypton, an advanced alien planet, Clark struggles with the ultimate question – Why am I here? Shaped by the values of his adoptive parents Martha (Lane) and Jonathan Kent (Costner), Clark soon discovers that having super abilities means making very difficult decisions. But when the world needs stability the most, it comes under attack. Will his abilities be used to maintain peace or ultimately used to divide and conquer? Clark must become the hero known as “Superman,” not only to shine as the world’s last beacon of hope but to protect the ones he loves."
In other news, Michael Shannon, who plays Zod, has confirmed that he’ll be wearing a motion-capture suit for the role (as seen in recently revealed set images which you’ll find below). Shannon also spoke about taking on such an iconic role (played by Terence Stamp in the first two "Superman" movies):
"I’m not going to impersonate Terence Stamp. I’m not going to have a British accent or anything," he said, referring to the esteemed actor who played the Kryptonian baddie in the original films. "All I can say is it’s very well written and there’s a lot of great opportunities to reinvent it for myself. The challenge is for me to do that. There’s nothing holding me back. I think they’re counting on me to give my interpretation. I’ll do the best I can."
It’s unclear why Zod’s suit would need to be CGI. Watch MTV‘s interview with Shannon below:
In an interview with The Playlist | indieWIRE, Shannon elaborated on how he intends to differentiate himself from the way Stamp played the role:
"I found his performance so powerful that I would be overwhelmed by it if I tried to incorporate it into what I’m doing. There’s no reason to try and replicate it cos it’s perfect the way it is. I’m just trying to go down a different road with it, the script’s a little bit different than the original script. It’s going to have a different look and feel to it, visually. I’m looking forward to really settling into it, and playing with it."
In casting news, EW reports that Laurence Fishburne has been cast in the role of Daily Planet editor Perry White. "Man of Steel" stars Henry Cavill (Superman / Clark Kent), Amy Adams (Lois Lane), Kevin Costner (Jonathan Kent), Diane Lane (Martha Kent) and Russell Crowe (Jor-El). Check below for some new set images including a look at the new Daily Planet:
Set images: Michael Shannon (Zod) and Henry Cavill (Clark Kent/Superman) [more at Latino Review, (2)]
Set image: First look at The Daily Planet [io9]
Set video [YouTube]
Rhys Ifans details his CGI Lizard suit in The Amazing Spider-Man
Rhys Ifans plays Dr. Curt Connors / The Lizard in Marc Webb’s "The Amazing Spider-Man" and the actor discussed the suit he wore and the CGI used to create the 9-ft tall Lizard:
"The majority of the time I’m me, I’m a human, not a Lizard. That’s hard enough. I did have the CGi suit for certain scenes. The Lizard is 9 feet tall. There was one day that I went on set and they had a double, a big big guy, playing me, as the Lizard. I looked at it and I went "No." Following that Marc [Webb, the director] let me know all the physicality, all the physicality you’ll see in the Lizard is my own."
Ifans expanded:
"I had a green suit on, and then this cardboard head, and these big claws. It was the most fucking insane… Each and every time you see the Lizard, the technology is so advanced now that when the Lizard’s eyes move, they’re my eyes. If I frown or show any emotion, they’re my emotions. That’s how spectacularly advanced technology is."
In other news, Denis Leary, who plays George Stacy, says the film will have "a pretty dark vision" of Spider-Man, adding: "It’s a darker story, but there are some very funny things in it. Some of them were scripted, and some of them came out of the work".
The Dark Knight Rises: Teaser trailer + First look at Anne Hatheway as Catwoman
In the time we’ve been away, Warner Brothers has released the first teaser trailer for Christopher Nolan’s "The Dark Knight Rises". The teaser opens with footage from the prior two films, but does contain some new footage, including a new look at Tom Hardy as Bane. Watch the teaser below:
The studio has also released a teaser poster:
Meanwhile, in casting news, "Stargate" star Christopher Judge revealed on his Twitter page that he has been cast in the film. It’s unknown what role he’ll be playing. We’ll round out this week’s ‘TDKR’ update, with our first official look at Anne Hatheway as Selina Kyle / Catwoman, followed by a few set images and set video. "The Dark Knight Rises" is scheduled to hit conventional and IMAX thaters on July 20, 2012.
Set images: Christian Bale (Bruce Wayne / Batman), Joseph Gordon Levitt (Officer John Blake) and Anne Hatheway (Selina Kyle / Catwoman) [more via Comic Book Movie]
Set videos [more via CBM & Shockya, (2)]
Warner Brothers developing Beetlejuice sequel; Seth Grahame-Smith writing
Warner Brothers is moving forward with a sequel to the 1988 Tim Burton-directed classic "Beetlejuice" which starred Michael Keaton in the title role. The studio has tapped Seth Grahame-Smith to pen the project, which Deadline reports will be a reboot, not a remake, intended to "[advance] the storyline of the original":
"We first got to know Seth through his fantastic work on Dark Shadows, and it immediately became a priority to expand our relationship with him,” said Warner Bros production president Greg Silverman. “Seth introduced us to David, who greatly impresses us with the vision for KatzSmith from the very first meeting. We firmly believe in their talents and are extremely excited to welcome them to the Warners family."
The Avengers: Rumored second villain
A few months back there was a rumor about a possible secondary villain in Joss Whedon’s "The Avengers". The name has surfaced again. According to a report by Comic Book Movie, the other villain featured in the film is [SPOILERS–highlight to view] Thanos. Here’s their report — don’t read any further unless you don’t mind being spoiled — which contains additional plot details about the film:
"OK, so…The other big villain we will see is THANOS. Latino Review broke that news in May but since then it has been pretty quiet regarding that. Well, according to my source, he is indeed in the film and the mysterious aliens everyone is talking about, is his army. As for the plot details, well, it will be very interesting…Basically Thanos makes a deal with Loki (like Hiddleston said in one interview that Loki makes some shady deals) to get him the Infinity Gauntlet. He trades his army for the Gauntlet. And that’s about it. No word on what ‘Leviathan’ is though."
Marvel One-Shot: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor’s Hammer [YouTube]
Harrison Ford open to making a fifth Indiana Jones movie
Considering the huge success of "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull", it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Indy himself, Harrison Ford, would be open to making a fifth film [Hero Complex | LA Times]:
"Maybe a fifth, but I ain’t going to Mars," he said.
"It’s an absolute delight to revisit this character,” Ford said, “and a chance to work with Steven again, who only hires me for ‘Indiana Jones.’"
That last bit brought about an interesting revelation; that Steven Spielberg initially offered the "Jurassic Park" role of Alan Grant (played by Sam Neill) to Ford:
“Do you know who I offered ‘Jurassic Park’ to? This guy. Alan Grant I first offered to this guy.”
Ford shrugged and smiled.
“That was a lot like going to Mars,” he said.
Marc Forster talks World War Z
"World War Z" director Marc Forster spoke to MTV about his adaptation of the Max Brooks novel and explained why it won’t be a fully faithful adaptation:
"The idea, obviously the book is not written as a narrative, you try to take things from the book, but at same time you’re changing certain things," Forster explained. "I do feel we’re trying to keep it in the spirit of the book because it’s important."
Forster went on to stress that while they intend to do their "own film, telling our own story because we had to," they still hope to "include as much as we can from the book." Forster also revealed that one of his biggest issues he’s had to deal with is deciding how the zombies move:
"In Max Brook’s book they move in the George Romero fashion. I feel like we have a little bit different approach," he revealed. "But it doesn’t exclude that they might not eventually be fashioned how George Romero’s zombies move, it’s just a little bit different approach," Forster said. "I think that will probably be the biggest discussions that there will be."
Starring Brad Pitt, "World War Z" is scheduled to hit theaters on December 21, 2012.
Set footage [YouTube]
Report: Ghostbusters returning to theaters this October
Sony hasn’t made it official, but AICN reports that "Ghostbusters" is heading back to theaters next month:
Now, there aren’t any details that I’ve been able to find. I don’t know how many screens, if it’s a real 2k/4k re-release or one of those shitty DVD projection jobs, but the Ghostbusters Facebook page hinted at things in the works and then posted a trailer announcing the return of Ghostbusters to the big screen.
Captain America surprise; Grosses more internationally than domestically
Normally blockbusters perform stronger internationally than they do domestically, however, there was some expectation from Paramount that "Captain America: The First Avenger" wouldn’t carry on that tradition. Well, they were wrong. Thanks to a particulary strong $5M opening in China last weekend, ‘Captain America’ has now grossed more money internationally ($178.95M) than it has domestically ($173.66M). As of September 14 the worldwide total stands at $352.62M. ‘Captain America’ opens in Japan on October 15.
Star Wars: The Complete Saga available on Blu-ray + Never before seen behind-the-scenes photos
"Star Wars: The Complete Saga" was officially released on Blu-ray Friday (the Original and Prequel trilogies are also available separately, but don’t contain three additional bonus discs). In addition to being the first High-Def home video release, the set’s wealth of special features includes an extended set of deleted scenes from the original trilogy. For those who haven’t picked up the set, you’re in luck, as all 13 deleted scenes have found their way online. Watch one clip below and see the rest via Comic Book Movie:
Also, click over to Mental Floss for a set of 40 rare behind-the-scenes images from the original trilogy, such as this one from the end of ‘A New Hope’:
The Hobbit: Complete Dwarf composite
Here it is, a complete official composite featuring all the Dwarves from Peter Jackson’s "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" [via TheOneRing.net]:
‘An Unexpected Journey’ is the first film scheduled in the two-part project. The film is scheduled to hit theaters on December 14, 2012. "The Hobbit: There and Back Again" will follow on December 13, 2013. Both films will be released in 3D.
PREVIEW Videos & Images
The Chronicles of Riddick 3
Concept art [Vin Diesel’s Facebook Fan Page via Collider]
Cloud Atlas
Set images [more at Just Jared]
Dark Shadows
Set images: First look at Johnny Depp as Barnabas Collins [more at Celebuzz]
The Goon
Early test animation [YouTube]
In Time
Poster [IMPAwards]
Prometheus
First official look [YourEntNow]
Real Steel
Trailer: "Hit Back" [YouTube]
R.I.P.D.
Set images: Ryan Reynolds (Nick Walker), Kevin Bacon (Chase Wilkins) and Jeff Bridges (Bo) [more at Celebuzz, (2)]
The Thing
Clip [MTV]
TV trailer: "Not Dead" [YouTube]
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1
Teaser posters [ComingSoon.net]
Teaser trailer [Yahoo! Movies]
MOVIE BITES
- Previously on TrekMovie: CBS developing TV adaptation of Dunan Jones’ sci-fi thriller "Source Code".
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Producer Lauren Shuler Donner says they’re close to presenting a "Deadpool" movie to Fox. Donner admits the character was poorly represented in "X-Men Origins: Wolverine", but the solo effort will fix those issues: "We’re gonna give it a little bit of a different look. It’s a different kind of movie. If you know ‘Deadpool’…it’s true to ‘Deadpool’. So you know, it’ll be violent, and outrageous, and funny, and all that." Donner also says they want Ryan Reynolds ro reprise the role: "Absolutely, yeah. I can’t imagine … who else could play Wade Wilson?". [HitFix]
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Donner also commented on both "The Wolverine" and a follow-up to "X-Men: First Class". With regards to another "X-Men" movie, Donner says they’re "seriously talking about it" and want Matthew Vaughn back to direct. For "The Wolverine", Donner said they’re unsure when it will start filming, but they hope to have it underway by summer 2012. [HitFix]
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Nike has created a tennis shoe with an automatic lacing system — as featured in "Back to the Future": [via TechCrunch]
- Despite what his friend George Lucas has done with "Star Wars", Steven Spielberg says that when E.T. hits Blu-ray, it’ll be the original 1982 cut with NO changes (including CG): "For myself, I tried this once and lived to regret it. Not because of fan outrage, but because I was disappointed in myself. I got overly sensitive to [some of the reaction] to E.T., and I thought if technology evolved, [I might go in and change some things] … it was okay for a while, but I realized what I had done was I had robbed people who loved E.T. of their memories of E.T." [L.A. Times Hero Complex via Geek Tyrant]
- Sony Pictures has announced that "Underworld Awakening", the fourth installment in the supernatural-action franchise, will be released in IMAX 3D simultaneously with the film’s worldwide release January 20, 2012. [Sony / IMAX]
- Lionsgate has announced that principal photography on Gary Ross’ adaptation of Suzanne Collins’ novel "The Hunger Games" has wrapped. The film is scheduled to hit theaters on March 23, 2012. [via THR]
- Roland Emmerich says pre-production is underway on "Singularity" with shooting expected to start in late March: "It takes place in the future 40 years from now. It’s like kind of this moment where computer technology is so advanced that we kind of-It’s the danger of losing control." [Collider]
- Universal Pictures has set Ron Howard to direct writer David Guggenheim’s "364". The film revolves around a character who on one day a year has super powers and spends the remaining 364 days figuring out how to use those special powers for good. [Deadline]
- Julian Gilbey has been tapped to direct "Offworld" which he describes as "a kind of an intergalactic Naked Prey". Gilbey adds that it’s "a pedal-to-the-metal safari movie set on an alien planet. There’s lots of nasty creatures – some even on the good guys’ side." [Empire]
- Spanish director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo is in discussions with Summit Entertainment to direct the studio’s "Highlander" remake. [Deadline]
- "Real Steel" (October 7, 2011) director Shawn Levy has some ideas for a sequel: "Some of the notions we’re playing with… for instance we went very anthropomorphic in both the design and the movement of the robots in this movie, I think we can really blow that out. The class warfare between underworld and [World Robot Boxing], that’s something that seems rich. The evolution of this father and son’s relationship, and [Hugh Jackman’s] relationship with Evangeline [Lilly]…". [Bleeding Cool]
- Nestor Carbonell, who reprises his role as Mayor Garcia in Christopher Nolan’s "The Dark Knight Rises", calls the latest film in the franchise "more real, much more accessible", adding Nolan has "made a psychological thriller out of all of them, so he’s great, he’s amazing." Carbonell also confirmed that half the film will be shot in IMAX. [MTV Splashpage]
CASTING BITES
- "300: Battle of Artemisia" producer Bernie Goldman says there’s a potential that Gerard Butler and Lena Headey could reprise their roles as Leonidas and Queen Gorgo, respectively, in the "300" prequel. [MTV Splashpage]
- Hugh Grant has joined the cast of Andy and Lana Wachowski and Tom Tykwer’s adaptation of the David Mitchell novel "Cloud Atlas". [Screen Daily]
- Richard Ayoade has joined the cast of Ben Stiller’s sci-fi comedy "Neighborhood Watch". The comedy is about a man (Stiller) who moves from the big city to the suburbs, joins the neighborhood watch patrol and uncovers an alien conspiracy. [Empire]
- "Mad Men" actress Christina Hendricks says she would be open to playing "Wonder Woman". [Vulture]
- Bruce Campbell says the "Evil Dead" remake is a re-imagining and currently doesn’t include the character Ash: "ED remake is a re-telling. All bets are off & all involved love the new approach." [Bruce Campbell | Twitter]
- Ashley Bell has revealed that she has been cast in a sequel to "The Last Exorcism". [Bloody Disgusting]
Follow Russ on his blog: Your Entertainment Now and on Twitter: Twitter.com/YourEntNow.
I am just so glad these updates are back, and that I stuck with Trekmovie.com !!!!
Great to see some new media for some great upcoming sci-fi movies. :D
Trekmovie.com forever!!!
The Avengers movie………..one thing…………..that Scarlett chick can’t act!
I mean, nice boobs and everything, but she stinks up every movie she’s in!
@ #3 –
I think it’s a fair trade off, IMHO.
:D
Great feature never thought of leaving
Nike’s BTTF shoes don’t power lace. They’re not even intended to be worn. They just _look_ mostly like the shoes from the movie.
If that spoiler for “The Avengers” is correct, then I am worried! Sounds like the first season of “Superhero Squad” that my 9 yr old made me watch … Yuk!
I truly hope that these characters had some true menace to them in comic form at Marvel.
Speaking of Menace, can’t wait for Zod version 2.0 with Michael Shannon. Seeing the new shots of Supes new costume is actually getting me excited about this new movie. Apart from getting the theme music homage right, “Superman’s Lunch Returns” got everything else wrong:
kate Bosworth – worst Lois EVER!
Brandon Routh – limited in acting by the fact that Singer made him act ONLY like Chris Reeve – and you can’t insult Reeve’s memory with a parody of his famous role.
Kevin Spacey – great actor but they didn’t do enough with his character.
Too much flying – that’s all Superman did, for the whole movie. Where was the action? The drama?
The country made of Kryptonite – Puh-lease! This idea was so bad that Michael Bay rehashed it as recreating Cybertron in Transformers:DOTM
“Nuff said!”
People who “can’t act” should not be in ANY movie full stop end of discussion! Doesn’t matter how attractive they are deemed to be.
Wrong forum, but I can only hope George Lucas lives long enough to cgi the prequel movies with actual actors that can act(tm, ILM) After all he has already lived long enough to prosper.
I watched the Richard Donner Superman 2 Cut on Bluray and with a different start and ending it was like watching a reboot ith all of the orignal stars os Superman 2. loveD IT!!!!! I like what Michael Shannon said about Terrance Stamp and not wanting to mimick him. Smart of him to know you can’t mimick that kind of greatness. I don’t know about World War Z. I would love to see an Update of battleship. love the previews I have seen.
PLEEEEEEAASE don’t screw up Dark Shadows! Just seeing Depp with the Inverness coat and cain makes me cringe.
Harry, why do you hate all women?
The Thing? *sigh* Well, there are two very good versions out there.
Evil Dead could be good, if it’s got the right balance of scary and cheesy.
Remake Highlander? why???? Oh yeah. $$$. Silly me.
I kinda hope Harrison Ford doesn’t get his wish. Unless they follow the tv series concept and show a young Indy (which was better than I thought it would be.) Only 496 uneccessary sequels to go, and we’ll have an ‘Indy 500.’
8. Check out the film Broken Embraces. In it someone exacts revenge on a film director by taking only the bad takes of the actors’ performances.
Often what appears to be bad acting is simply bad editing. In some cases it’s a case of bad casting where a particular actor simply doesn’t fit a particular role, or mesh well with the rest of the group through no fault of anyone. Sometimes it’s bad directing too. Sometimes the director simply fails to communicate to the actors what he/she/they want(s).
Often putting an actor into a film is a leap of faith anyway, a necessary risk to a production on par with any of the other risks inherent to hiring anyone to any job. It’s a little unreasonable to have any hard and fast rule like “people who can’t act should not be in ANY movie full stop,” especially when such a hiring decision is inherently subjective, full of risk, and subject to the approval and compromises of many.
If I’m not mistaken, ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’ will be the first movie that Rhys Ifans will have an American accent in.
I hope ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’ will be for adults and more like Christopher Nolan’s Batman films – really intense, much darker in tone, no campiness, more straight.
I would have liked to see Anne Hathaway have a fuller figure in ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ with an ample cleavage, fuller legs and fuller backside rather than losing weight for the role and being skinny. In the comic books, Selina has huge boobs with nice, womanly curves.
I hope that they don’t make another ‘Indiana Jones’ film. All of the people involved should move onto more promising projects. The original trilogy were all classics and ‘Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’ was a good tribute to them even though Kate Capshaw, John Rhys-Davies, Jonathan Ke Quan and Sean Connery should have been included. It would be best that ‘Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’ concludes the series. I have my doubts if they try to reboot it as Harrison Ford defined the role.
Deadpool movie will tank, unless its made on a tight budget, say $40-50 mil…Deadpool just isn’t mainstream enough to carry his own pic!
How ironic that First Class was THE FINEST X-Men movie to date, yet grossed the least! Very sad… If they’re crazy enough to launch a sequel, BET that a certain canucklehead will have a larger role! And speaking of The Best There Is…hard to believe his solo pre-quel STILL HASN’T STARTED filming! Wow! He’s their cash cow! That production is cursed.
Ben Stiller, Adam Sandler, Will Ferrell, Ricky Gervais, Simon Pegg, Eddie Izzard, Jack Black or Steve Coogan as the new Beetlejuice.
Since they are doing a Deadpool movie, they have to include Agent X, Blind Al, Bob – Agent of HYDRA, Sandi Brandenberg, Copycat, Outlaw, Weasel and Siryn.
I think Deadpool will face off with Ajax, Black Swan and T-Ray.
In The Wolverine, aside from fightingSilver Samurai and Viper, I think Wolverine will battle Daken, The Gorgon, Matsu’o Tsurayaba, Ogun and Shingen Yashida.
Since the story is set in Japan, they have to include Tyger Tiger (Jessan Hoan), Itsu, Amiko Kobayashi, Mariko Yashida and Yukio.
There are 64 X-Men members, 32 villains and 28 enemy teams that weren’t included in the previous X-Men films which they can utilise in future X-Men prequels/sequels and give us new stories while leaving Magneto out of some films.
A new Superman. A new beginning. Times change. We need to change as well.
I hope Henry Cavill will be the greatest Superman of all time.
Michael Shannon’s height is 6′ 3″. Henry Cavill’s height is 6′ 1″. I hope the climactic fight between Superman and General Zod will knock everyone on their ass.
The fight scenes in Man of Steel should be like the amazing one between Clark and ‘Titan’ played by WWE superstar Kane in the Smallville episode ‘Combat’ and between Clark and Zod in the season 9 finale “Salvation” where Zod says “Every human, including the woman you love, will kneel before Zod!”
Highlander is ripe for a remake. They should keep the story consistent, particularly with the number of Immortals. They should ignore the planet Zeist storyline. They shouldn’t make unnecessary sequels to needlessly expand the Highlander universe. This is a second chance to get it right. This is an opportunity.
Shia LaBeouf, Penn Badgley or Chace Crawford as Connor MacLeod
Mischa Barton or Blake Lively as Brenda Wyatt
Mark Strong or Rhys Ifans as The Kurgan
Gerard Butler, Ewan McGregor, James McAvoy or David Tennant as Juan Sanchez Villa-Lobos Ramírez
I hope in this new Highlander film series, they will include:
Duncan MacLeod, Amanda, General Katana, Louise Marcus, Dr. Alexandra Johnson/Sarah Barrington, Kane, Nakano, Jacob Kell, Heather MacLeod, Rachel Ellenstein, Tessa Noël, Darius, Hugh Fitzcairn, Charlie DeSalvo, Maurice Lalonde, Anne Lindsey, Richie Ryan, Joe Dawson, Methos, Nick Wolfe
#11-
Great post Eric…sober, mature and knowledgeable…the opposite of fan-wank.
Great post.
Great updates, thanks for all the hard work Rosario.
One of my favorite features of the site.
The latest issue of Comic Book magazine “Back Issue” has a feature that mirrors my thoughts on the Superman costume. I’ll save everybody the effort and just say…I don’t like it. Let’s face it,….a superhero is the nude form. And it’s the nude form in it’s best presentation with the best physique. Why do we keep messing that up by giving people leather jackets and doing other changes to known, proven, tried and true staples? I don’t get it. I want my Captain America with the red pirate boots and wings on his head. I want Spider-Man without layered textures and nike shoes. And while this Superman certainly seems nude in it I want Superman with the traditonal, hot dog and apple pie costume we’ve all come to know and love. Shorts and all.
I dunno. I’m a huge fan of both previous “Things,” and CGI is so common that there’s nothing special about it anymore, so seeing a loud CGI monster thing erupt from the ice like that…seems like too much just-because-we-can. How about making it a little more subtle. CGI is so easy that everyone is tempted to always go overboard with it rather than holding back and leaving something to the imagination.
Also, looks like they paid a lot of attention to reduplicating the Norwegian compound from the Carpenter version, but why do that when you ignore the more important similarity between the monsters, because based on that clip the two are not going to mesh well, so it’s going to SORTA look like a prequel…and NOT.
God, again with General Zod! How about doing something different for once? We already know Superman’s origin stories. The more I hear about “The Man Of Steel”, the more I cringe.
Now, on to “Star Wars”. Anybody who has the 2004 original trilogy set should hang on to it. The documentary “Empire Of Dreams” is not included on the Blu Ray version. And most of the special features (except for some deleted scenes) from the original prequel dvds aren’t included either.
Most of the special features on the Blu Ray are stuff not included last time, or entirely new content created for this new release.
Also, I have already watched both “The Phantom Menace” and “Attack Of The Clones”. The picture quality is outstanding, with “Menace” being improved greatly (visually at least) compared to the dvd version.
Terence Stamp’s Zod, for me, resonates through all eternity: that cold, dead gaze, and the seriousness of it, even when he was playing for laughs (“The planet ‘Hooston’ “) just got under my skin as a kid. He made Darth Vader look like the Michelin Man.
I don’t know the character’s comic, or other, incarnations. I’ll just wish Michael Shannon the best, and may he scare the shit out of a whole new generation of fans.
I just see an ocean full of remakes and one comic book adaption after another. Where are the original movies? Gone, because remakes and superheros meaning certain $$$. And someone said, this world doesn’t get boring…
Beside that, I miss something:
No news from The Hobbit?
No Dark Knight Rises-trailer?
What news from Prometheus?
22:
Red Dead Ryan:
You are to be commended for buying the new SW blu-ray, and sitting through “Phantom Menace” and “Attack of the Clowns.”
You are obviously a ‘Star Wars’ completist, and will next watch “Darth Kills Children and Cries Like a Girl” before watching the remakes of the first trilogy.
Yeah, yeah…I’m gonna buy ’em too. I just don’t know if I can ever watch them. I adhere to the “Family Guy” and “Robot Chicken” versions, which are closer to the originals.
This Superman movie is going to be absolutely awful.
21 – What do you mean about the two monsters not meshing? There’s nothing in these clips that looks un-Thinglike to me. Just because it’s digital doesn’t mean it won’t mesh, and to me, the LOOK of the creature effects matches the style of the Carpenter version.
Also, where does subtlety come into The Thing? It wasn’t subtle in the Carpenter version, visually or audibly. And in that version, they followed the “just because we can” approach to gory effects, so doing the same with CGI makes sense in this case.
I agree with you about CGI overuse in general, but I don’t even slightly see your points here. (That’s why I’m asking.) :)
#10- barnabas collins had that cane and wore that type of coat.
@27 I think he’s referring to pacing, knowing when to go big (remember the difibulator scene?) and when special-effects-free undercurrents of paranoia are more effective. That ending and the bloodtest come to mind, as well as the fact that we never see the thing in its true form. I too get the feeling that we’ll some lame cgi monster as the ‘true’ form of the thing, which would be a mistake.
Oh, and Steve Mcqueen/Charles Bronson oldheads seriously need to go see Drive.
Well thank you other editors for stepping in to save this website from going under. Great to have new posts again.
Thanks for these updates, I always looke forward to these articles!
#4 – totally agree! :p
27: “I agree with you about CGI overuse in general, but I don’t even slightly see your points here. (That’s why I’m asking.) :)”
I understand. :-)
First off let me say that I’m excited to see The Thing and that I’ll know better after seeing the entire movie, so these are preliminary impressions, but after seeing the clip and the trailer, three points of comparison stand out:
1. John Carpenter was VERY subtle about showing who got infected, i.e., the dog walks into a room and we see the shadow of somebody on the wall but don’t know who it is. You kept guessing right up until something not so subtle happened to show us who was a thing, and you never saw anyone get infected, including Bennings, until Palmer turned out to be one of those things during the blood test scene and he used Windows’ head as a chew toy.
In the trailer, we see somebody get sucked under one of the buildings, which doesn’t exactly thrill me because that’s cliche for monster movies now, and it’s not subtle at all. John Carpenter used somebody’s found torn clothing to create paranoia about who was a thing. Much better in my view.
2. The clip of the monster breaking out of the ice invites comparison more with the Howard Hawks production than with the John Carpenter version because the latter had no such scene as the Howard Hawks and the new version do. And in comparison with that, again the new movie’s CGI noisy breakout is not as subtle as the original film’s building of tension with the slow melting of the ice.
3. Regarding the monster itself, I never have the sense from John Carpenter’s movie that there is a “core” macro-structure to the alien thing; rather it seems to be a mixture of all these bizarre features, maybe of aliens it has absorbed in its travels across the galaxy, so the thing itself may really be microscopic. But it did have tendrils, eyeball-tipped antennae, spider legs, and there was even the hint of a Little Shop of Horrors man-eating plant type thing.
In the above “breakout” clip, the creature looks like it has design cues taken from the Narada, with its spiky black appendages which look nothing like what we saw in the John Carpenter movie. Ever.
Now there’s nothing WRONG with that, but it seems to me there’s too much of a break in continuity between this and the JC version for this to really look like a convincing prequel — even if it looks great — and I tend to notice continuity failures, especially when they went through so much trouble to duplicate the Norwegian compound aspect of John Carpenter’s movie.
And yes, I also mean what gingerly at 29 covers.
[UPDATES]
24. Captain Rickover
It had been sometime since our last Sci-Fi Movies column, and you’re right, the TDKR teaser trailer was released during that hiatus. Sometimes I forget what we cover here because I do cover it on my own site. Adding in an extended hiatus and, well, I it was just an oversight on my part. For that reason I’ve updated the article with a few items:
The Dark Knight Rises — First teaser trailer, first official look at Anne Hatheway as Catwoman
Man of Steel — Official synopsis, first official look at Henry Cavill in Superman costume
The Hobbit — Composite image featuring all the Dwarves
Prometheus — First official photo release
Thanks for the comments, everyone. Glad you enjoy the column.
Remakes and reboots scare me, the take a classic and ruin it. As a kid I watched Dukes of Hazard. There were a few reunion TV moves with the original. I’m not kidding myself that the orignal was a masterpiece but as a kid it was fun and had a cool car. The remakes were horrible. Most remakes seem to have quite a bit less substance then the originals. There have been few reboots that have been as good or better.
….and that dark knight trailer, old news like one or two months old.
36. Chadwick
I know. Note my comment two posts above yours.
Remakes, reboots and endless sequels galore!! Doesn’t anybody have an original idea!!
Can’t wait for TDKR! If it was anyone other than Nolan, I’d be worried about having Catwoman in it. I trust him implicitly. Now, if JJA can produce the same magic for ST2 that Nolan did with TDK, I’ll be extremely happy.
The new Star Trek will sell, but will it endure? Only time will tell. If no one remembers it in 10 years, I think that may end the Star Trek legacy until someone does another reboot. J J has a lot on his plate with this one. I hope his team can create a movie that will stand for a while. I know we have all been over this.
Sam Rami’s Spiderman was ok, but he missed it with not having Spiderman miss saving Gwen Stacey. That was part of what drove him to never quit. I though Sam would pull a switch and kill M J instead. Venom showed up way too soon, I know The Secret Wars would have been an impossible movie to make, so I know they had to write a different story. I thought they would have done a story arc in the back ground to plant the seeds for Venom to show up in a few movies. So perhaps the new Spiderman will be more true to the comics when it comes to building the charecter of Spidey. That’s just my oppinion.
Most of the clips of The Thing look like it will fit right in with the JC version. The Norwegian camp in the JC film gave you the impression that something a bit more violent in nature occured then what would eventually happen to the US camp. Also, the Dog Thing in the JC version seemed a bit more timid and stealthy, possibly based on the first encounter at the Norwegian camp and how violent that went.
I’m willing to bet it will mix perfectly with the two films.
I put down World War Z half way through — a truly overrated book.
I’ve personally vowed never to buy anything to do with Star Wars ever again.
I’m fed up of all the changes that Lucas has made to the original trilogy and I hate the prequels so I refuse to give that man any more money.
Why is Johnny Depp as Barnabas Collins wearing the dorky hat? And these look like daylight scenes…makes me wonder since he’s a 275-year old vampire. Maybe it’s a dorky hat that Depp wears when off the set??
Science fiction has yet to address the apparent paradoxes in our understanding of the universe in relativistic terms.
Assuming that we cannot determine whether something exists or not or where its location is other than as mediated through the medium of electromagnetism, or through any means faster than the speed of light, then it seems to me that we are at a loss to physically determine the shape of the universe other than by theoretical means.
This essentially means that anything is possible from a fictional point of view.
When we look at the farthest reaches of the universe through our most powerful telescopes, we see it as it was billions of years ago, since it took light (or whatever electromagnetic radiation apprehended by the telescope) that many years to reach our eyes. However, by means of theory, we have determined that space is curved, that gravity does in fact mold the universe in a certain shape.
The fact that we believe we have made this determination is often not compared with the fact that we have no idea whether a specific model of the universe is actually true. In other words, we can have no idea of where the existence of a distant galaxy currently is, other than as calculated by our theories — and we have very little conception that our ignorance on this subject is profound.
From the viewpoint that all information must is subject to the speed of light, one may assume that insofar as existence is concerned, the universe at large could have blinked out of existence precisely one thousand years ago as of THIS moment, and we would have no idea of that fact, apparently, from the observations of our telescopes until on thousand years from now. But instinctively we know that this is not true — not at all.
The essential truth, from the present state of understanding, is that we can never know what is in the universe simply from scanning it with our own sensory apparatus. Apparently this is little known in the world today.
Actually, I just realized that the thousand year example was invalid, even though my point stands.
If the universe had blinked out of existence a thousand years ago, then we wouldn’t have any information about it beyond a thousand light-years’ distance.
The example as intended was meant to convey the following: If the universe were to be destroyed “x” amount of years ago, then it doesn’t make sense for us to take the position that we would know about its destruction until “x” years has passed, if we understand the universe (as we do) to have a specific shape or state currently whatsoever.
33 — Okay, now I’m with you! That was one heck of a response, and quite persuasive. I now see all of your points, and I can’t disagree at all.
And now you’ve got me even more skeptical about the new Thing. Thanks a lot! :)
The Avengers is going to be GREAT.
I worked on it while it was filming in my city. From everything I saw/heard, Joss is producing a classic.
Just stop nitpicking and wait and see!
@34 You have your own site, Rosario? Can you share the link?
48.
Yeah, well, it’s got to be better than Thor, which could have been SO much better!