England hosts the first Avengers

New York 1941. Hayle Atwell sprints out of an antique shop, raises a gun, takes aim and a car explodes behind her. and "CUT"

Ok, we're not really in Brooklyn but across the pond in Manchester where Dale Street has been transformed back in time to the 40's for the shoot of Captain America - The First Avenger.

Director Joe Johnston's comic adaption has so far visited London, Manchester and Liverpool. Johnston states that "the story is solidly about Steve Roger, his origian and how he became Captain American

Captain America - The First Avenger opens next year. 29 July 2011

Paranormal Activity 3 will open in October 2011

Paramount have set the date for a third entry in their phenomenally successful Paranormal Activity franchise.

Paranormal Activity 3 will hit screens a year after its predecessor on 21 October, 2011. Naturally no details beyond that have been released, but don’t expect Paramount to mess with the formula that has so far earned them a bucket-load of cash (over $300m combined).

I believe that the second film was not needed so this for me is not great. It will just be the same as the first one and the second one. there will be nothing new that will be shown on screen that audiences have already seen in one and two.

Ghostbusters 3

Filming on the long-awaited fantasy sequel Ghostbusters 3 looks set to begin in May 2011, but Bill Murray still isn’t confirmed

Kevin Smith Launches Red State Podcast . . .

. . . Cinema's first audio teaser?

Few filmmakers have embraced social networking with as much gusto as Kevin Smith, a man whose Twitter feed has become a thing of legend. The director, of course, has his first horror movie Red State in the works - a film he promises "will make The Dark Knight look like Strawberry Shortcake" - and he's launched a weekly podcast to keep fans appraised of goings-on as the film rolls into post.

The Film sound great, so have a listen.
Link to the SModcast http://smodcast.com/redstate/index.html

Two New Projects For Eli Roth. . .

. . . But he'll produce, not direct

Eli Roth has just scored two new projects in the form of Clown and Aftershock, in a deal with new production company Vertebra Films.

Clown, which will grow Machete-style from a grindhouse-y fake trailer, involves a doting father who dresses up to entertain his son's birthday guests, but then finds that, alien-Venom-symbiote-like, the pom-poms and baggy trousers and big shoes are an evil entity that he can't remove. First-timers Christopher Ford and John Watts put the trailer together prominently using Roth's name. They were afraid he'd sue, so must be rather pleased that he gave them a job instead. Ford wrote and Watts will direct.

Aftershock meanwhile is a violent thriller set in the aftermath of this year's Chilean earthquake. Roth will co-write this one with Guillermo Amoedo and Nicolas Lopez. The Chilean Lopez, who helmed Roth-favourite Promedio Rojo, plus last year's highest-grossing Chilean film Que Pena Tu Vida, will direct.

The two films join the Funhouse remake and RZA's Man With the Iron Fists on the increasingly busy "Eli Roth Presents" roster, following this year's The Last Exorcism, which made $60m on a budget of practically nothing. 

Roth hopes that the Clown (potentially part Pennywise and part Papa Lazarou) will join Freddy, Jason and Michael in the horror pantheon, and promises, "I'm giving us permission to go as hard as possible. I'd like to apologise to the MPAA for what we're going to put them through to get an R rating."

Of Aftershock, Roth says "The earthquake turned the country into a shaking amusement park ride. All hell broke loose. We thought of writing a supernatural element, but [Lopez's] description of the buildings and towns levelled, anarchy, and looters being shot from helicopters, was terrifying enough." The plot will follow several characters trying to survive following the disaster.

"Eli is a master at finding projects with great hooks," said Vertebra's Steven Prince. "We've been looking for the perfect projects to launch our company. We stopped looking after meeting him." 

Funhouse and Iron Fists go before the cameras in the next couple of months. Clown and Aftershock won't be far behind.

Zack Snyder begins his quest for Superman

 

Superman will be played by an unknown - or a low-profile TV actor - in his next big screen outing, if new casting reports are to be believed.

Zack Snyder has begun his quest to find the perfect new Man of Steel, and has decided not to bring back Brandon Routh for his big budget superhero movie.

Which will disappoint fans of Superman Returns – even those who didn’t love the film generally agree that Routh made for a decent supes.

Instead, Snyder has sent out feelers for unknowns aged between 28-32. Though Deadline report that True Blood’s Joe Manganiello and The Vampire Diaries’ Ian Somerhalder are two TV regulars who might also be in with a chance to don the tights.

Whoever Snyder eventually chooses, he’ll have to move pretty fast – shooting on his Superman will begin June 2011

The Dark Knight 'Rises' In May

With the $810m smash that was Inception now firmly behind him, Christopher Nolan is back in Gotham, working with brother Jonathan to nugget out the script for The Dark Knight Rises, which will be landing on its cast members' doorsteps in January.

Alfred himself, Michael Caine, revealing that the film's shoot will kick off in the summer and be done and dusted in six months. “Emma [Thomas], the producer, said we'd get the script in January. Christopher said: 'Script in January, shoot in May, finish in November.'"

Until then the confirmed cast members remain - fittingly - in the dark. "Christopher is the most secretive guy in the world," Caine said, "he won't tell you anything." Expect more casting news to follow in the very near future.

Green Lantern Trailer Arrives!

It’s been teased and talked about endlessly recently, but now Warner Bros. have put The Green Lantern trailer on the web over at Apple for your super heroic consideration.

I'm not a big DC fan but this trailer looks good. If the Film will be anything like what it looks like on the trailer it will be a good film and I will go and see it. The only problem is that is out in Summer 2011, a long time to wait.

Link to the trailer on the apple website: http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/wb/greenlantern/

Kevin Smith buries hatchet with Tim Burton

Film-maker Kevin Smith has backtracked over his claims earlier this week that Tim Burton's restyled Planet of the Apes "stole" the ending from one of his old Jay and Silent Bob comic books.

The director of Dogma and such low budget wonders as Clerks and Chasing Amy told reporters he was just kidding about when the comments appeared in the New York Post. Writing on his website, www.viewaskew.com, Smith said: "Lest anyone think some sort of holy jihad is brewing betwixt me and the mighty Tim, I'd like to set the record straight. No, I do not think the Planet of the Apes ending was stolen... nor am I thinking about taking anyone to court."

The monkey business started after Smith made some off-the-cuff remarks to the Post after seeing Burton's surprise ending, which he alleged bore striking similarities to a panel from one of his comic books. "My jaw hit the ground when I saw that scene," Smith told the Post. "I think I got robbed and I'm talking with my lawyers about possibly suing."

This prompted a rapid rebuttal from Burton, who stressed he hadn't seen the comic book, didn't read comic books and - wait for it - "I especially wouldn't read anything that was created by Kevin Smith."

Not surprisingly, the two have history. Burton rejected a Smith-penned Superman script some time back and since then the pair have steered clear of each other.

But now Smith has apologised and probably wants to bury his head in the sand after a tempestuous few days. Last week he was forced to make a donation to the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation after claims that his forthcoming feature, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, which is due out in the States next week, is homophobic.

                                                                    http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2001/aug/15/news1

This comment by Burton "This prompted a rapid rebuttal from Burton, who stressed he hadn't seen the comic book, didn't read comic books" This quote explains Tim Burton's Batman

Top 10 Movies You Should See

10. Fight Club (1999)

A young urban professional who works for a major car manufacturer can't sleep. Although he doesn't have any of the associated afflictions, he stumbles across support groups as a means to let out whatever emotions he is feeling, which in turn is allowing him to sleep. But the use of these support groups is ruined when he meets a young woman named Marla Singer, who is also going to all these support group meetings. Because he knows she too is not afflicted with any of the maladies for which the groups exist, her presence has lessened the impact of the stories he hears. His life changes when he meets a soap manufacturer named Tyler Durden, who in many ways is the antithesis of the insomniac. Due to unusual circumstances with his own condo, the insomniac moves in with
Tyler, who lives in a large dilapidated house in an otherwise abandoned part of town. After a bit of spontaneous roughhousing with Tyler in a bar parking lot, the insomniac finds it becomes a ritual between the two of them, which is helping him cope with the other more difficult aspects of his life. The fights also attract a following, others who not only want to watch but join in. Understanding that there are other men like them, the insomniac and Tyler begin a secret fight club. As the fight club's popularity grows, so does its scope in all aspects. Marla becomes a circle not specifically of the fight clubs but of Tyler and the insomniac's collectives lives. As the nature of the fight clubs becomes out of control in the insomniac's view, the insomniac's life, in association, is one where he no longer understands what is happening around him, or how he can get out of it without harming himself.

9. Midnight Run (1988)

Jack Walsh is a former cop from Chicago, who was framed by criminal he was investigating and about to arrest. He is now a bounty hunter based in Los Angeles. His boss wants him to find, Jonathan "The Duke" Mardukas, an accountant, who was working for Las Vegas mobster, who stole millions of dollars from him and gave it away. His boss was the one who bailed him out, and now unless he can get him back in L.A. in the next 5 days, he will forfeit the bond and be placed out of business. So he sends Jack to get him, which is Midnight Run or easy job in the bail bond business. Except for the fact that the man The Duke stole the money from, wants to get him, and he is also the same man who framed Jack. And also the FBI wants to get Mardukas so that they can use him to get his boss, so they warn Walsh not to get in their way. But Walsh nevertheless finds The Duke and is about bring him back but when Mardukas claims that he has difficulty with flying the airline throws them out of the plane, so they have to go back on the road. When Walsh's boss, learns that he didn't arrive when he was suppose to, he sends another bounty hunter, Marvin, who is Jack's greatest adversary, to get Mardukas. And when Marvin cancels Walsh's card, they don't have enough funds to make it all the way, so they have to scrape everything they have. And it doesn't help that Mardukas is doing everything he can to escape, cause he says that his former boss can get him even in jail.

8. Face Off (1997)

Sean Archer, a very tough, rugged FBI Agent. Who is still grieving for the dead son Michael. Archer believes that his son's killer is his sworn enemy, a very powerful criminal, Castor Troy. One day, Archer has finally cornered Castor, however, their fight has knocked out Troy cold. As Archer finally breathes easy over the capture of his enemy, he finds out that Troy has planted a bomb that will destroy the entire city of Los Angeles and all of its inhabitants. Unfortunately the only other person who knows its location is Castor's brother Pollux, and he refuses to talk. The solution, a special operation doctor that can cut off people's faces, and can place a person's face onto another person. Archer undergoes one of those surgeries to talk to Pollux. However, Castor Troy somehow regains consciousness and now wants revenge on Archer for taking his face. Not only is Troy ruining Archer's mission, but his personal life as well. Archer must stop Troy again. This time, it's personal.

7. The Shinning (1980)

Jack Torrance becomes the caretaker of the Overlook Hotel up in the secluded mountains of Colorado. Jack, being a family man, takes his wife and son to the hotel to keep him company throughout the long and isolated nights. During their stay strange things occur when Jack's son Danny sees gruesome images powered by a force called "The Shining" and Jack is heavily affected by this. Along with writer's block and the demons of the hotel haunting him Jack has a complete mental breakdown and the situation takes a sinister turn for the worse.

6. Shutter Island (2010)

It's 1954, and up-and-coming U.S. marshal Teddy Daniels is assigned to investigate the disappearance of a patient from Boston's Shutter Island Ashecliffe Hospital. He's been pushing for an assignment on the island for personal reasons, but before long he wonders whether he hasn't been brought there as part of a twisted plot by hospital doctors whose radical treatments range from unethical to illegal to downright sinister. Teddy's shrewd investigating skills soon provide a promising lead, but the hospital refuses him access to records he suspects would break the case wide open. As a hurricane cuts off communication with the mainland, more dangerous criminals "escape" in the confusion, and the puzzling, improbable clues multiply, Teddy begins to doubt everything - his memory, his partner, even his own sanity.

5. Pulp Fiction (1994)

Jules Winnfield and Vincent Vega are two hitmen who are out to retrieve a suitcase stolen from their employer, mob boss Marsellus Wallace. Wallace has also asked Vincent to take his wife Mia out a few days later when Wallace himself will be out of town. Butch Coolidge is an aging boxer who is paid by Wallace to lose his next fight. The lives of these seemingly unrelated people are woven together comprising of a series of funny, bizarre and uncalled-for incidents.

4. Inception (2010)

Dom Cobb is a skilled thief, the absolute best in the dangerous art of extraction, stealing valuable secrets from deep within the subconscious during the dream state, when the mind is at its most vulnerable. Cobb's rare ability has made him a coveted player in this treacherous new world of corporate espionage, but it has also made him an international fugitive and cost him everything he has ever loved. Now Cobb is being offered a chance at redemption. One last job could give him his life back but only if he can accomplish the impossible-inception. Instead of the perfect heist, Cobb and his team of specialists have to pull off the reverse: their task is not to steal an idea but to plant one. If they succeed, it could be the perfect crime. But no amount of careful planning or expertise can prepare the team for the dangerous enemy that seems to predict their every move. An enemy that only Cobb could have seen coming.

3. A Clockwork Orange (1971)

Protagonist Alex is an "ultraviolent" youth in futuristic Britain. As with all luck, his eventually runs out and he's arrested and convicted of murder and rape. While in prison, Alex learns of an experimental program in which convicts are programed to detest violence. If he goes through the program his sentence will be reduced and he will be back on the streets sooner than expected. But Alex's ordeals are far from over once he hits the mean streets of Britain that he had a hand in creating.

2. Mean Streets (1973)

The future is set for Tony and Michael - owning a neighbour- hood bar and making deals in the mean streets of New York city's Little Italy. For Charlie, the future is less clearly defined. A small-time hood, he works for his uncle, making collections and reclaiming bad debts. He's probably too nice to succeed. In love with a woman his uncle disapproves of (because of her epilepsy) and a friend of her cousin, Johnny Boy, a near psychotic whose trouble-making threatens them all - he can't reconcile opposing values. A failed attempt to escape (to Brooklyn) moves them all a step closer to a bitter, almost preordained future.

1. Psycho (1960)

In a spur of the moment decision, Marion Crane decides to leave Phoenix with the $40,000 her boss entrusted to her to deposit at the bank. She's headed to her boyfriend Sam in Fairvale, California and the money will finally let them start their life together. After having spent a night in her car, she can't quite make all the way and spends her second night at the Bates Motel. There she meets Norman Bates, a shy and withdrawn young man who seems to be dominated by his mother. They chat for a while and as a result she decides to go back to Pheonix and return the money. She's still going to spend the night at the motel and decides to have a shower before going to bed. A week later Marion's sister arrives at Sam's store in Fairvale to tell him Marion has disappeared. Together with a private detective, Milton Arbogast, they begin searching the area and eventually come across the Bates Motel.

More info on IMBD http://www.imdb.com/

Red State

Last night, the cast & crew of RED STATE came over to my house for our wrap party.

We finished shooting late Wednesday night, but I’ve been cutting the flick every free moment over the 25 days of production. So at our wrap party last night (for the flick we wrapped 2 days ago, mind you) we also watched the flick we just completed. And I’m not talking about some bullshit assembly, either: this puppy is fine-cut, complete with credits and some pre-mixing: 92 mins without credits, 98 mins with a end credit sequence that’s not to be believed.

As for having a screening of a flick of this caliber mere sun-ups since we put it to bed… well, this may be an absolute first - particularly considering the director was also the editor (I haven’t slept much).

Kicking back and taking in the very same flick we all worked so hard to get in the can with the very same cast & crew that made it a mere 48 hours back more than makes up for the low budget (4 million) and the complete lack of salary. But you do a movie like RED STATE because you love it; everyone’s there because they wanna be there; there’s not a one of those disgusting, soul-fucking paycheck players in the mix. Passion calls us all together, love of what we’re doing/saying bonds us, and the film is the result; the movie’s a love child.

And sometimes, that love-child turns out to be a fucking Jedi…

Thanks to all the cast & crew of RED STATE. Thanks to everyone who helped get us here. Thanks for a great wrap party (203 was the most people we’d ever had in the house ’til last night). And thanks, mostly, for lending me your various abilities and artistry; folks like you are why I’ll never rock that insecure “A Film By…” bullshit.

I’ve been yammering on a LOT about self-reliance lately. When I use the term, I don’t mean “Fuck off - I do all this shit by myself!” Nobody makes a film alone (unless they’re on Chatroulette). Every member of that crew is a filmmaker, each trying to tell their piece of the story with their specialty or hidden talent.

Moody, weird, and pitch-perfect for the tone of the film. If I went out to an ad agency here in town, I’d be billed close to 20 grand for a campaign that’d maybe… maybe… include this poster. But this piece of artwork (I call it “The Holy Ghost”) didn’t come from a top-tier ad agency: Jon Gordon is my RED STATE producer, and this poster was created by his assistant, Melissa Bloom. So we’ve got a marketing image that was put together by someone who was on set every day, integral to the process that produced the film which inspired this image. This isn’t the work of some gun for hire who’s doing six other campaigns; we’re not just one of many. The marketer is actually family, RED from pre-production all the way through wrap, so she’s got aninsight into the flick that no ad agency could ever boast (not even one-time Glo-Coat golden boy Don Draper over at SCDP). I’ll take passion over pedigree any day.

When we first looked at Melissa’s poster, someone said “You should give this to the ad agency as a guideline.” Guideline? Was an ad agency gonna make us any happier than Melissa’s image made us? The Holy Ghost is kinda perfect, and more importantly? It gives us a starting point from which to launch our home-grown marketing campaign. There’s an immediacy to it, but also: anybody could’ve taken the initiative and did this themselves. If folks were wondering why Melissa was skating up near the blue line, far from the corner where the puck was, it’s because she saw where the puck was gonna be, and just waited to make her rush on goal. She shoots, she scores.

So Melissa (with a Gretzky-like assist by Ming), the person on the RED STATE crew least likely to spearhead our marketing campaign, gets the collar for this arresting image - and I fucking dig that. That’s what I mean by self-reliance: why go outside the family for shit we can do ourselves? Promote from within - the way Harvey taught us.

In fact, we’re doing everything the way Harvey taught us. That’s why Jon & I decided to call the RED STATE production company The Harvey Boys - as a shout-out to an Indie Icon who once said “Fuck this traditional bullshit, I’ll do it my way…” and gave us a metric shit-ton of awesome flicks.

If you’re wondering what Jon & I are doing skating off toward that blue line, The Harvey Boys are hoping to take their shots at the top of 2011…

Write Comments - Posted in Kevin's Boring Ass Life by Kevin

The Karate Kid - WHY!

DIRECTOR: Harald Zwart
SCREENPLAY: Robert Mark Kamen, Christopher Murphey
CAST: Jaden Smith, Jackie Chan, Taraji P. Henson, Wenwen Han, Rongguang Yu, Zhensu Wu, Zhensu Wu, Zhiheng Wang, Zhenwei Wang
DISTRIBUTOR: Columbia Pictures
RUNTIME: 126 min.
RATING: PG
YEAR: 2010

First off, WHY!. The biggest problem with the 2010nThe Karate Kid is that it’s called “The Karate Kid.” Calling The Karate Kid “The Karate Kid” is misleading because the 2010 film has nothing to do with the classic franchise with Ralph Macchio as Daniel-san and Pat Morita as Mr Miyagi. It’s not a real remake. For starters, it’s not even karate (it’s Kung Fu!). It also happens to be set in China. Sure, it borrows from the goodwill of the 1984 original and allows them to throw in a few homages to some of the more memorable scenes between Daniel-san and Mr Miyagi, but I think it does a disservice to both the original and the new film to use the same name. They should have gone with “The Kung Fu Kid” or something like that. 

12-year-old Dre Parker (Jaden Smith) could've been the most popular kid in Detroit, but his mother's latest career move has landed him in China. Dre immediately falls for his classmate Mei Ying - and the feeling is mutual - but cultural differences make such a friendship impossible. Even worse, Dre's feelings make an enemy of the class bully, Cheng. In the land of kung fu, Dre knows only a little karate, and Cheng puts "the karate kid" on the floor with ease. With no friends in a strange land, Dre has nowhere to turn but maintenance man Mr. Han (Jackie Chan), who is secretly a master of kung fu. As Han teaches Dre that kung fu is not about punches and parries, but maturity and calm, Dre realizes that facing down the bullies will be the fight of his life.

If the plot sounds formulaic, that’s because it is. But having said that,The Karate Kid still has a fair bit of heart. It’s targeted at a younger audience and I think they’ve hit the mark — it has an underdog story, it’s fairly entertaining, lightly amusing, and there’s a good message hidden in there somewhere. It’s way too long at around 140 minutes. The kiddy fight scenes were done pretty well, and most of it looks pretty legit, however the fight scenes are violent for a PG film. 

Smith's performance is the worst of the bunch. The joke about this Karate Kid when it was in early preproduction was that it was one of the most extravagant gifts producer/actor Will Smith could give his son. Now that the film is a reality, that joke is not nearly as funny as it used to be. Jaden can't help the fact that Dre whines his way through most of his scenes any more than he can help being a lifeless and mostly unremarkable performer. This is especially apparent in scenes like the one where he first plants one on Meiying. The scene itself is canned as all get out, but that artifice is even more obvious because of the way that Smith tries and fails to look convincing as a flustered tyke in heat. It might be his age or it might just be the fact that he got a part because his daddy's a mega-star celebrity. Either way, the kid just doesn't have it. 

The thing with Jackie Chan is that you always know what you’re going to get. Charismatic, good jokes, nicely choreographed fight scenes, and the ability to pull the heart strings when necessary. He’s clearly getting on in age but can still kick some butt when he has to.

I believe that that this film should have not been made. The Karate Kid should have been just left alone. It is a film that no-one should have remade, but especially change the name of the characters.

Rating 2.5/5