Hollywood, Stop Remaking Movies - The Day the Earth Stood Still

One of the greatest sci-fi classics will be remade into special effects schlock. "The Day the Earth Stood Still". The original film tells the story of an alien man who comes to warn Earth (with his robot) of a great danger. The visitor is met with skeptisism and suspicion and as a result discovers Earth to be a planet of violent beings...so he escapes and leaves for good.
The movie was one of the first to take sci-fi seriously and primarily a heavy drama. The film is just another oen of those that doesn't need to be remade. It's not suppose to be a special effects extravaganza, but a dramatic look at the darker side of man. Scott Derrickson ("The Exorcism of Emily Rose"...UGH!) will direct the film for a May 9, 2008 release.

"Get Smart" Pic and New Info

Well here it is. Carell as Maxwell Smart and Hathaway as Agent 99. I admit I expected Carell to be more made up. He looks a little too..."The Office" than he does Max Smart.
Peter Segal announced that while the original show was a satire on the Cold War, this movie will be a satire that shows, "the disconnect between government agencies as we saw right after 9/11 when the CIA and FBI weren't really communicating."

The films' story centers on Max Smart trying to stop KAOS, (the villianous agency from the original show) which is threatening the United States to give away launch codes for nuclear weapons to "bad guys". The movie is also the origin story of Smart and how Agent 99 teaches him the ropes.

I hope this ends up well. I don't really like the whole origin story angle. I don't recall the show all that well, but wasn't part of the humor the fact that Max is suppose to be this "expert" and Agent 99 ends up bailing him out of everything? Well, I like the casting and it has potential. But my expectations for it just dropped a few notches. The story "sounds" too dark; but I can see that being fixed up... Of course, "Stranger Than Fiction" and "Thank You for Smoking" were dark, but also two of the funniest movies in awhile. I'll cross my fingers.

A "Different" Kind of Superhero Film

David Goyer plans on making a Green Arrow film, but not the type you'd expect. Apparently he will only be Green Arrow for the first ten minutes of the film and then we find ourselves dealing with a very different kind of movie that Goyer calls, "Super Max". Goyer gave details on his script:

“He’s Green Arrow for the first 10 minutes of the movie, and then he’s arrested and his secret identity is revealed. They shave his goatee and they take his costume and send him to prison for life, and he has to escape. It’s like ‘Alcatraz,’ and he has to team up with, in some cases, some of the very same villains he is responsible for incarcerating in order to get out and clear his name. Of course, tons of people try to kill him while he’s in there. We’ve populated the prison with all sorts of B and C villains from the DC Universe. For the fans, there will be all sorts of characters the hardcore comic book junkies will know, but they’re all going to be there under their human names and no one is wearing a costume, but there will be a lot of characters with powers and things like that.”

A movie about a superhero put in prison to team up with the very villians he put there in order to prove he's not guilty? Ok, so the concept itself has been done before, but the players could make this very interesting, I like the idea of a superhero movie that's not really about the hero's origins or personal troubles of being a hero. We've done that 100 times already. A person becomes a hero. He has trouble accepting his life as one, but in the end he realizes it's for the best! We get the point. This concept sounds much, MUCH more interesting. I hope it takes off.

One New Harry Potter Photo

Well...it's something! Enjoy, for what it is.

TRAILER - "Halloween"

In the long list of films that are anticipated for no good reason, Rob Zombie's remake of "Halloween" is one of them...sadly. The teaser trailer for this sure-fire abomination has finally been released. I find this rather sad. John Carpenter's original "Halloween" was a slasher flick masterpiece. The most effective of its time...maybe ever. I hate slasher flicks, but Carpenter gave us a character that was so grounded in reality that it was hard to not believe Myers was "true" evil. (Unlike the endless sequels which gave us a character too supernatural to believe...) But the first film was fantastic. The second was pretty good too, even if that set up the series for a slow downfall.
Anyway, here's Rob Zombie's take on the masterpiece...



And sadly, I can see myself paying to see this... Why Carpenter would allow this is beyond me. August, it opens. (Why not open on Halloween?)

Does DiCaprio Have a Life?

It's not slam him or anything, I'm just curious. The guy is a fantastic actor, but it seems like he doesn't do anything BUT act with a few lunch, bathroom and nap breaks thrown in. Maybe it's just me. Whatever...

Anyway, DiCaprio is in talks with Warner Bros. to be in Ridley Scott's adaptation of the novel "Body of Lies" by David Ignatius. DiCaprio will play a CIA agent, and ex-journalist, who is sent hunt down an Al Qaeda leader planning an attack on American soil. He sould be on board with the film this fall.

Now for those of you wondering what all Leo is doing right now, here's an extensive list:

Confirmed release years:
"Blink" (2007) - unknown character
"Revolutionary Road" (2008) - unknown character
"The Chancellor Manuscript" (2008) - Peter Chancellor
"The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt" (2008) - Theodore Roosevelt

Unconfirmed release years:
"Body of Lies" - Roger Ferris
"The Wolf of Wallstreet" - Jordan Belfort
"Conspiracy of Fools" - unknown character
"Untitled Departed Prequel" - Billy (unconfirmed)

Potentially, that's eight movies on DiCaprio's plate. He's a great actor as we've seen from his last two films especially, so DiCaprio fans will get their fill with all this. He'll have a lot of chances at the Academy Awards, that's for sure... Perhaps he's decided to not do some of these, but there's been no mention of that. In the meantime, let's expect to see Leo in a lot of different roles coming up real soon.