Scifi Watch » Film

Rambo V Going Sci-Fi?

David Halpert — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 23:23:14 +0000

For the last couple of weeks rumors have been circulating on the net that not only is there a fifth Rambo movie on the horizon but that it will likely involve many science fiction elements as well. The fifth installment in the franchise (which has been called “Rambo V: The Savage Hunt”) will be a departure from the previous films. While John Rambo will be returning to his roots in the Pacific Northwest, much of the plot will surround a US military installation experimenting on its soldiers in an attempt to create a more powerful elite race of super soldiers. Obviously, things don’t go exactly as planned and Rambo as part of a special Black-Op team is sent to eliminate the threat.

Now I don’t mind them creating another sequel to this franchise. They did it last year ago with Rambo which was an amazing blend of action and ultra-violence, and three years ago with Rocky Balboa. For Stallone, who keep in mind is now 63, I can only say I can’t wait to see this film.

Now if you’re part of my generation (Gen-Y) and have only experienced Rambo by what you’ve heard and not actually seen the first film, you might be pleasantly surprised. Basically, the film starts out with John Rambo, a drifter and war veteran, passing through some nondescript American town, when he suddenly gets picked up by the cops for no reason refusing to leave the small town. After asking nicely for a sandwich and a motel to sleep at for the night, the battle begins between John Rambo and the law as he hightails it into the forest, eventually taking on the army commando-style. The film amounts to a pissing contest between the police chief and Rambo with both refusing to back down. Remember, don’t bring a gun to a knife fight, unless you’re facing John Rambo in which case your gun is pretty much worthless.

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Astro-Boy Trailer is Now Live

David Halpert — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 00:28:11 +0000

So it seems they’ve made an Astro-Boy movie. It will be released on October 28, 2009 by Imagi Animation Studios and will be distributed Freddie Highmore, Nicholas Cage, Donald Sutherland, Kristen Bell, Eugene Levy, and Nathan Lane.

According to Wikipedia (both because I’m lazy and because Astro-boy has been around for sixty years), Astroboy is an origin story set in futuristic Metro City, Astro Boy (Freddie Highmore) is about a young robot with incredible powers created by a brilliant scientist in the image of the son he had lost. Unable to fulfill the grieving man’s expectations, our hero embarks on a journey in search of acceptance, becoming part of a group of rowdy kids led by a girl named Cora (Kristen Bell), and experiencing betrayal and a netherworld of robot gladiators led by the greedy ring master, Ham Egg (Nathan Lane), before he returns to save Metro City and reconcile with the father (Nicolas Cage) who had rejected him.

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The Fourth Kind Trailer is Now Live

David Halpert — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 19:14:28 +0000

Little has been known about The Fourth Kind up until now but with the release of the first full trailer we do have some details surrounding the film. The Fourth Kind comes from J. Allen Hynek’s classification of close encounters with alien, where the fourth kind denotes an alien abduction. The film is set to star Milla Jovovich and will be released November 6, 2009 by Universal Pictures.

The film is based on actual events, and is set in Nome, Alaska a town with a disproportionate number of reported alien abductions over the last forty years.Milla Jovovich plays the part of psychotherapist Dr. Abigail Tyler, who videotapes interviews with the abductees, and begins to suspect a government cover up.

Final Destination 4 Tops Weekend Box Office

David Halpert — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 23:26:43 +0000

Was it really a surprise that Final Destination 4 would top box offices this week with all of the marketing and advertising that went in promotion of the film? The real question is whether this hot streak will last, or will it dowse to a flicker by next week’s end. I mean seriously, how hard is it to kill a couple of college kids? And how many ways are there really to see a girl’s head get cut off, apparently two, you can see it in 2-D or you can see it in 3-D.

This weekend Final Destination 4 topped the box office with US$28.3 million. Meanwhile the opening weekend for Rob Zombie’s sequel remake of Halloween 2 placed third with US$17.4 falling short of previous estimated sales. Meanwhile, Tarantino’s spaghetti-western “Inglorious Bastards” raked in another US$20 million bringing its cumulative two-week total to US$74 million.

Other films that topped this week’s list included Ang Lee’s directed feature “Taking Woodstock” which earned US$3.8 million and the Warner family film “Shorts” US$13.6 million bring its total to US$13.6.

‘Legion’ Trailer Released

David Halpert — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 23:20:35 +0000

One of the movies that caused a rather big stir at this year’s ComicCon was the much-anticipation film Legion. The film centers around a Rapture of sorts as thousands of angels bent on exterminating the entire human race descends upon the Earth with the intent of causing as much destruction in their wake. It seems the only thing standing in the way of God and the apocalypse is the Archangel Michael, meant to protect a pregnant waitress in the New Mexico desert whose baby is believed to be the second coming of Christ. (I don’t quite get it either).

The film stars such notables as Paul Bettany (the Da Vinci Code), Dennis Quaid (The Day After Tomorrow, Frequency), singer/actor Tyrese Gibson, and Lucas Black (Jarhead, Friday Night Lights). The film is set for a release date of January 22, 2010 and by the looks of this preview below should have no problem packing in theatres weeks after its debut. Check it out!

“The Lovely Bones” Trailer Released

David Halpert — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 00:06:45 +0000

“The Lovely Bones” by Alice Sebold was one of those books that once it was on the New York Times Bestseller’s List refused to come down. The novel quickly sold out its initial print run of 20,000 at Little, Brown & Company (considered a huge success for that publisher) before going off to becoming an instant bestseller, its hardcover then stayed on the New York Times Bestseller’s List for over a year.

There was no doubt in my mind that based on the success of this book that it would one day be adapted into a full-length feature film. Well, last week my prayers were answered when the first full trailer for the film was released by Dreamworks Pictures.

“In 1973, Susie Salmon is raped and murdered by a neighbor, George Harvey, a serial killer of young girls and women. She finds herself in Heaven, observing her family as they grieve for her. She also watches her killer who, having covered his tracks successfully, is preparing to murder again. Susie struggles to balance her desire for vengeance on Harvey and her desire to have her family recover from their loss.”

The film stars such notables Mark Wahlberg, Stanley Tucci, Rachel Weisz, and Susan Sarandon, but I think the most interesting aspect of this film is that it’s directed by Peter Jackson of Lord of the Rings fame. This being his newest film after 2005’s King Kong, I found it a little odd that Jackson would undergo with such a project as his movies are usually more epic in scope. Nevertheless, I’m sure he will do a fantastic job with this picture.

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Here is the trailer below for your viewing pleasure.

Fall Down the Rabbit Hole with the ‘Alice in Wonderland’ Trailer

David Halpert — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 23:26:11 +0000

If you haven’t witnessed the “Alice in Wonderland” trailer released at this year’s Comic-Com then you’ve been living under a rock. While I didn’t particularly care for Tim Burton’s adaptation of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory–and felt that it was created as a personal bet with himself as to whether or not it could be done–I thought watching this trailer who better to direct an updated version of Alice in Wonderland than Tim Burton.

Now while adaptations of Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass has been around for the past century, this film will uniquely combine live action, stop motion, and motion capture animation, in addition to CGI. Some notables attached to the film include Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter (of course!), Anne Hathaway as the White Queen, Stephen Fry as the Cheshire Cat, Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen, and Alan Rickman as the Caterpillar.

Set for a release date of March 5, 2010, the film will also feature Burton’s trademark dark tone and style. I can’t wait for this film, and honestly while Willy Wonka left little to be desired, this will likely be a sure hit for kids and adults alike.

Click Here to View the Works of Tim Burton on Amazon
Click Here to View the Works of Tim Burton on Ebay

Tron Legacy Trailer Released, Get Me My Light Cycle, I’m Going

David Halpert — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 23:24:50 +0000

Now a lot of you will probably blame me for having a lot of posts this week being trailer-heavy as a result Comic Con but really I’m just extremely excited about the films to hit the big screen next year. Case in point, the sequel to Disney’s 1982 cult classic Tron, entitled Tron Legacy.

Now there was a lot of speculation surrounding this film and whether or not it would actually be made into a full length feature by Disney, but the trailer below is more than proof. It’ll be interesting to see how the now-adult viewers of the first film will bring their own kids to the sequel and keep in mind most of these children have most likely never seen or heard of Tron altogether.

So what do we know?

Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund), the tech-savvy 27-year-old son of Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges), looks into his father’s disappearance and finds himself pulled into the same world of fierce programs and gladiatorial games where his father has been living for 25 years. Along with Kevin’s loyal confidant (Olivia Wilde), father and son embark on a life-and-death journey across a visually-stunning cyber universe that has become far more advanced and exceedingly dangerous.

For those that remember the first film, judge for yourselves whether or not this movie is a worthwhile investment by Disney or money being flushed down the toilet by watching the trailer below.

Raimi to Direct ‘World of Warcraft’ Movie

David Halpert — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 23:30:47 +0000

According to a recent article in Variety, Sam Raimi, the legendary director that brought out such classics as Spiderman and the Evil Dead series will be slated to direct the live-action adaptation of the popular online role-playing game “World of Warcraft”. The film will be produced and distributed by Warner Bros. Raimi plans to begin pre-production once he completes work on his latest film “Spiderman 4” which according to the article gets underway early next year by Columbia Pictures.

Now I can probably talk endlessly on why video-game-to-film adaptations are almost always doomed to fail, or how the screenwriters are going to accomplish the task of writing a script for such an open-ended concept of a video game—not to say it couldn’t be done, I’d imagine the final product would turn out to be something en par with Beowulf once it’s completed—however, World of Warcraft is in the unique position of being a subscription-based service rather than a stand-alone product.

While customers do have to purchase the initial software of the game itself, the monthly subscription rates (usually $20) is what often drives these sales. “World of Warcraft” has 11.5 million subscribers according to Blizzard Entertainment and currently hold the Guinness Record for the most popular massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) so there’s no question there’s an audience out there that will shell out the dough to see this movie, others fear that it has the potential to significantly damage the franchise.

On that final note, I’ll let you decide. In the meantime here is some awesome machinima for your viewing pleasure.

Box of Shadows Starts Filming in LA

David Halpert — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 23:56:41 +0000

“Box of shadows” centers around a group of college friends who discover a 15th-century coffin that allows them to experience the world as ghosts. While their first adventures in the spirit world are playful and innocent, the “box of shadows” soon brings out the group’s most dangerous impulses and desires. The friends find themselves pulled into a world of evil where they learn the line between life and death is there for a reason.

Mauro Borrelli, best known as a visual effect artist, was first brought to the U.S. from Italy by Francis Ford Coppola to work on Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

Since then, Borrelli has worked non-stop as a conceptual artist on some of the biggest Hollywood movies and with some of the most talented directors in town. His filmography includes Godzilla, The Hulk, Planet of the Apes, Pirates of the Caribbean 2 & 3, Tropic Thunder, and the Wolf Man. Borrelli is also an accomplished director. His first feature Goodbye Casanova, starring Flea (the Red Hot Chili Peppers), won several festival awards. Lionsgate Home Entertainment distributed Haunted Forest, completed in 2007.

“Box of Shadows is a chance to bring some of the big budget techniques I have learned to a smaller, edgier film,” says Borrelli. “It’s a very different kind of ghost story. Although you have classical elements like ghosts and hauntings, you also have a story that deals with addiction and uncontrolled desire in a very modern way. What would happen if you had a machine you knew was deadly but could help you get everything you ever wanted? Would you use it?”

The edgy supernatural thriller, with screenplay written by Borrelli and Scott Svatos, marks visionary filmmaker Borrelli’s third feature. For updates follow them on Twitter at www.twitter.com/boxofshadows.