Posts Tagged ‘sequel’

It sounds crazy, but the remedy for a so-so prequel just might in fact be a sequel

Dear Universal Pictures,

Just an idea, but maybe you should dare to follow your prequel of The Thing with a sequel to John Carpenter’s The Thing, and make it a follow-up reminiscent of James Cameron’s Aliens.

In my review of Heijningen Jr.’s recently released prequel I note how transparent it is that what he really made was actually more of a remake. And although there is still a rather large cultural resistance to horror remakes (I’m going by fan forums here, not box office numbers), such a fact should not really be held against Heijningen Jr. himself. More appropriately, any hostility towards this truth should be directed at you because it was you who insisted on making a “prequel” that in this particular case couldn’t have been anything else but a remake. One way you could redeem yourself of this misguided decision, though, is by seriously entertaining the above suggestion.

It sounds almost paradoxical for me to suggest that the way to make up for a poorly conceived remake is to base another related story on a film that so many – including myself – consider a classic of such status that to even joke about “tampering” with it might be tantamount to heresy, but hear me out.

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Short Take: Decidedly loyal, but not afraid to break new ground

Director: Nimr0d Antal (debut)

Screenwriters: Alex Litvak, Michael Finch

Cast: Adrien Brody (Splice), Alice Braga (Repo Men), Topher Grace (Spider-Man 3), Lawrence Fishburne (TV’s C.S.I.), Danny Trejo (Grindhouse), Walton Goggins (TV’s Justified)

Length: 1h 46m

Synopsis: After mysteriously arriving on an alien planet that resembles the jungles of our own, 8 random people find themselves confused and paranoid, reluctant to trust one another but determined to find answers. Before long they realize that their purpose on this strange world is to be prey to an advanced alien species that finds the idea of hunting synonymous with sport. Not coincidentally, all 8 members of the abducted group are killers themselves in one way or another (mercenary, Spetsnaz, serial killer, R.U.F., etc.), and so they must rely on their predatory instincts to survive. The only question is, which predators will come out on top?

Warning: This review contains information that some might consider spoiling Read the rest of this entry »

Short Take: Delivers nothing less than what you would expect from Pixar

Director: Lee Unkrich (co-director of Toy Story 2, Monster’s Inc., Finding Nemo)

Screenwriters: Michael Arndt (Little Miss Sunshine), John Lasseter (Toy Story, Toy Story 2), Andrew Stanton (Monster’s Inc., WALL-E), Lee Unkrich

Cast: Tom Hanks (The Da Vinci Code), Tim Allen (The Santa Clause 3), Joan Cusack (Kit Kittredge), Ned Beatty (Charlie Wilson’s War)

Length: 1h 43m

Synopsis: Woody (Hanks) and Buzz (Allen) and the gang are preparing themselves for the day that they knew would eventually come, and that day is when their owner Andy (now 17 years old) heads off to college and relegates his toys to either the attic or place of donation. All the toys are in a panic, and despite Woody’s efforts to calm them their hysteria is just too great. What ends up happening to them is that they are given away to a nearby daycare center where they are met with many other toys, but also some unruly toddlers. These hyperactive tots viciously mistreat their new toys, and on top of that not all of the daycare’s older toys are quite what they seem to be. All of Andy’s old toys decide they must somehow reunite with him, but figuring out how to do that will be their biggest challenge yet. Read the rest of this entry »

Oliver Stone

The Hollywood Reporter has published an interview it conducted with acclaimed director Oliver Stone about his newest movie Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps which will be Stone’s first official entry in the Cannes Film Festival. The longtime director has had several of his films shown at Cannes, but none had so far been in the running for any awards.

The first half of the interview talks about Stone’s involvement with the Cannes festival, the level of which has pretty much been simply showing a film once every several years minus a 20th anniversary showing of Platoon in 2006. The second half of the interview talks about Stone’s intentions behind making a sequel to Wall Street even though the original released back in 1987.

What the director goes on to detail are his research methods and reasoning for releasing the sequel at this point in time. He claims to feel that Wall Street 2 will symbolize a sort of bookend to the original in regards to the recent debauchery and history of the real Wall Street. The first film set things up by showing how out of hand stock market dealing was getting, and this sequel, set to acknowledge the news-breaking happenings on Wall Street over the past two years, will show what can become of such practices.

Through the course of his research, Stone tried his best to talk to banks, trading companies, anyone with inside knowledge that could help make the film more accurate and palpable. He had a good amount of luck, but couldn’t get as much information as he would have liked.

“We got the perspectives of some of the people who bet against, the shorts, some of the bankers who had worked there, we met with people who had worked with the old system and the new system, we met with a few people who worked at Lehman Brothers. Bear Stearns — we met with someone there. We got an overview. But the banks closed their doors, including locations. They did not want us anywhere close.” – HR

We recommend reading the whole interview to find out exactly what Mr. Stone went through to research the film, get it off the ground, and shoot it. For those of you interested in learning more about exactly what has been going wrong on Wall Street the past few years, Wall Street 2 should prove to be at least moderately enlightening. We’ll be sure to keep tabs on the movie and keep you posted. It opens September 24th.

Short Take: Shows more promise in future Marvel films than in itself. Entertaining, but disjointed.

Director: Jon Favreau (Iron Man, Elf)

Screenwriter: Justin Theroux (Tropic Thunder)

Cast: Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man, Sherlock Holmes, Tropic Thunder), Don Cheadle (Brooklyn’s Finest, Hotel Rwanda, Ocean’s 11), Gwyneth Paltrow (Two Lovers, Iron Man), Scarlett Johansson (He’s Just Not That Into You, The Spirit, Vicky Christina Barcelona), Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler, Domino, Sin City), Sam Rockwell (Everybody’s Fine, Moon, Frost/Nixon)

Length: 2 hours 4 minutes

Synopsis: Picking up where the last film left off, the film follows Tony Stark (Downey Jr.) as he struggles to overcome a number of obstacles after revealing he is Iron Man.  Stark fights to keep the U.S. government from taking the Iron Man technology while also competing with fellow arms businessman Justin Hammer (Rockwell).  However, Stark has bigger problems like Ivan Vanko (Rourke), an angry nemesis out for revenge against the Stark family, as well as the threat that the piece of machinery keeping him alive may also be slowly killing him.  On top of all this, Stark tries to cultivate his budding romance with Pepper Potts (Paltrow) while also flirting with his mysterious new personal assistant Natalie (Johansson). Read the rest of this entry »

Director Joseph Kosinski at Comic Con 2009

For those of you who missed it, ComingSoon.net published the first of three articles documenting their visit to the set of Tron Legacy this past week, which is the long anticipated sequel to the sci-fi cult classic Tron (1982). This first piece covers a number of elements about the project but mainly focuses on detailing the circumstances which have led the film to being made at this point in time.

One such detail is Disney’s (who owns the rights to the franchise) decision to hire Joseph Kosinski to direct the movie. For starters, he is a first-time director with a background primarily in commercials and his studies are rooted in architecture (he has a Masters from Columbia University in the field), which make him a peculiar candidate for the job. Nevertheless, everyone seems convinced that he withholds a great vision for the film. Steven Lisberger, the director of the original film, is fulfilling a consultant’s role on set and also is encouraged by the work Kosinski’s doing.

Actor Jeff Bridges, also from the original, is reprising his role as programmer Kevin Flynn. His role here wont be very big because his character’s son is the main protagonist this time around, but it is nevertheless integral to the story and helps bridge the gap between the two stories.

“Joe, our director, was an architect,” says Bridges. “That’s where he’s coming from. It’s interesting, different filmmakers, where they come from and what they bring to the film and he’s an architect and so the film has a very heightened design feel to it. By the way, this is his first film. Can you imagine? I don’t know if it’s the most expensive ever made but it’s right up there. To have a first-time guy… Got to give Disney credit for taking that risk. They were smart because he’s such a calm, can-do guy. He’s gonna pull this off. He’s out of commercials, and I saw some of the technology that he had available to him that he could use. It was basically the same reason that I did the first one.” – ComingSoon.net

For those interested in keeping up with Tron Legacy until its eventual release in mid-December, this set visit article series is definitely something to check out and keep checking up on. This opening article steers clear of spoilers, and because ComingSoon.net is publishing it you can feel pretty safe that you wont run into them later on.