Posts Tagged ‘Sigourney Weaver’

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: Not without intrigue, but flawed in its invention

Director: Matthijs van Heijningen Jr.

Screenwriter: Eric Heisserer; John W. Campbell Jr. (Who Goes There? novella)

Cast: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Joel Edgerton, Eric Christian Olseen, Ulrich Thomsen

Length: 1h 43m

Synopsis: The following story takes place shortly before the events of John Carpenter’s 1982 film of the same title. A great scientific discovery has just been made in the wastelands of Antarctica, and top experts of various kinds are being assembled to research and document it. Paleontologists Kate (Winstead) and Adam (Olseen) are recruited by the venture’s director Dr. Halvorson (Thomsen), but exactly what their tasks will be remains a mystery to them until they’re shown what their dealing with. What the inexplicably curious discovery turns out to be is the remains of a giant alien spacecraft and a frozen specimen suspended in ancient ice. That specimen, they regret to find, is not as inanimate as one would assume. Incredibly, there is still cellular activity, and each cell is capable of imitating any foreign cell it comes into contact with. Before long the abstraction is able to, after killing them, perfectly impersonate whole people. Kate, Adam, and the rest must determine which of their fellow researchers are things, and fight to make sure they don’t reach civilization to infect the rest of the world. With so dangerous and cunning a species, this is far easier said than done.

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Short Take: Underwritten and poorly acted. What has happened to John Singleton?

Director: John Singleton

Screenwriter: Shawn Christensen

Cast: Taylor Lautner, Lily Collins, Alfred Molina, Maria Bello, Jason Isaacs, Sigourney Weaver

Length: 1h 46m

Synopsis: Nathan (Lautner) is a teenage boy who after finding his photo on a missing persons website has begun to suspect that his parents Kevin (Isaacs) and Mara (Bello) aren’t who they claim to be. The night they come clean is when strange men break into their house and try to kidnap Nathan, however he and his friend Karen (Collins), who just happened to be visiting, are able to escape. The strange men work for a Russian mercenary group and believe Nathan holds something of value to them. Because of their involvement Nathan and Karen are also being chased by the CIA, who claim to want to help. Not knowing who to trust the teenaged duo decide to do what they can to stay alive on their own and discover the truth for themselves. Unfortunately, they aren’t bound to like what they find.

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Short Take: Jaw-dropping visuals, and a list of relevant messages

Director: James Cameron (Titanic)

Screenwriter: James Cameron (Titanic)

Cast: Sam Worthington (Terminator: Salvation), Zoe Saldana (Star Trek), Sigourney Weaver (Prayers for Bobby), Stephen Lang (Public Enemies)

Length: 2h 42m

Synopsis: Humans have landed on an earth-like alien planet named Pandora, where they hope to collect precious minerals that are worth unimaginable sums. Standing in their way are an indigenous people called the Na’vi (pronounced Nah-vee), whose physical prowess and territorial rigidity have made diplomatic resolutions exceedingly difficult. In the mix is a man who is able to take control of his own alien body and permeate the Na’vi’s intense and scrupulous social boundaries in order to persuade them to peacefully make way for the humans. Read the rest of this entry »

A still of Zoe Saldana from "Avatar"

ComingSoon.net has published a transcript of a panel discussion that took place in London involving director James Cameron and the cast of his new movie Avatar. The documented Q and A session is moderately long, and goes into great detail about the film and how its creators felt about it on various levels. The questions are precise and demand complex answers, and said answers are elaborate and insightful. Cameron and the cast seemed to make sure to be as articulate as possible, and as a result they provide a wealth of information about both themselves and the film. The questions range from the typical “how did ___ make you feel,” to discussing the difference between seeing and “really seeing” and their relationship to the film and its story.

If you’re curious and/or interested about Avatar we would like to strongly recommend that you take a close look at this transcript. It contains less than a handful of the most minor of spoilers, which if you’re someone who’s been keeping up with the film they might not be new to you anyways.