Rama’s SCREEN

Well, this is just sad, if there’s a sequel that makes you hope the franchise would stop right there and then once and for all, it’s this one. THE MUMMY: TOMB OF THE DRAGON EMPEROR is like an unpleasant thrill ride. You’re treated with… Read more

Not too long ago, there were lo-res images of these posters and now from Warner Bros., via comingsoon, here are 7 Hi-Res New Character Posters of WATCHMEN that were showcased at the Comic-Con last week.

* Click on these images to enlarge

Plot: A complex, multi-layered mystery adventure, “Watchmen” is set in an alternate 1985 America in which costumed superheroes are part of the fabric of everyday society, and the “Doomsday Clock” - which charts the USA’s tension with the Soviet Union - is permanently set at five minutes to midnight. When one of his former colleagues is murdered, the washed-up but no less determined masked vigilante Rorschach sets out to uncover a plot to kill and discredit all past and present superheroes. As he reconnects with his former crime-fighting legion - a ragtag group of retired superheroes, only one of whom has true powers - Rorschach glimpses a wide-ranging and disturbing conspiracy with links to their shared past and catastrophic consequences for the future. Their mission is to watch over humanity…but who is watching the watchmen?

WATCHMEN opens March 6th, 2009

It was previously reported that Pierce Brosnan is going to star in THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR 2.
Don’t know yet if they’re gonna stick to a simple title like that or if there’s going to be an official full movie title down the line, eventually.

Instead of paintings, this time the great thief Thomas Crown will be stealing diamonds.
In my opinion, it’d be like a slightly classier version of Pierce Brosnan’s previous diamond theft movie, After the Sunset.

Pierce Brosnan spoke to USA TODAY, saying that the new movie will use a sliver of the 1964’s Topkapi.

As far as who’s going to replace Rene Russo… there’s word that Angelina Jolie might be the one to take her place.
Either way, the former James Bond has a strategy to prepare himself for this sequel that demands nothing less than sexy.

“I will have to go to the gym to get rid of my Mamma Mia! middle.”

After seeing the movies The Matador and Mamma Mia!…. I’d have to agree.. he’s a little fat, who the hell wants to see a fat Pierce Brosnan?!
Somebody like Philip Seymour Hoffman can keep his fat because no matter what, Philip is one amazingly talented actor.
Pierce is not that talented… He needs his 007 looks and body to keep his charm and draw audiences.

THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR 2 will be directed by Paul Verhoeven (Showgirls, Basic Instinct) and it will arrive in 2009

For those of you who can’t wait to see Jake Gylenhaal be the main star in the live action movie adaptation PRINCE OF PERSIA based on the popular video game series, well, unfortunately you’re going to have to wait a little longer.
Via comingsoon.net, Walt Disney Pictures has pushed back the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced PRINCE OF PERSIA: SANDS OF TIME all the way to May 28th, 2010 instead of the previous release date,June 19, 2009
Maybe Disney’s afraid to go up against TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN which opens June 26th, 2009

With the new release date, it’s not all good news… The other contenders in 2010 during that month are the movie SHREK GOES FOURTH and a week before would be Marvel Studios’ THOR.
Good luck, Disney & Jerry Bruckheimer!
Let the game begin and may the best one win!

Plot:
In the fantasy adventure based on Ubisoft’s popular video game, Gyllenhaal will play Dastan, a young prince in sixth century Persia who must join forces with Tamina (Arterton), a feisty and exotic princess, to prevent a villainous nobleman from possessing the Sands of Time, a gift from the gods that can reverse time and allow its possessor to rule the world.

Man, that was some evening. Here’s another evening-to-remember movie for you, The Trailer for NICK AND NORAH’S INFINITE PLAYLIST is now online! Watch it using the media player below. Is it something you’d find appealing?

A comedy about two people thrust together for one hilarious, sleepless night of adventure in a world of mix tapes, late-night living, and, live, loud music. Nick (Michael Cera) frequents New York’s indie rock scene nursing a broken heart and a vague ability to play the bass. Norah (Kat Dennings) is questioning pretty much all of her assumptions about the world. Though they have nothing in common except for their taste in music, their chance encounter leads to an all-night quest to find a legendary band’s secret show and ends up becoming the first date in a romance that could change both their lives.

NICK AND NORAH’S INFINITE PLAYLIST opens October 3rd, 2008

I have to be away for a little while now, but I’ll be back later on in the evening to give you more updates from the world of movies. Meanwhile, via moviefone, check out this theatrical trailer for Robert De Niro’s New comedyWHAT JUST HAPPENED?

Plot:
Inspired by the personal memoirs of Hollywood producer Art Linson, Barry Levinson’s fictional showbiz comedy stars Robert De Niro as a struggling movie producer who has just suffered through his second divorce, and slowly finds his soul being grounded by the pressure of making the next movie.

WHAT JUST HAPPENED? opens October 3rd, 2008

I’ve mentioned before to you before, Tropic Thunder has a viral site called RAIN OF MADNESS and now the website released a new video clip from the mockumentary featuring Danny McBride who was downright hilarious in the movie.

* Heads up! Strong foul language!

TROPIC THUNDER opens August 13th, 2008

This weekend, a great little movie called SIXTY SIX might open in theaters near you. Feel free to read my review on the movie anytime.

A few days ago, thanks to special ops media, I got the opportunity to interview the director whose real life childhood story was the basis for this movie. His name is Paul Weiland.

Some of you might be familiar with the romantic comedy titled Made of Honor starring Patrick Dempsey and Michelle Monahan. Well, Paul Weiland directed that one. But the interview was about Sixty Six which centers around a Jewish kid whose Bat Mitzvah party happened to fall on the same date as The World Cup Finals of 1966.

Understanding British accent has always been a challenge to me. That’s why I have to use subtitled whenever I watch Harry Potter movies on DVD. Director Paul Weiland has thick British accent but I’m willing to try to understand every word he said.

Our conversation was done over the phone. He was in London and I was in sunny Southern California. How cool is that!
He was nice enough to give 15 minutes of his time.

The movie is said to be based on your real life childhood experience, how much of it is accurate and how much of it was added into the storyline?

“Everything was accurate, absolute story… the people were based on those I grew up with, some things and some of the names were changed for theatrical purposes and to protect the family.
It’s an accurate sorta period movie. The whole room, the paintings. We even used the same original props and the same place I got picked on when I was a kid, and the same synagogue I got my Bat Mitzvah in”

What motivated you to take your childhood story and turn it into a movie?

“It happened at my 50th Birthday Party, I made a speech and in the speech, I included the story of how when I was a child, my Bat Mitzvah happened during the World Cup finals. Afterwards one of them came up to me and said that I should make a movie out of it….
I didn’t want a Jewish writer to pen the script because I didn’t want it to be too cartoony.”

Let’s talk about the cast here, Gregg Sulkin.. the kid who plays the character Bernie who is supposedly a representation of you when you were a kid. How did he get the role?

“I grew up in a working class environment. The neighborhood now is filled with different cultures and ethnics but there were many working class Jewish people back then… we were looking among hundreds of possible child actors,… I knew Greg’s father and the boy came in… he was kinda handsome so we had to ‘geek’ him up a bit.”

How did Helena Bonham Carter and Eddie Marsan get involved in this? I’m asking this because Helena is used to starring in Tim Burton’s big budget movies. How did you convince her to play the role of the mother?

“Helena and I are good friends, she was the birthday party, the one I told you about…. when she heard that we were planning to make a movie about it, she said she wanted to play my mum…. and so now anytime we meet, she’ll say to me ‘hello, son!’ and I’ll say to her, ‘hello, mum!’
“Eddie Marsan is a wonderful, talented actor who was great in the movie Vera Drake. We wanted him to play the father but there was some scheduling problem because he was set to star in some HBO pilot but something happened and the series didn’t happen… we were lucky to have him play my father”

This movie was released in the UK back in 2006 and then it went from one film festival to another and now it will hit select theaters in the U.S. this weekend. Why did it take such a long time to finally be seen by audiences here?

“I think it was mostly the studio’s decision…. back in 2006 when the movie was released, we went up against a big blockbuster movie called Borat. The whole situation was just like my Bat Mitzvah going against the World Cup finals.
The movie did all right. Jewish people embraced it and adopted the movie very well…. and now we believe that it will find audience in the U.S. as well.”

What do you hope for people to get out of watching this movie? What lesson would you want families and kids who are growing up to learn from this heartwarming, surprisingly inspiring story?

“We can choose our friends but we can’t choose our family. The movie actually has an alternate ending but the point remains.
Things don’t have to stay bad, you can make things better if you’d just believe in yourself.”

In the past, you were associated with the popular comedy series Mr. BEAN, but you did not direct any of the BEAN movies. Would you direct the third movie?

“No…
I mean, I’d love to work with Rowan Atkinson again, we did the movie Backadder Back and Forth, I’d love to work with him again.. but Not on the character ‘Bean’”

What is your next project and can you say something about it?
“My next project will be a sequel called 69… I’m joking” (laugh)

Arsenal FC or Manchester United FC?
“I would have to say… Manchester United, they have so many trophies.”

There thousands of comic books that I haven’t read and THE GOON is one of them, I better hurry quick because the CG animated movie version is going to be released soon, via moviesonline, here is the teaser poster.
* Click on the image to enlarge

Produced by David Fincher (Zodiac, Fight Club), this poster was recently seen at the Comic-Con.
You can also check out Eric Powell’s Myspace Page.

Currently the film has no plot. Created by Eric Powell in 1999, the comic follows the adventures of a muscle-bound brawler who claims to be the primary enforcer for a feared mobster. The stories have a paranormal and comedic edge to them and concern ghosts, zombies, mad scientists and “skunk apes.” Dark Horse has been publishing the comic since 2003.

I really enjoyed the movie THE X-FILES: I WANT TO BELIEVE, I thought it was more profound and more of a character study than its predecessor X-Files: Fight the Future, which was entertaining as well.

But being that the sequel movie was released the second weekend after The Dark Knight and most other critics gave it a so-so reviews. Sadly, Writer/Director Chris Carter’s second effort to bring back Mulder and Scully to the big screen was only rewarded with a disappointing $10 million in its first opening weekend.

Most movie watchers just don’t know how to appreciate good movies like this one.
If Chris Carter wants to make a third installment, he has my vote, speaking of which, Via IGN, he did talk about the possibility of X-FILES 3 The Movie…

“We had really good fun doing this movie — we have high hopes for it and we just want people to like it. If people do want to come and see it we’ll certainly be talking about another movie.”

Will he bring the aliens back? I kinda like how the story focuses on the relationship between Mulder and Scully and the superstitious phenomenon serves only as a backdrop, as something complimentary to the storyline.
Besides, George Lucas seems to be doing that department by incorporating aliens and spaceship into Indiana Jones movie.

But it would be definitely cool to return to the alien stuff that Mulder’s been obsessed with all his life.

“We love the alien storyline too, but we felt coming back this time — when a story like this was not only true to the series but allows us to focus on Mulder and Scully more, you don’t have to deal with all the complications in the alien storyline. But if there were to be more films — and we’re not at all taking it for granted that there will be — but if there were that’s something we would definitely want to get back to…”

He also mentioned when exactly a third movie might become possible in the near future. He’s referring to the date which is referenced in several episodes and marks the date of the alien invasion and colonization of Earth.

“There’s a date in the X-Files mythology — December 22, 2012 — that is very important. We’d certainly love to do something with that!”

Via Empire, here is the UK Poster (click on it to enlarge) for RIGHTEOUS KILL, the thriller that reunites two screen legends, Robert De Niro and Al Pacino since their last collaboration in Michael Mann’s Heat.

Directed by Jon Avnet (88 Minutes) and also starring Carla Gugino, John Leguizamo, and Brian Denehy, the story is about a pair of veteran New York City police detectives who are on the trail of a vigilante serial killer. After 30 years as partners in the pressure cooker environment of the NYPD, highly decorated Detectives David Fisk and Thomas Cowan should be ready for retirement, but aren’t. Before they can hang up their badges, they are called in to investigate the murder of a notorious pimp, which appears to have ties to a case they solved years before. Like the original murder, the victim is a suspected criminal whose body is found accompanied by a four line poem justifying the killing. When additional crimes take place, it becomes clear the detectives are looking for a serial killer, one who targets criminals that have fallen through the cracks of the judicial system. His mission is to do what the cops can’t do on their own–take the culprits off the streets for good. The similarities between the recent killings and their earlier case raise a nagging question: Did they put the wrong man behind bars?

Folks living in the UK might get the better lookin’ posters but they have to wait til September 26th, 2008 to watch this movie, whereas we here in the U.S. will get to see RIGHTEOUS KILL as early as September 12th, 2008

Via Cinematical, here is the official poster for THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES, a movie based on Sue Monk Kidd’s best-selling novel which has a fanbase. Not as big as Harry Potter of course.
But the movie has star studded cast which includes Queen Latifah, Jennifer Hudson, Dakota Fanning, Alicia Keys and Sophee Okonedo.
So let’s see, judging those names, Oscar nominee, Oscar winner,future Oscar nominee maybe, not good at acting and another Oscar nominee.

I’m sure this BEES movie would be one of those inspiring heartfelt dramas but I’d be more excited if it was the sequel to Seinfeld’s Bee Movie instead.

Here’s a very short clip from the movie, THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES

Plot:
Set in South Carolina in 1964, the film is the moving tale of Lily Owens (Fanning) a 14 year-old girl who is haunted by the memory of her late mother (Burton). To escape her lonely life and troubled relationship with her father (Bettany), Lily flees with Rosaleen (Hudson), her caregiver and only friend, to a South Carolina town that holds the secret to her mother’s past. Taken in by the intelligent and independent Boatwright sisters (Latifah, Okonedo and Keys), Lily finds solace in their mesmerizing world of beekeeping, honey and the Black Madonna.

THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES opens October 17th, 2008

Via movieweb, I guess today it’s yet another stuff from the gossiptown. Ever since the success of THE DARK KNIGHT which currently is earning $400 million and counting, people have been wondering what would happen in the third movie, if there’s third movie, especially.. which villains are going to be featured

Some say The Riddler should be the villain. I remember last year there were rumor that actor Anthony Michael Hall might be set up to become The Riddler eventually but turned out that he only plays an achorman/journalist for GCN in TDK.

So the rumor right now is… Johnny Depp as The Riddler and Philip Seymour Hoffman as The Penguin.

What do you think?
How would they fit into Christopher Nolan’s dark and psychological vision of the Batman universe?
Would they do a better job than Jim Carrey (Batman Forever) and Danny De Vito (Batman Returns)

Somebody at gbfans.com made this photoshop image, suggesting a live action GHOSTBUSTERS 3 starring Seth Rogen, Romany Malco, Paul Rudd, and Steve Carell to take the place of Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Bill Murray and Harold Ramis.
There is no third installment in the works. Despite Ernie Hudson wanting do the gig again in a heartbeat, the fact remains that GHOSTBUSTERS 3 is Not happening, at least not in the near future.
In fact, Ghostbusters The Video Game supposedly is the third sequel.

But that’s the thing with rumor/gossip. It’s always fun to imagine ‘what if’
What do you think?

Empire has done it again. It’s got great history of featuring awesome movie characters in its cover. The latest issue will headline WATCHMEN, the comic adaptation directed by Zack Snyder. People at the Comic-Con told me I should read the graphic novel first because the story is so intricate and there are profound subtexts that include meanings and themes that you’ll only get if you go over it again the second and third time around and on and on and on. If I do read it, then it’ll be the first comic book I read after long years of hiatus.
The website also holds some new images including a great look at the Night Owl’s ship.
Click on any of these images to enlarge

Plot: A complex, multi-layered mystery adventure, “Watchmen” is set in an alternate 1985 America in which costumed superheroes are part of the fabric of everyday society, and the “Doomsday Clock” - which charts the USA’s tension with the Soviet Union - is permanently set at five minutes to midnight. When one of his former colleagues is murdered, the washed-up but no less determined masked vigilante Rorschach sets out to uncover a plot to kill and discredit all past and present superheroes. As he reconnects with his former crime-fighting legion - a ragtag group of retired superheroes, only one of whom has true powers - Rorschach glimpses a wide-ranging and disturbing conspiracy with links to their shared past and catastrophic consequences for the future. Their mission is to watch over humanity…but who is watching the watchmen?

WATCHMEN opens March 6th, 2009

Why is it that sometimes foreign posters of movies look so much cooler than the poster that they release for U.S. theaters? Man, that Death Race logo is nothing short of awesome! Via Impawards, here are German posters of DEATH RACE and EAGLE EYE

* Click on the images to enlarge

DEATH RACE opens August 22nd, 2008
EAGLE EYE opens September 26th, 2008

Filmz.ru took photos of three character posters of TWILIGHT at the Con last week. The posters feature Edward (Robert Pattinson) and Bella (Kristen Stewart)
I guess these will do until I receive better quality versions of these… painting-like images.
This Vampire teen romance movie opens nationwide December 12th, 2008.
* Click on these images to slightly enlarge

VENOM is one of the coolest villains in Spider-Man universe, too bad his image and reputation was ruined when the skinny dork, uncool Topher Grace played the role in the lame sequel disaster Spider-Man 3.

Seeing that X-Men movie has a spin-off feature action film titled X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERIN, which opens May 1st, 2009,.. Sony Pictures is thinking…’mmm.. maybe we can do something similar’

According to Hollywood Reporter, Sony Pictures is moving forward with VENOM The Movie a potential “Spider-Man” spinoff based on a bad guy.
This is done due to the fact that bad guys are gaining popularity nowadays, like Heath Ledger’s The Joker.
It’s not really radical and tricky because at another camp, Djimon Hounsou is set to play a villain character spinoff from the movie Conan the Barbarian, THULSA DOOM

But here’s the thing, Sony is doing one thing right and one thing wrong this new project.

One thing right is,…they’re eyeing somebody else to play VENOM instead of Topher Grace because Sony is not convinced Topher can carry a tentpole picture.
Good thinking! My sentiments exactly! Who the hell wants to see Topher Grace as the lead role for a whole movie?!
There are better, tougher actors out there who would be more convincing to play Eddie Brock/Venom.

One thing wrong is… The studio had commissioned a draft of the script from Jacob Estes, a writer of the specialty film MEAN CREEK.
Ya see… Mean Creek sucked balls! So handing something as big as this to a guy who’s behind something that sucks is not, I repeat not a good idea.

By the way, a friendly reminder from your friendly neighborhood movie buff, the sequel movie SPIDERMAN 4 which is written by Jason Vanderbilt will be released in 2011

To learn more about what the character Venom is all about, just click on the image below

According to Nikki Finke’s Deadline Hollywood, the spy who became a love guru, Mike Myers is writing AUSTIN POWERS 4 and it’s loosely based on his relationship with his father… that could only mean that the new comedy will focus mostly on Dr. Evil and his son Scott Evil, played by Seth Green.

There’s no deal set in place yet but I don’t think New Line/Warner would have any objection.

Do we really need AUSTIN POWERS 4?
You’re not sick and tired of the franchise yet?
The Love Guru was a disaster at the box office, does this mean Mike Myers’ comedy/humor has lost its mojo?
Will he still be able to attract audiences again?
Do you like how the direction is headed or would rather see more of Austin Powers instead of Dr. Evil?

Speak of the devil, I just mentioned this movie very briefly in the previous post and now HoyCinema has the New Hi-Res promo picture of Goku (Justin Chatwin) and Bulma (Emmy Rossum) from DRAGON BALL The Movie. I’m still not sold. Great picture though.

* Click on the image to enlarge

DRAGON BALL opens April 10th, 2009