Rama’s SCREEN

Variety has an interesting article that brought me to this this segment of DARE 2 DISCUSS. Here are some interesting facts surrounding the upcoming most anticipated movie of fall 2008, TWILIGHT…

- More than 500 Thursday midnight shows sold out, according to online ticketer Fandango.

- According to MovieTickets.com, nearly 400 runs of Twilight are sold out for the weekend.

- Summit has to add midnight screenings in advance of Friday’s official opening based on demand

- Today, hundreds of Twilight fangirls camped out to get a glimpse of the red carpet premiere

- I received e-mails from Rama’s SCREEN female readers who asked me if I can hook them up with tickets to the TWILIGHT Premiere screening.

- There are reportedly 8,000 members of fan club Twilight Moms.

- Survey found that 65% said it was the love story that appealed to them most, while 18% said it was the vampire aspect

There’s been at trend based on the strength of fangirls everywhere..

- SEX AND THE CITY Movie surprised everyone when it earned $57 million in its opening weekend (an unheard of opening gross for a chick flick)

- Disney’s HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 3 opened to $42 million

I thought I was a crazy moviegoer,… geez! I’d go to theaters every weekend, and I’d watch an average of 5-6 movies in theaters every weekend. I’d probably be willing to camp out for The Dark Knight sequel premiere, but not so much for.. say… Star Wars movies like some of the people I know who’d even dress up in costumes for the event.
Aren’t female moviefans tend to be much calmer than guys when admiring a movie? Or is that a wrong assumption?

Are girls Crazier moviegoers than guys?

If you’ve seen the New Bond movie QUANTUM OF SOLACE, I wanna hear your opinions, what did you think about it?
Is it better than Casino Royale?
Is Daniel Craig everything you hoped for in James Bond?
Are the Bond girls the best you’ve seen so far in this franchise?
Hate it or Love it, why?
Say it out loud in the comment section below.

Flavorwire had a conversation with comic artist Tim Sale who with writer Jeph Loeb had created some Batman graphic novels including The Long Halloween and Dark Victory, a title which happens to be Christian Bale’s favorite. Tim Sale implied that it wouldn’t hurt to have Robin in the next Batman movie, that is if WB and Chris Nolan wanted to go that direction, which they currently don’t.

“Far be it from me to give Nolan and company advice, but I suppose if he is looking around Jeph and I did another Batman-related story called ‘Dark Victory’ that goes into the origin of Robin

“Jeph had to drag me to the idea of Robin kicking and screaming, but then I started living with a single mom, and she had an 8-year-old boy who over the years became more Robin-ish. Jeph based Bruce and Dick’s relationship on mine with the boy, that push-and-pull. Dark Victory shows the change of Gotham from a town overrun by gangsters into a town that is governed by ‘freaks’ (Jeph’s term). His creation of triumvirate of Batman/Dent/Gordon — what they saw happening to their city and how they were going to address it — pushed the story farther than before.,/i>”

Fans have not been too optimistic about having Robin join Nolan’s dark films. And it seems that Warner Bros is not feeling all that optimistic either, since the studio recently decided to reject an idea of a Robin TV series”

Back in July Jeph Loeb defended the character Robin, he insists that it could all work well if you tell the story properly. Christian Bale at one point has threaten to leave and walk out of Batman franchise forever if Nolan or WB decides to include Robin in the next Batman movies.

Should Robin be in the Next BATMAN Movie?
What would make him worthy enough?

This is not necessarily a movie info but it does involve an icon that has had influence in the world of movies, none other than comic book icon Stan Lee whose Marvel creations and characters have been ones that we adore for many years. According to Variety, Showtime is developing an hourlong project from producer Stan Lee that tracks the life of a gay superhero, the Story will focus on an up-and-coming superhero who struggles to hide his secret identities, based on the book HERO by Perry Moore who will also write the script.

Whether or not you’re for or against California Prop 8, the question remains…

What do you think about a Gay Superhero?

First it was Hindu people wanted to boycott The Love Guru, and then a group of Christians wanted to boycott Religulous and Hamlet 2, and then advocates for people with developmental disability wanted to boycott Tropic Thunder… and now, via Huffingtonpost, Blind people are pissed off about the upcoming movie BLINDNESS, which opens this weekend.

The premise of the film, in short, is about how society goes into chaos, panic, and becomes uncivilized after being stricken with an epidemic causing people to go blind. Everybody but Julianne Moore.

“The movie portrays blind people as monsters, and I believe it to be a lie,” said Maurer, president of the Baltimore-based National Federation of the Blind. “Blindness doesn’t turn decent people into monsters.”
“We face a 70 percent unemployment rate and other social problems because people don’t think we can do anything, and this movie is not going to help _ at all,” said Christopher Danielsen, a spokesman for the organization.

To show that they’re serious, Blind people and their allies will hand out fliers and carry signs. Among the slogans: “I’m not an actor. But I play a blind person in real life.”

Do you think they have the right reason to be angry?
Would you boycott this movie too?
Which side are you on?

Summer movies have always been about “More”… More action, more sex appeal, more special effects, more of everything.. Now that you’ve probably seen most of the movies of Summer 2008, I figured it’d be interesting to put them in a battle. They’re in different categories. Which is one do you think is “More” than the other??

Iron Man Vs The Dark Knight
WHICH ONE IS MORE BADASS?

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The Happening Vs. The Mummy 3
WHICH ONE IS WORSE?

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Sex and the City Vs. Mamma Mia!
WHICH ONE IS MORE GIRLY?

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Kung Fu Panda Vs. Wall-E
WHICH ONE IS MORE ENTERTAINING?

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Prince Caspian Vs. Indiana Jones 4
WHICH ONE IS MORE DISAPPOINTING?

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Pineapple Express Vs. Tropic Thunder
WHICH ONE IS FUNNIER?

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Wanted Vs. Journey To The Center of the Earth 3D
WHICH ONE IS VISUALLY COOLER?

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Hancock Vs. Hellboy II
WHICH ONE IS MORE OKAY?

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The Love Guru Vs. Tropic Thunder
WHICH ONE IS MORE OFFENSIVE?

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Anna Faris from The House Bunny Vs. Natalie Martinez from Death Race
WHICH ONE IS HOTTER?

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Pepper Potts from Iron Man Vs. Agent 99 from Get Smart
WHICH ONE IS MORE GORGEOUS?

Express your opinion. If you’ve seen the movie TROPIC THUNDER, I’d like to know what you think about it.
Did you like it? Did you hate it? Why?

Were you offended by Robert Downey Jr. playing a black guy?
Were you offended by the frequent ‘Retard’ remarks?

Add your mini review in the comment section below

I have to be in LA this whole evening so I figured let’s try to talk about what’s been bugging us recently. Nope, it’s not Tropic Thunder’s ‘retard’ controversy, nope it’s not Paris Hilton’s remark in response to John McCain’s attack ad.

It’s about WHO WILL BE THE NEXT VILLAIN IN THE 3rd BATMAN MOVIE???

Yes we’ve heard it all, the rumors about Johnny Depp might be playing the Riddler and Philip Seymour Hoffman might play The Penguin... and then the legendary original Catwoman, Julie Newmar endorsed Angelina Jolie who wants to play Catwoman in Nolan’s Batman Universe.
And recently… Brian Austin Green said he would be interested in playing The Riddler.

But hold your brakes! I remember last year all we heard about was that Heath Ledger’s going to be The Joker and the whole story of The Dark Knight was supposedly to set up for the next villain in the third installment, Two-Face.

HEADS UP: Spoilers Ahead!

I think I’m not who was surprised that they killed off Harvey Dent/Two-Face at the end movie. My friends and I were like ‘weren’t he like supposed to be the villain in the next one, what happened?!’
We just can’t put a smile on our faces when the scene took place. Don’t get me wrong, the movie was amazing through and through but the surprise element was a bit confusing… it left unanswered questions.

For those us who’ve seen the movie… Two-Face has held Commissionaire Gordon’s family hostage inside the remains of the warehouse where Rachel Dawes was murdered in the explosion.
Two-Face blamed everything on Gordon for not being able to be tough on the corrupt cops inside Major Crimes Unit. He’s holding Gordon’s son.
As always Two-Face left it to chance and his lucky coin. Batman showed up, trying to reason with him and told Batman to shoot the first person most responsible for all this, implying himself and so Two-Face fired a bullet into Batman’s stomach… and then he flipped a coin but he didn’t get to kill himself, and so he flipped another coin aiming to kill Gordon’s son.
Right when the coin was up in the air, Batman tackled Two-Face off the edge of the building and then next thing on the screen was Batman holding Gordon’s hand while Two-Face is on the ground, dead.

Some say that Two-Face didn’t really die because just like they faked Gordon’s death.. they had to fake Harvey Dent’s death and made him a hero but actually they might have him locked up somewhere in a prison or Arkham Asylum.
Falling such a short distance won’t kill a man, will it? The how come Batman survived the fall too? And let’s forget about his armor for once because obviously it can be penetrated by bullet.
When Harvey Dent/Two-Face was lying there on the ground, there was no blood anywhere.

Do you think Two-Face really died in that scene?
Was this all part of an elaborate plan to surprise us for the next installment? What do you think the Nolan brothers had in mind?
If they ever make a 3rd Batman movie, should they go with The Riddler in a stand alone movie, or should they deal more with the aftermath of Two-Face and The Joker?

Recently, there has been a.. how should I call it,.. ruckus.. regarding the upcoming movie TROPIC THUNDER. For those of you who haven’t seen the movie, let me just let you in on something but don’t worry, it’s not a spoiler or anything.
In short, Ben Stiller’s character Tugg Speedman is an action star who’s tried a supposedly Oscar worthy movie by playing a develop mentally disabled person in a fake movie called Simple Jack.. when you see the movie Tropic Thunder, you’ll see the mock trailer.

Throughout the whole hilarious comedy movie, and I mean that by the way, the movie made me laugh so hard I almost pissed my pants, throughout the whole thing, we keep being reminded by this one Simple Jack character and there’s a scene where Ben Stiller’s character and Robert Downey Jr.’s character discussed the the concept that you should never go full retard in a movie.

The clip and the whole name calling ‘Retard’ offends some people and now according to New York Times, Timothy P. Shriver, chairman of the Special Olympics and more than a dozen disabilities groups, including the National Down Syndrome Congress and the American Association of People with Disabilities will picket the movie’s premiere on Monday evening (August 11th, 2008) and they call for a national boycott of the film which gets released nationwide this Wednesday.

Mr. Shriver said that he had also begun to ask members of Congress for a resolution condemning what he called the movie’s “hate speech” and calling for stronger federal support of the intellectually disabled.

The viral website for Simple Jack has been removed and TV marketing and poster ads that feature the character with a tagline “Once there was a retard” has been taken down everywhere, but the studio insists the movie stays the way it is… no changes or cuts whatsoever.

I’ve seen the movie, I’ve ever reviewed the movie, and I just think this whole thing is gettin’ blown out of proportion.
It’s an R-rated Comedy for crying out loud!
Tropic Thunder is not the first movie to use the “R” word, why be mad about it right now?!
What about There’s Something about Mary?
So if you make an intellectually disabled person a champion like Rain Man or Forrest Gump, then that’s considered okay?
Wouldn’t that be a type of exploitation too or a stereotype or a mockery??

What do you think about all this commotion??
Does this info make you wanna boycott Tropic Thunder… or does it only make you even more curious to see it??
Do you get offended by Hollywood’s portrayal of people with developmental disabilities??
What about the saying, ‘Any publicity is good publicity’, will this so called problem work for the movie’s advantage eventually or will it hurt the movie at the box office??

After you see the movie this weekend, please let me know what you think about it, especially this part of it, I’m curious to hear your opinion.

As you know I’m vouching for the movie TROPIC THUNDER cause it’s literally gonna crack you up.
But having seen the movie (You can read my review on the movie anytime), I can tell you this… it’s not making fun of the developmental disabled, it’s making fun of Hollywood’s way of depicting them.

Latinoreview covered this issue first and I’d have to agree with them.
Before we get ahead of ourselves… let me explain.. the movie TROPIC THUNDER features the character Tugg Speedman, played by Ben Stiller. Tugg is known as the action guy but at one point he’s tried to pursuit Oscar by being in a movie about a boy who’s… slow, named Simple Jack.

Simple Jack has been the viral marketing way of promoting Tropic Thunder. I’ve posted here a while ago describing what it was about. It even had its own website.
The movie’s red band trailer shows a glimpse of the character.

Now, in the movie, Tugg Speedman gets captured by the rebels in the jungle who turn out to be big fans of Simple Jack, forcing Tugg Speedman to re-enact every scene from the retarded movie.

There’s an article by Patricia Bauer that stated…

There are those who view the word “retard” as offensive and demeaning, and think it fuels social stigma against vulnerable people. And there are others, like perhaps the R-rated film’s star, director and lead writer Ben Stiller who may think the word is inoffensive and a good complement to the film’s other gags, stunts, explosions and gross-out jokes.

It’s just good clean fun, the studio might say, pointing out that the movie also pokes fun at racial stereotypes. It’s a sendup of old Hollywood films that trotted out able-bodied actors in disability drag, like Tom Hanks in “Forrest Gump,” Dustin Hoffman in “Rain Man” and Sean Penn in “I am Sam.” Stiller isn’t laughing at people with intellectual disabilities, I can imagine his publicist saying. He’s laughing at the way Hollywood portrays them.

But for the estimated 14.3 million Americans with cognitive disabilities and their families, such arguments may be problematic. These people share a history of segregation and exclusion, and report that what many call the “R-word” reinforces negative social attitudes just as surely as racial, ethnic and sexually oriented slurs do.

And so.. get this! The movie TROPIC THUNDER decided to take down/remove Simple Jack’s website and every marketing promotion that relates to that character.
I guess Paramount didn’t want any trouble with the censorship folks.

Even the clip where Robert Downey Jr.’s character tells Ben Stiller’s character about the concept of ‘Never Go Full Retard’ has been taken down in some sites.

What do you think?
Do you find Simple Jack offensive? What about movies about retards in general?
Isn’t expected for an R-rated comedy to make fun of just about anthing?
Is Censorship being too uptight about all this or do you think the studio’s done the right thing being more sensitive to those who might be offended by the word ‘Retard’?

According to Box Office Mojo, the domestic Box office results of all time indicates that THE DARK KNIGHT is catching up slowly but surely to the record holder, TITANIC.

As of today, and this is only based on domestic results from U.S. theaters…
THE DARK KNIGHT so far has earned $394,887,000 in just three weeks since its opening day/midnight showing on July 18th, 2008
It has placed the Christopher Nolan’s Batman sequel movie at number eight in the rank list…. just behind Spider-Man, Pirates of the Caribbean 3, Star Wars: Episode I, E.T., Shrek 2, and Star Wars.

Some people loved TDK so much, they’ve watched it twice or three times on its opening week.

TITANIC, at first place, earned $600,788,188 but back in 1997, it took the movie some time even weeks to finally claim the throne and has held it for all these years.
Keep in mind that ticket prices today are more ridiculously expensive than they were back then.

Are you one of those people who wish to see The Dark Knight in theaters again and again?
Do you think it has a chance of beating Titanic once and for all? Is it a realistic goal?

Express your opinion. If you’ve seen the movie THE DARK KNIGHT, I’d like to know what you think about it. Did you like it? Did you hate it? Why?
Add your mini review in the comment section below

This type of stuff has been discussed in the movie world before. But so what!
We all know that the beginning parts of the movie are just as crucial as how the movie wraps itself up in the end.

Especially summer blockbuster movies. They need to catch the audiences’ attention right from the start.
With a bang! In a Blaze of Glory! The hero has to make a grand entrance!

The opening scene will determine whether or not the audience will be curious enough to wanna see what’s going to happen next and stick around until the last part.

One of my favorite opening scenes of all time is from X-Men 2 where Nightcrawler attacked a bunch of Secret Service agents just to get to the President and who could forget the memorable hilarious dialogue in Pulp Fiction opening scene?!

It’s just that… now THE DARK KNIGHT is upon us, and most of us have seen the amazing 7 minute prologue, the bank robbery scene, that was shown before the prints of the movie I Am Legend in IMAX last December, so..

what do you think about the opening scenes in this year’s summer blockbuster movies so far?
Which one is your favorite?

Let me refresh your memory

IRON MAN

The scene opens with Tony Stark in a military humvee, you can hear AC/DC music in the background and the soldiers who were with him wanted to take a picture with the playboy billionaire/weapons manufacturer. And then Boom! the humvee in front of them gets blown to pieces, a rocket launcher hits the one behind them too and the soldiers to his left and right are shot and killed. He gets out of the car and the next thing you know, he’s lying on the ground with shrapnel as souvenir.

SPEED RACER

You see Speed Racer in a locker room with his right foot itching to hit the gas pedal and then flashback to when he was a kid in the classroom all distracted because all he could think about was racing against cartoon character race drivers. His brother, Rex picked him up from school and on they went to drive on the race track and just when they made the first jump, the scene goes back to present time and Speed Racer finds himself in one of the most challenging tournaments in his career.

THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: PRINCE CASPIAN

Doctor Cornellius wakes Prince Caspian up from his sleep because danger is approaching. King Miraz’s wife just gave birth to a son, so he will have to kill the rightful heir. Prince Caspian goes into the closet and hides The soldiers force their way into the room and he sees their failed attempt on his life. The closet leads to a secret tunnel which brings him outside the castle and he rides away into the forest while dodging arrows at the same time.

INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL

The opening scene takes us in Nevada in the 1950s. A bunch of free-spirited teenagers in a car trying to invite military convoy for a quick race. Shots of Gophers in the middle of the commotion. And then the soldiers arrive at a secret base known as Area 51 where they shoot and kill all the guards there at the entrance. They take out a man out of the back of a vehicle. They throw him onto the ground, he stands up, walks, and picks up his big hat and puts it on his head. And you see none other than the one and only, Indiana Jones.

THE INCREDIBLE HULK

It shows biological elements, cells and green mutations along with the rolling credits of the main stars, the title and the director. You see blurry vision of flashbacks of that fateful day when Bruce Banner tries his experiment that suddenly goes haywire. You see things from Hulk’s eye view. The laboratory gets wrecked and destroyed, Gen. Thunderbolt gets hurt and Betty Ross is left unconscious and Hulk runs away.

WANTED

Mr. X visits an office and talks to the woman there about an interesting bullet. The women gets shot in the head and from across the street, on another building, a bunch of construction workers start firing at Mr. X and so he runs to the elevator. He prepares himself, counts his seconds, and Bam! He runs as fast as lightning toward the window, he jumps through the glass. Everything happens in slo-motion, he’s in mid-air and he shoots everybody on the other building. On target too, I might add. He kills the last victim and receives a phone call from a stranger who reveals that this has all been a decoy. A bullet goes through Mr. X’s head and the sequence rewinds back to the shooter.

HANCOCK

Hobo Hancock is sleeping on a bench, all drunk and careless. A kid is watching the TV screen, the news is showing a high speed chase between LAPD and a gang of Asian gangsters packing heat. The kid approaches Hancock and wakes him up. He points to the screen and implies that there are bad guys. He makes fun of the kid by asking if he wants a cookie, the kid calls him an A-hole. Hancock flies into the sky and heads toward where the action is. He hits some street signs and almost hit an airplane along the way. He lands in to the bad guys’ car and even though he politely asks them to give themselves up, they open fire and the bullets destroy his whiskey bottle. Furious, Hancock takes the car with him and flies all around Los Angeles to scare the hell out of them. He kicks the car and puts it on top of the tower of Capitol Records building.

My favorite opening scenes: Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, and Hancock.

Today there was announcement on HBO new lineups that I assume will include Martin Scorsese in as one of the major contributors. I’m thinking the shows will be the next best dramas to ever hit the TV screen. HBO Rocks!

And one of HBO’s classic hits was THE SORPANOS. I was a big fan through and through… and if you weren’t, don’t say it out loud, Tony might send Paulie to pay you a visit and you’re not going to like it.

The comment of making the movie version surfaces

As for a possible and often discussed film based on “The Sopranos,” HBO is aboard if creator Chase is up for it. Chase’s past statements about the prospect of tackling a theatrical “Sopranos” project haven’t been particularly encouraging.

Yup, David Chase isn’t too keen about making THE SOPRANOS the movie but what about those made-men seen in the picture above? I bet they’d want a big screen version of themselves.

Should there be a ‘THE SOPRANOS’ Movie?

Express your opinion. If you’ve seen the movie HANCOCK, I’d like to know what you think about it.
Did you like it? Did you hate it? Why?
Add your mini review in the comment section below

Sometimes you’d watch movies that have the power to make you feel proud of being an American.
Movies that would make you cheer, sing the national anthem and thank God for freedom!
So on this 4th of July, let me ask you this….
What movies have you watched that make you feel Patriotic??

The reviews are in for THE DARK KNIGHT and Peter Travers of Rolling Stone describes Heath Ledger’s THE JOKER performance as….mad-crazy-blazing brilliant, calling for Posthumous Oscar nod (Oscar nomination given to those who’ve passed away)

Over at AICN, someone sent in a review and the praises continue..
Heath Ledgers performance of the joker is truly one for the books… Best supporting Oscar anyone?

Here are some Posthumous Oscar nomination facts..

* James Dean was nominated for Oscar after he died, for two films.. East of Eden (1955) and Giant (1956)
* Spencer Tracy was nominated long after he finished the movie Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967)
* Massimo Troisi died of a heart attack after completing the shooting Il Postino (1994), he later was nominated for Best Actor and the movie was nominated for Best Picture.

* The only two people to ever win an Oscar posthumously were Screenwriter Sydney Howard for Gone With The Wind (1939) and actor Peter Finch for Network (1976)

If Heath Ledger got the nomination for playing THE JOKER in THE DARK KNIGHT, it would be because he deserved it.
Everybody dreams of going out with a bang,..in a blaze of glory… not many could do it as literally as what Heath Ledger did, his last performance alive as THE JOKER will be the talk of the decade…and getting an Oscar nod would make him even more legendary that he already was.

But then agein, if that’s the case,.. then maybe the Dead ought to have their own separate Oscar ceremony.

DISCUSS:
Wouldn’t Heath Ledger’s nomination seem Unfair to those who are just as worthy and still breathing?
Do you think Heath Ledger or anybody who’ve passed away should be nominated for Oscar?
Please add your opinion in the comment section below.

Express your opinion. If you’ve seen the movie WALL-E, I’d like to know what you think about it. Did you like it? Did you hate it? Why?
Add your mini review in the comment section below

Those of us who are fans of zombie movies, George Romero’s zombies always walk, they never run like the ones in 28 Days Later, Resident Evilmovies, or Dawn of the Dead the remake.

The Godfather of zombie movies, George Romero spoke to NWA, this is what he said…

“The dead can’t run. Their ankles would break. It doesn’t make sense to me,”
“The dead move slowly. But they keep coming.”

What do you think?

Via comingsoon.net, (drumroll please)… Ladies and Gentlemen, and the Official Title of Michael Bay’s sequel to the 1997 Summer Blockbuster Robot movie is…the one, the only…

TRANSFORMERS 2:
REVENGE OF THE FALLEN

SO do you like the the title? DO you hate it?
Why?
What would be your suggestion?

TRANSFORMERS 2 hits theaters June 26th, 2009