Rama’s SCREEN

Hello, this is your movie buff, Rama. Sorry I haven’t been keeping up with everything… two reasons…because I watched The Dark Knight again for the second time around yesterday. Watching it in IMAX was such an amazing experience, it gave me the chills… that and because I’ve been preparing for the event that will be upon us…. San Diego Comic-Con 2008.

So I just wanna give you a heads up. Today I might not be able to post much new info and updates because I will be traveling south and attending the Preview night which pretty much takes up the whole day and evening but I’ll be back later on tonight hopefully to give you coverage of the awesome Con, show you pictures and tell you who’s who that I’ll get to meet.

Meanwhile, Latinoreview and IESB got to see footage of Shia LaBeouf’s upcoming movie EAGLE EYE and director DJ Caruso spilled some beans about his upcoming project, comic adaptation, Y: THE LAST MAN
Click on the image below to read what he said…

And via Cinematical, this is the new one-sheet poster for LAKEVIEW TERRACE (Watch the first trailer) starring Samuel Motha F*in’ Jackson and Patrick Wilson as two neighbors who can’t seem to get along.
I guess living in the suburbs don’t guarantee peace and quiet either.
The movie opens September 19th, 2008
Click on the image to enlarge

No more fan made fake stuff! Now the official website for Michael Bay’s Robot movie Sequel, TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN has released the official logo.

Click on it to enlarge

What would George Lucas be if he didn’t come up with the idea to create Star Wars years ago?
Would he be just another employee working in some boring office cubicle? Would he be a salesman who tries to persuade us to buy a car at a dealership? What if Star Wars was never around? I don’t think he would survive being just another ordinary average joe.

Here’s one proof.
Comingsoon.net has found out George Lucas is looking to repurpose the six STAR WARS episodes into 3D format. DreamWorks Animations CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg said that Lucas is very excited about it and that he’s got the technical resources to pull it off. well, Duh! George Lucas is freakin’ Billionaire! Of course he has the capital to attain whatever source to do whatever the hell he wants.
But this is now more evident than ever that he will be milking that Cash Cow called Star Wars Saga for all its worth.
Star Wars will forever be his ultimate weapon to get money from our pockets.

First, there’s a plan to Clash the Titans and bring the gods to war, and now the famous half-man half-Greek god character is being brought back to the big screen.

According to Variety, Universal has hired filmmaker Peter Berg (The Kingdom, Hancock) to produce and develop and direct a new take on Hercules story, it will be titled HERCULES: THE THRACIAN WAR.
The guy in charge of the script is Screenwriter Ryan Condall and the story will be based on a five-issue comic book series by Steve Moore that debuted in May through Radical Publishing. Spyglass and Universal will co-finance the film

There’s no plot yet, so I took the liberty of looking up online for what the comic book has.. this is what I found via comicbookbin.com..

Three thousand two hundred years ago, a tormented soul walked the Earth that was neither man nor god. Hercules, powerful son of the god king Zeus, received nothing but suffering his entire life. After twelve arduous labors and the loss of his family, this dark, world-weary soul turned his back on the gods finding his only solace in bloody battle.

Over the years he warmed to the company of six similar souls, their only bond being their love of fighting and the presence of death. These men and woman never question where, why, or whom they go to fight, only how much they will be paid. Knowing this, the King of Thrace has hired these mercenaries to train his men to become the greatest army of all time.

However, Hercules begins to question King Cotys’ motives when he takes his army out to battle and sees them practice on innocent men, women, and children. Deep in his soul something stirs, but is it enough to stop a mad king and his army of the damned from marching across Greece or even Olympus itself?

Like I told my friend, screener Dexter, ever since Batman Begins, every other superhero movie out there on this earth wants to mimic the look and feel of Christopher Nolan’s vision and take on the genre. This new take on Hercules movie is no different.
I think that one Austrian freak of nature, Roland Kickinger should play the part.
It makes sense… I mean…he’s already set to replace Arnold as T-800 in Terminator Salvation.
He might as well play Hercules too, which was another one of Arnold’s characters back in his early days as an actor, Arnold Schwarzenegger was in the movie Hercules in New York.

Comingsoon.net received from Disney Pictures the first image from the movie RACE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN, a remake of the 1975 movie Escape to Witch Mountain. Changing it from ‘Escape’ to ‘Race’ doesn’t seem to make much difference, maybe it would make sense in the storyline.
The movie stars Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Carla Gugino, Garry Marshall, Alexander Ludwig, AnnaSophia Robb, Kim Richards, Ike Eisenmann, Tom Everett Scott, Chris Marquette, Billy Brown and Cheech Marin as in Cheech and Chong.
Oooh…. let’s play a game, which of the names are the people you see in the picture above?
Let’s just stick with Deal or No Deal.

A modern re-imagining of its classic 1975 adventure movie “Escape to Witch Mountain,” about a pair of siblings, endowed with paranormal powers, who go on the run from a diabolical group of men who wish to exploit their abilities. Johnson, will play a Las Vegas cab driver who picks up a pair of siblings with magical powers. The plot advances the storyline from the original “Escape to Witch Mountain,” which Disney released in 1975.

RACE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN opens March 13th, 2009….. that’s one week after Watchmen

Via Yahoo, here’s the trailer for New comedy movie YES MAN, seems just a tiny bit more promising than the teaser poster. But still, the whole Terrance Stamp knocking Jim Carrey in the head with a microphone doesn’t strike me as anything funny. Plus, the gum act is kinda gross.
The concept is pretty cool.. saying yes to every opportunity that comes by and the consequences that come with doing so… but will it be a great funny movie for this coming Holiday season?
YES MAN opens December 19th, 2008

I wasn’t too impressed by The Golden Compass (You can find out why by reading my review on the movie)
According the Independent, the plan for Golden Compass trilogy may not happen after all.
The initial plan was to continue the story because it did sorta end on a cliffhanger and it’s based on author Philip Pullman’s children’s fantasy trilogy “His Dark Materials.”

The studio responsible for the first film was refusing to discuss the future of the trilogy.The studio blames the Christian protests that led to the boycott.
Excuses, excuses… A bunch of Hindu groups wanted to boycott The Love Guru but the fact of the matters is that the movie’s not all that. Same thing with Golden Compass, it was not a well-made Holiday movie.
Has it ever crossed their minds that maybe the reason the movie didn’t do well in the box office was because people watched it, didn’t like it, and it spreads like wildfire by word of mouth…. or online blogs like this one.

The Golden Compass cost $180 million to make, but brought in only $70 million domestically. New Line Cinema considers the film a failure even though it was able to earn over $300 million internationally. New Line is absorbed by Warner Bros.

The plot of the three books revolves around a fantasy world where the Reformation has never happened. This parallel universe of talking animals and witches is ruled by an oppressive Catholic institution known as the Magisterium. The challenges to religious institutions become more confrontational with every book in the trilogy, culminating with a war on heaven. Weitz, an American-born Cambridge graduate, has been vociferous in his passion for Pullman’s original text, insisting on staying “true” to the trilogy if or when sequels are made. This outspokenness may have added to the studio’s wariness.

Pullman said protests in America had done little to help its release, with parents protesting against the allegorical challenges to the Catholic faith. “There was a lot of fuss over that,” he said.

When I watched the movie last year, I tried to review it by judging its quality (story, visual, acting, directing, etc.)
Not so much whether or not it was blasphemous. I leave that to your own opinion, for yourself to judge.
I’ve never read the book, but the director seems to be determined to stay true to it.
I don’t remember Christian Protests caused this much damage to the movie The Da Vinci Code.

What do you think about this?
Do you really think the Christians protests have that much influence?
Should there be a Golden Compass Sequel?
What if the atheism part the story got toned down a bit, would that be okay then?

This the new trailer for PINEAPPLE EXPRESS that features Amber Heard as Seth Rogen’s girlfriend. I’ve seen the movie. You can read my review HERE. The part where James Franco tries to kick the cop car’s front window out is still funny no matter how many times I’ve seen it in clips or trailers that this movie has released. Don’t forget to check out the high posters and the redband trailer for those of us who like to play with ‘fire’.

Dale Denton (Rogen) finds his job tedious. The only to get some excitement is by smoking weed and whenever he needs supply, he can come to his most reliable dealer, Saul Silver (Franco). There’s a new stuff in the market called Pineapple Express, it’s like no other. But when Dale becomes the only witness to a murder by a crooked cop and the city’s most dangerous drug lord, he panics and dumps his roach of Pineapple Express. The weed happens to be so rare that it can be traced back to his dealer, Saul. And so they run for their lives.

PINEAPPLE EXPRESS hits theaters August 8th, 2008

I know, this is a movie blog only for movies and what not, but Estelle Getty is a national treasure so I’ll make an exception.

As I’ve mentioned before from time to time, I grew up watching reruns of old series on TV.
The A-Team, SWAT, Highway to Heaven, Airwolf…. and who can forget The Golden Girls.

It’s been years since the last time I watched the series but I still remember when I was a kid, those four old senior citizens knew how to crack me up.
One of them was Sophia played by actress Estelle Getty. Her character’s attitude rocked!

Via Associated Press, Estelle Getty died today 5:30 a.m. Tuesday at her Hollywood Boulevard home, she was 84 years old, three days shy of turning 85.
Getty had been suffering from Lewy Body Dementia

Beside The Golden Girls which ran from 1985 to 1992, she also made appearances in movies like Tootsie, Stuart Little and Sylvester Stallone’s flop Stop! Or my mom will shoot!

Born Estelle Scher to Polish immigrants in New York, Getty fell in love with theater when she saw a vaudeville show at age 4.
She was a struggling actress for many years until she finally hit the role of a lifetime that got her 2 Emmys
Getty is survived by sons Carl and Barry Gettleman, of Miami; a brother, David Scher of London; and a sister, Rosilyn Howard of Las Vegas.

She lived a long and full life. In a way, her death is not completely a sad thing.

Thank you Estelle Getty, for your contribution to the world of TV and Cinema! You will be remembered. Farewell and Rest in Peace!

I’m not going to put too much time on this one since it’s not about any upcoming movie, but via Variety,  Batman a.k.a Christian Bale was arrested recently on allegations of assault.
Not a good way to celebrate your $158 opening weekend, Bale!

Associated Press reported that Christian Bale has been accused of assault by his own mother and sister just before the European premiere of the record-breaking The Dark Knight. The 34 year old actor allegedly assaulted them at a London hotel on Sunday, and while the allegations were formally made on Monday, Bale was not taken in for questioning until Tuesday. Police let Bale attend last night’s London premiere of his film, The Dark Knight.
People.com says that Bale has been released this afternoon, and will return to the station in September.

I have much respect for Bale as an Actor… but now hearing this, I don’t know if I have much respect for him as a person.
I don’t take kindly those who don’t appreciate their moms.

Christian Bale… assaulting women? Do you believe he’s capable of something like that? What do you think about this info?

Not too long ago, I posted the second trailer for TWILIGHT that hit the web. Now, Summit Entertainment has sent me the official trailer and some cool official images too. That’d be something if Buffy suddenly shows up and helps them fight the bad vampires team

TWILIGHT is an action-packed, modern day love story between a vampire and a human. Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) has always been a little bit different, never caring about fitting in with the trendy girls at her Phoenix high school. When her mother remarries and sends Bella to live with her father in the rainy little town of Forks, Washington, she doesn’t expect much of anything to change. Then she meets the mysterious and dazzlingly beautiful Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson), a boy unlike any she’s ever met. Intelligent and witty, he sees straight into her soul. Soon, Bella and Edward are swept up in a passionate and decidedly unorthodox romance.

Edward can run faster than a mountain lion, he can stop a moving car with his bare hands – and he hasn’t aged since 1918. Like all vampires, he’s immortal. But he doesn’t have fangs, and he doesn’t drink human blood; Edward and his family are unique among vampires in their lifestyle choice. To Edward, Bella is that thing he has waited 90 years for – a soul mate. But the closer they get, the more Edward must struggle to resist the primal pull of her scent, which could send him into an uncontrollable frenzy. But what will Edward & Bella do when James (Cam Gigandet), Laurent (Edi Gathegi) and Victoria (Rachelle Lefevre), the Cullens’ mortal vampire enemies, come to town, looking for her?

ABOUT TWILIGHT: Based on the current #1 New York Times Bestselling series (30 weeks and counting) with over 5.5 million books in print by Stephenie Meyer, TWILIGHT is a cultural phenomenon, with a dedicated fanbase that eagerly awaits this movie. There are over 100 fan sites devoted to Twilight, and it has been chosen as the New York Times Editor’s Choice, a Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year, Amazon’s “Best Book of the Decade…So Far”, Teen People’s “Hot List” Pick, The American Library Association’s “Top Ten Best Book for Young Adults” and “Top Ten Books for Reluctant Readers” and has been translated into 20 languages. Critically acclaimed director Catherine Hardwicke brings to life this modern, visual, and visceral Romeo & Juliet story of the ultimate forbidden love affair – between vampire and mortal

Produced by MARK MORGAN, GREG MOORADIAN and WYCK GODFREY

Based on the best-selling Novel “Twilight” by STEPHENIE MEYER
Screenplay by MELISSA ROSENBERG (STEP UP, Fox’s THE O.C., Showtime’s DEXTER)

Directed by CATHERINE HARDWICKE (THIRTEEN, LORDS OF DOGTOWN)

Starring
KRISTEN STEWART (PANIC ROOM)
ROBERT PATTINSON (HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE)

BILLY BURKE (UNTRACEABLE)

PETER FACINELLI (THE SCORPION KING)

and

ELIZABETH REASER (THE FAMILY STONE)
NIKKI REED (THIRTEEN)

ASHLEY GREENE (SHARK)
JACKSON RATHBONE (HURT)

CAM GIGANDET (NEVER BACK DOWN)

KELLEN LUTZ

ANNA KENDRICK

TAYLOR LAUTNER

TWILIGHT opens December 12th, 2008

Foreign language films have a way of surprising you with great stories that can stand in comparison with some of the good domestic movies we have here in the U.S. From City Light Pictures and Producer Fernando Meirelles (City of God, The Constant Gardner), and Writer/Director Cao Hamburger comes a Brazilian movie that’s worthy of our attention. THE YEAR MY PARENTS WENT ON VACATION is a heartwarming drama about the meaning of family, friendship and being there for those you care about.
Plus, it also has a cute crush between two kids. And the bonus point, archive footage of the 1970 World Cup featuring Brazil as the Champion. Watching images of Pele and his gang do their magic is a reward in itself.

In 1970 Brazil and the world seemed to have been turned upside-down, but the biggest worry in young 12
year-old Mauro’s mind had little or nothing to do with the proliferation of military dictatorships in South
America or with the Vietnam war. His biggest dream was to see Brazil become the three-time winner of
the World Cup. Mauro is at a stage in life when one moves from childhood into adolescence. He is forced to live without
his parents, left-wing militants forced underground. They leave him with his grandfather. But something
unexpected has happened to his grandfather and Mauro is left alone without being able to inform his
parents. Shlomo, his grandfather’s next-door neighbor, a solitary Jewish man and employee of the local
synagogue, winds up taking care of him.

The unexpected cohabitation results in a plunge into unknown
worlds, from which they emerge more mature than before.
While he waits for a call from his parents, Mauro learns to face a very often harsh and painful reality. He
finds himself alone and repeats the saga of his grandparents - Jewish immigrants - surviving in a new
world. Mauro encounters a gallery of colorful characters including Hanna, an irreverent tom boy and
street savvy girl, with an enormous talent for making bets and business deals; the pretty waitress Irene,
who sparks the imagination of all the kids from the block; the Rabbi, a fan of the Corinthian soccer team;
the Brazilian Italian man Ítalo who is involved in student demonstrations, and Edgar, the mulatto goalie
of the local soccer team. With his new friends, Mauro shares his passion for soccer, his first sexual
discoveries and his desire to regain the happiness suffocated by the dictatorship.

DVD Features:

Region 1
Keep Case
Widescreen

Price: Starting at $13.85

Audio:
Dolby Digital - Spanish
Subtitles - English, Spanish - Optional

Additional Release Material:
Audio Commentary - 1. Director 2. Producer
Featurette - INSIDE THE MOVIE
Outtakes
Text/ Photo Gallery:
Stills

I’m one of the few who didn’t like the movie Cloverfield. So I’m glad the talented folks at artifexstudios.com created this Sesame Street inspired Cloverfield funny little parody. Check it out and let me know what you think about it

This is not a ‘check-this-out-now’ movie info, certainly not as awesome as anything about The Dark Knight.
But having seen the first jaw dropping teaser poster, it’d be cool to follow the development on this one.
Although not the kind I was expecting… for now.

According to Bloody-Disgusting, the movie project based on the graphic novel, WITCHBLADE has found a helmer, director of Battlestar Galactica TV series, Michael Rymer, who also directed the movie Queen of the Damned starring the late Aaliyah
See… nobody awesome, unless you like staring at Edward James Olmos.

What I’m expecting to see is who will be cast as the hottie you see below, the main character, and if the costume’s going to look exactly the same, live action of course.

A live-action feature adaptation of WITCHBLADE based on the Top Cow comic book franchise. The comic book introduced the mythology, which centers on an ornate jewel-encrusted gauntlet that gives extraordinary powers to the wearer, a specially chosen female from each generation

* Click on any of the pictures below

For more information on what movies are available on DVD and the movie reviews, just go to the side of this page, under ‘CHECK THESE OUT’, and just simply click on ‘Now on DVD‘

The Dark Knight maybe one of the greatest Cinematic Achievement of all time but when it comes to Superhero movie that’s not as gloomy, second place would have to go to Iron Man, the one to open 2008 Summer Movie season with style.

One of the most successful, well-reviewed Superhero movies ever (According to box office mojo, for the year 2008 so far domestically, Jon Favreau’s flick has banked about $314,376,968 and counting) IRON MAN is coming to DVD on September 30th, 2008 as it has been set by Paramount Home Entertainment.

It will arrive in both DVD and Blu-Ray Disc
Wait, there’s more..
Amazon.com is currently accepting pre-orders for Iron Man and lists the title as being offered in three different versions - a Two-Disc Special Collector’s Edition, a Special Collector’s Edition Blu-ray Disc and a Single-Disc Edition.

And comingsoon.net reported that Marvel Studios will pass out a flash drive containing a sneak peek of the DVD at its Comic-Con booth this week (July 24th - July 27th, 2008)

Shocktilyoudrop has a new photo from the upcoming horror movie MIRRORS. This one will guarantee to either give you nightmare or make you throw up. If you can’t stand excessive amount of blood, you might wanna look away.

* Click on the image to enlarge

In the movie’s red band trailer, actress Amy Smart is in a bathtub and suddenly she rips her jaw wide open. What you see in the photo above supposedly is the aftermath.
Directed by Alexandre Aja, starring Kiefer Sutherland as a troubled ex-cop must save his family from an unspeakable evil that is using mirrors as a gateway into their home.
MIRRORS opens August 15th, 2008

I know.. the image is difficult to see, but since we’re going to be talking about the man behind the character, might as well show the character, in all his glory.

Sacha Baron Cohen has become one of the funniest funny men in today’s movie business. He just finished his movie BRUNO (Check out his latest shenanigan), and Sacha is also set to star with his MTV Award Kissing partner, Will Ferrell in the comedy movie SHERLOCK HOLMES, not to be confused with Guy Ritchie’s flick that would star Robert Downey, Jr.
The fun doesn’t stop there, he’s also attached to star in the DreamWorks comedy DINNER FOR SCHMUCKS.
He’s come along way in a short period of time since the movie Borat made him an icon.

According to Variety, Fox Atomic has acquired ACCIDENTES a pitch that Sacha Baron Cohen will produce with an eye toward starring in it as an ambulance-chasing personal injury lawyer of Latin descent who transforms from contingency attorney to hero of the working class when he helps an immigrant win a judgment against his wealthy employer after a landscaping mishap. He also becomes the enemy of L.A.’s power elite.

“Eye toward starring”?! I can’t think of anyone else better to play the role.
Sacha Baron Cohen can play a Kazakhstani, he can play a Gay Austrian, he can play a French Nascar Driver, he can play a barber, he can even play a hip hop wannabe gangsta named Ali G, I betcha he can even play a Latin Lawyer or at least an exaggerated, hilarious version of one.

It’s no news, it’s no surprise, I’m a big fan of zombie movies. Do I want them to exist in real life? Probably not. Hopefully not. But it sure is hell awesome watching them on the big screen, either slo-mo style ala George Romero or the fast, sprinting zombies ala 28 Weeks Later.

A new group of zombies will soon come to theaters near you.
According Hollywood Reporter, Benderspink has picked up the film rights to Red 5 Comics’ recently released horror/action comic ZMD: ZOMBIES OF MASS DESTRUCTION. I kid you not! That’s the title! Awesome, huh!
A graphic novel by Underworld writer-producer Kevin Grevioux.

And just like WMD, the so called ZMD also takes place in the middle east but they’re easier to find than President Bush’s poor excuse to go to war in Iraq.

Here’s the brief plot…
Air-dropped into the deadliest hot zones, the walking dead of “ZMD: Zombies of Mass Destruction” indiscriminately infect every last warring insurgent — on either side of the conflict. Specifically engineered to be photosensitive, once enemy infection becomes complete by dawn, both the originals and newly created zombies dissolve as a means to control widespread and accidental zombification. This allows live soldiers to enter and safely occupy the now-combatant-free territory. However, this plan takes a deadly turn when one of the U.S. zombies, dubbed — Zombie Zero — fails to dissolve at the expected time, and begins to wreak havoc in the Middle East by creating others like him. This leads the U.S. military brass to send in a special operative to quietly take out Zombie Zero and his minions before their existence becomes known to the rest of the world.

Using zombies as a way to annihilate enemies. That sounds somewhat brilliant and disturbing at the same time.
Let’s hope the US Army is not really testing that possibility as we speak. Maybe they’re still busy trying to build super soldiers using the gamma radiation that Bruce Banner tested on himself.
I better stop now because I’m startin’ to sound more and more like a geek.

I was busy trying to schedule my Comic-Con visit and make sure that I attend every awesome panel there is at that event. When and in which hall each one’s going to happen…. and all of a sudden bam! The voluptuous picture above appeared on the web. If you see WATCHMEN’s first trailer carefully, you’ll notice that picture for a brief second. Artist James Jean created the illustration. Via his website, this is what he said…

At 1:32 into the Watchmen trailer, you can see a glimpse of an illustration I did for the movie. Alex McDowell asked me to create a Vargas-esque portrait of Sally Jupiter, played by Carla Gugino. It only appears for 1 second in the trailer, but the illustration is supposed to play a larger role in that particular scene.

I like Pin-Ups…they bring back old memories… Oops! Did I just say that out loud?!

WATCHMEN opens March 6th, 2009