"Elbow rocket! Now!" - new "Pacific Rim" clip

"Are you ready to rrrrrrumbllllllllleeee?"

Grab the kids, pack a lunch and head down to the dockside cause it's giant monster vs giant robot with no holds barred! In this latest clip from Guillermo del Toro's "Pacific Rim" the Jaegermeisters unveil the dreaded "elbow rocket". But wait! The Kaiju counters with the always painful "crane bat"!


"Pacific Rim" opens in a scant 2 weeks, on July 12th.

That's a wrap! Ian McKellen's last day as Gandalf

Ian McKellen began his Gandalfian odyssey in the late 90's when Bill Clinton was President and yesterday it finally came to an end with his last official day of shooting on "The Hobbit" set. Director Peter Jackson has commemorated the occasion by releasing the photo you see at left and the following caption: "Seconds ago we finished our last shot with Gandalf. The end of an incredible adventure that began in 1999. I'm feeling very sad right now." 

There are those who are of the opinion that McKellen may return at some point to play Middle Earth's premiere defender yet again but with the rights to Tolkien's remaining works closely guarded by his heirs (who it must be said have never been particularly thrilled with Jackson's cinematic interpretations) it seems more than a little likely that "The Hobbit" trilogy is the end of the filmic line for McKellen-as-Gandalf. (sniff!)

"Terminator 5" no more: Franchise reboot instead

It's official: the powers that be have formally given up on the existing Terminator timeline and have announced they will go back to the beginning with a complete reboot. To me this is more than a little disappointing as I felt the most recent installment "Terminator Salvation" had put the franchise back on solid footing after the fairly abysmal "Rise of the Machines". But the new owners of the property apparently felt they needed to start fresh in order to maximize their ROI before rights revert back to James Cameron a few years down the line.

While it's not mentioned in the official announcement below it's also common knowledge that Paramount will be bringing back Ahnuld for the reboot though how that's going to work is anyone's guess at this point.

Here's the official press release from Paramount:

Skydance Productions, Annapurna Pictures and Paramount Pictures have jointly announced they will partner on a rebooted “TERMINATOR” movie, to be released by Paramount Pictures on June 26, 2015. 

The first in a stand-alone trilogy, “TERMINATOR” will be produced by Megan Ellison of Annapurna and David Ellison of Skydance. Dana Goldberg and Paul Schwake of Skydance will serve as executive producers. Laeta Kalorgridis (“Avatar,” “Shutter Island”) and Patrick Lussier (“Drive Angry”) are attached to write the screenplay. 

Launched in 1984 with star Arnold Schwarzenegger as the title character, “TERMINATOR” spanned 3 subsequent films, which have earned over $1 billion at the worldwide box office. 

David Ellison most recently executive produced, along with his partners at Paramount, “World War Z,” “Star Trek Into Darkness,” “G.I. Joe: Retaliation” and “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol”. A 5th installment of in the “Mission: Impossible” franchise is in active development, along with a 3rd film in the “G.I. Joe” franchise, among other films. 

Megan Ellison most recently produced the Academy Award®-nominated “Zero Dark Thirty,” “The Master” and executive produced “Spring Breakers” via her Annapurna Pictures banner and has David O. Russell’s “American Hustle,” Spike Jonze’s “Her,” and Bennett Miller’s “Foxcatcher” set for release later this year.

Ahnuld and Sly in first trailer for "Escape Plan"

Formerly known as "The Tomb", "Escape Plan" has Sly playing a professional breaker-outer. His job is to escape from prisons and in so doing provide prison designers with info on how to make their gladiator academies more secure. He's ultimately cast into the newest joint on the block where apparently all his previous recommendations have been put into practice and he's not a happy camper. Stuck in this plastic mega-max horror he befriends Ahnuld and the two decide to use all the dusty old testosterone/geritol laced dialogue they can muster to break on through to the other side (sorry Jim). I'm gonna go out on a limb here and guess that they succeed.

On the downside this kind of manly-men-take-on-the-girly-world stuff started getting tired about 20 years ago. On the upside the production values look reasonably high and at least Sly and Co are keeping film crews busy.


"Escape Plan" is scheduled to hit theaters October 18th.

Off the beaten track trailer of the day - "Hell Baby"

It's not smart to ignore the legend. It's not wise to dismiss superstition. It's not at all advisable to stick around when da "b*tches be trippin!!!" cause it can only mean one thing: hell baby is on the way. "Yikes."



"Hell Baby" is due for release this September.

Peter Jackson talks about "An Unexpected Journey" extended DVD

Probably the most played DVDs in my collection are the extended versions of "The Lord of the Rings" movies. I've loved them from the day they were released and still watch them a few times a year. Well now Peter Jackson has finally broached the subject of the extended version DVD for the first of his Hobbit films in a conversation with Empire.

Regarding just what juicy unseen bits might be included in the extended version Jackson says: "You are going to get some serious Dwarvish disrespect of the elves at Rivendell". While his co-writer Philippa Boyens states: "You are going to get more of Hobbiton... We always wanted to wend our way through Hobbiton, but in the end Bilbo has to run out of the door." Jackson also adds: "We are putting things in the extended cut that are going to play straight into the second film... like this character Girion, who is defending Dale using black arrows against Smaug. And the black arrows play a part in an ongoing story, for they are the one thing that can pierce the dragon's hide."

Sounds good to me. We should be seeing the extended version of AUJ sometime in November so keep your eyes open. 

New trailer for "Pacific Rim"

Stately, grand, dramatic, ennobling, inspirational, you listen to Idris Elba's call to arms then slowly but determinedly turn to face threat with chest out, eyes focused and mind clear. It matters not the odds, nor the nature of the enemy. Because today we are cancelling the apocalypse!!!! (Is it July 12th yet?)

The top 10 movies for the weekend of June 21 - June 23, 2013

1) Monsters University	$82.4 Million
2) World War Z	$66.4 Million
3) Man of Steel	$41.2 Million
4) This is the End	$13.2 Million
5) Now You See Me	$7.8 Million
6) Fast & Furious 6	$4.9 Million
7) The Purge	$3.5 Million
8) The Internship	$3.4 Million
9) Star Trek Into Darkness	$3.1 Million
10) Iron Man 3	$2.2 Million

The number one movie a year ago this week was Pixar's "Brave" which opened in the top spot with $66.3 million in ticket sales.

(Green indicates new release)

Off the beaten track trailer of the day - "Zombie Shark"

Don't go near the shark tank! For god's sake don't go near the shark tank!!!!

He's a zombie. He's a shark. Maybe most surprising of all he climbs walls and hides in the bushes! Ultimately though he does what any self-respecting zombie/shark would do: he heads for the shark tank next to that PYT's lawn chair and reels her in with some rhythmic splashing.

The power of editing: a case study

It's Saturday. You've got some extra time on your hands. Take 5 minutes or so and check out the video below. In it 2 cuts of the same film are compared side by side to reveal just how much a film's entire look and feel can be altered in the editing room. The comparison is presented under the banner "What is Neo-realism?" and that's fine because it does an excellent job laying bare the particulars of that genre, but it could just as easily be titled "What is Editing?"

The film being dissected is a 1950s bittersweet romance by Vittorio De Sica originally entitled "Terminal Station". In De Sica's original cut on the left care is taken to stress that the principal characters are players on the larger human stage. It's the European way, the more "artistic" mindset if you will: let the shot linger, pay homage to those other bodies taking up screen space. By comparison the cut on the right was done by American studio honcho David O. Selznick (who renamed the film with the much more moralistic title "Indiscretion of an American Wife") and his agenda is entirely different. Extras? Nobody's paying to see a bunch of extras! Why hold that shot when you could cut it in half and still get the message across that they walked through the restaurant? It's the "time is money" ethos. A shorter film can play more times in a day and bring in more $$$$.

Selznick was of the opinion that Americans were not only more judgmental than Europeans but that they went to the movies to be 'entertained' not 'enlightened' and subsequently they wanted to see stars and exotic locales while De Sica was of the opinion that art takes time and audience members reasons for going to the movies were as varied as the audience members themselves.

"Right" is a matter of opinion in this case but I'm thrilled someone took the time to put this piece together and would love to see many more like it. Enjoy.