Daily Movie News

                                                        

Thursday, February 11th, 2010

• Variety is reporting that New Line Cinema is looking to reboot the "Vacation" franchise and has hired John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein to write the screenplay. The film will be in the tone of Planes,Trains and Automobiles, not like the sequel films. Also, the film will focus on Rusty and his family in todays world. 

• The Losers is getting pushed back from April 9th to June 4th. This move doesn't make much sense to me because it will be released 1 week before The A-Team. I bring this up because The Losers is getting compared to The A-Team because of similarities. June will be a very big "Team" month, which isn't bad for fans of both.

• Tyrese Gibson gave a teaser update on Transformers 3 with a Tweet stating "TRANSFORMERS 3: Is Full THrottle Full Steam Ahead..... Michael Bay gave me the start date.. And I can't share...". It sounds like everything is ready for production to start and hopefully it's better than Transformers 2.

• There has been many rumors for a couple of months that Twilight: Breaking Dawn is to be made into 2 full length films in the nature of the last Harry Potter films. Well, Deadline Hollywood has reported that they will be split into 2 films and begin production in October, but the studio says the decision hasn't been made yet. In my opinion "who cares".

• Vulture is reporting that the Hughes Brothers (The Book of Eli) are in talks to direct the live-action adaptation of Akira. The site also says that the studio is looking to make Akira in two parts; with the first being released next year. Yet another film being released into two movies. I kinda hate the idea of two movies.

• Writer David Self gave updates on some of his films. RoboCop is in a holding pattern until MGM works out their troubles and it's not a sequel but a origin story, so it's another reboot. And the adaptation of Marvel's Deathlok is going nowhere for now to his knowledge. 

• New Line Cinema's remake of Escape From New York is finally moving forward because of a well received rewrite by Allan Loeb. Vulture says "Loeb nailed the humor in Plissken without slipping into camp, and he changed Snake's rescue-mission target from a president to a female senator, thereby upping the banter quotient". This could be interesting to see if they get a real American attached to star as the Snake Plissken.

• Paramount Pictures announced that it is making Mission: Impossible IV and it will be released on Memorial Day Weekend 2011. Tom Cruise is returning as producer and star. Producer and director J.J. Abrams and Bad Robot Production are also producing it with Josh Applebaum and Andre Nemec are attached to pump out a script with an orginal idea by Cruise and Abrams. This could be pretty awesome or just let the series die.

Benjamin Myers

PSN ID and Gamertag: fusionman15

The Book of Eli Review

If you are a fan of the The Road Warrior or any other post-apocalyptic movie, then you might want to see this movie

The Book of Eli is directed by the Hughes Brothers (Menace II Society) and starring Denzel Washington (Training Day), Gary Oldman (The Dark Knight), Mila Kunis (That 70s Show), and Ray Stevenson (Punisher:Warzone). Released January 15, 2010

The Book of Eli comes at a time when post-apocalyptic movies are making a comeback with 2012 and The Road released in recent months. However, Eli doesn't disappoint the average action movie fan, because it is great action, good story, and amazing actors.

Washington is the perfect actor to portray a older man that is a nice person at heart, but having to do terrible things in a split-second. You love his character from the very beginning to the surprising end. He battles himself to just mind his own business, but he knows he has to do the greater good and help out others in need.

For the supporting cast, it's simply superb with a fantastic actor, Gary Oldman, as the main villain. His character is a desperate man trying to locate the "book" that he would use for his own gain. Also, Ray Stevenson plays Oldman's right-hand man, who is likable and smart with his actions until later in the film. And, Mila Kunis plays the daughter of Oldman's "woman", and a sidekick/protege figure to Washington as the film progresses. Overall, the supporting cast is chosen perfectly.

The Hughes Brothers cinematography and camera shots are amazing. They have some great colorization that shows a dark world and gives a dreary feeling throughout the movie. And the action scenes sold me from the first fight to the last. They really include you into action with great close-ups and slow-motion shots. They were born to direct action films. Best part is that there is 2 of them.

The story is the part that made me want to see two times. It is kind of predictable with the characters moral choices and fight scenes. Although, not all the time. I will say the ending had a WTF moment. The information you gain from the ending has a Six Sense feel to it. No, he isn't dead or he can see dead people. It will most likely make you go "are you serious". I wanted to see it again to notice the small things that lead to the discovery at the end. You will not see it coming I guarantee it.

I give The Book of Eli a very strong rating of 88 out of 100.


Benjamin Myers
PSN ID and Gamertag: fusionman15