Steve Pink to remake The Toxic Avenger

Ah, the Toxic Avenger, now there's a blast from the past. The original Toxic Avenger, the work of B-movie experts Tromaville, came out in 1984 and was at first a total flop. But success as a midnight feature led to it becoming an immense cult classic. Now, writer/director Steve Pink, who directed the recent Hot Tub Time Machine, is looking at a remake.

The film took place in Tromaville, New Jersey, where wimpy nerd Melvin Ferd worked at a health club, where a group of jocks led by guys named Bozo and Slug would torment him endlessly. One day, a prank of theirs goes to far and Melvin falls from a third story window into a vat of toxic waste. As in the norm in cinema, the hazardous chemicals don't kill him, but rather imbue him with super strength. And thus is born the Toxic Avenger, a hideous superhero who fights to keep the streets of Tromaville safe from crime.

Toxie, as the hero was nicknamed, went on to become the face of Troma Entertainment. The original film was directed by Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz and spawned three sequels, an animated series, and even comic books. Steve Pink will direct the remake, and write the script along with Daniel C. Mitchell.

Pink's writing credits include High Fidelity and Grosse Pointe Blank, and his directing credits include the aforementioned Hot Tub Time Machine and Accepted. No details have been released regarding the remake, as it's still in the earliest stages of development.

The Fighter trailer online

Mark Wahlberg’s true-life boxing flick The Fighter has just premiered its first trailer online – and it’s certainly an attention-grabber.

Directed by David O. Russell, Wahlberg plays boxer ‘Irish’ Micky Ward, who struggles to balance his dreams of becoming a professional fighter with the demands of his family.

Thankfully he has Christian Bale as his brother helping to coach him, and Amy Adams hanging around as a potential love interest.

If you like your drama infused with messages of hope and inner grit, The Fighter looks like the film for you. Check out the trailer below…

The obvious comparison here is Rocky, but can Mark Wahlberg follow up The Other Guys with another stellar lead turn to match Stallone's star-making role?
Considering the pedigree of back-up he’s got behind him in The Fighter, we wouldn’t bet against him.

The Fighter opens on 4 February 2011.
 
Could this be a Rocky for the 21st Century?

Hall Pass gets a trailer

The Farrelly Brothers have served up a trailer for their latest comedy, Hall Pass - though comedy may be a bit of a stretch.

A far cry from their heyday, Hall Pass sees Owen Wilson and best bud Jason Sudeikis - both married men with itchy feet - given a week off from their marital vows by their wives, in which to sow their wild oats.

The plan doesn't exactly work out as they'd hoped, however, as they find that their comfortable married lives have left them a little out of the loop.

Hardly Dumb and Dumber, is it.

The Farrelly Brothers are in need of a hit, and though film comedy may have changed since the pair revolutionised tastes with their gross-out humour, serving up what appears to be a laugh free bonanza is no way to get back on top.

Hall Pass is due in UK cinemas early next year.

Bond 23 should arrive in November 2012

James Bond may finally break free of MGM’s cellar after the studio’s ongoing financial woes saw his next movie outing shoved where the sun don't shine.

Now that MGM have officially filed for bankruptcy, they’re free to start planning what they’re going to do with Bond 23 – and what they want is a new movie in cinemas by November 2012.

Which gives them two years to resurrect the series, and ensure the next Bond film makes enough money to put dinner on their table for a very long time to come.

How are they going to do it? The Financial Times has all the ins and outs of the money side, but essentially MGM will own the rights of Bond 23 while another studio will fund the budget. Then, from Bond 24 onwards the series will be “wholly owned and funded” by MGM.

So will Daniel Craig and director Sam Mendes come back now that MGM are seeing rainbows again?

Neither have ever officially sworn off the project, and by all accounts Mendes had a script he was working on with Peter Morgan. Craig could yet don that tux again, then...

Can Dreamworks Save the Halo Movie?

When Halo: Combat Evolved hit the original Xbox in late 2001, it was met with both critical and financial success. Since than, the series has become an absolute monster, spawning several sequels, each making a bigger splash than the last. We've also see spin-off games, novels, comics, and loads of other Halo-related media. But the one thing we still haven't seen, despite several attempts to remedy this, is a feature film.

Back in 2005, screenwriter Alex Garland (28 Days Later, Sunshine) wrote a script for a Halo movie. The following year, D. B. Weiss (Lucky Wander Boy novel) and Josh Olson (A History of Violence) rewrote the script for a 2008 release. The film was supposed to be developed by 20th Century Fox and Universal, executive produced by Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings), and directed by Neill Blomkamp (District 9). Production stopped and started several times, before Blomkamp finally announced that the project was dead in 2007.

Interest in a Halo movie once again seemed to skyrocket after Halo: Reach, the latest game in the series, pulled in around $200 million. Now Dreamworks is looking into the project. But, instead of adapting the games, which could cause some trouble with Fox and Universal, they're looking to adapt the novelizations. Screenwriter Stuart Beattie (Pirates of the Caribbean, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra) actually wrote a spec script based on the novel Halo: The Fall of Reach back in 2007, but there's word if anything is actually going to come of that.

At this point, I wonder if a Halo movie is even worth the trouble. You've got Fox, Universal, Microsoft, and now Dreamworks all involved in some capacity, and if I even remotely understood how the film business works, that might cause my head to explode.

Dam 999 is an upcoming thriller from Indian director Sohan Roy and writer Rob Tobin. The story is based on a true event, the 1975 collapse of the Banqiao dam in China that ultimately resulted in a quarter of a million deaths. The film will also deal with the Indian concept of Navarasa, the nine human emotions, giving the number nine signifigance beyond the dam. There's also a heavy emphasis on visuals, with the film being released in 3D.

The dam in the film is both physical and metaphorical, making this a psychological thriller as well as a traditional one. While the dam is real and presents a real danger, the title also refers to the many characters in the film and their tendency to "dam" their emotions. Characters will be scrutinized and everyone will have to face their inner demons, lest their own personal dams break at some point. The idea seems to be that sooner or later, everything has to come out.

Cillian Murphy sees Red Lights

Cillian Murphy has signed on to star in Buried director Rodrigo Cortes’ new film, Red Lights.

The film, which Cortes says is about how “the brain does not have a true picture of reality”, has already cast Sigourney Weaver as a para-psychologist, and Robert De Niro as a psychic she’s attempting to expose.

No official word yet on who Murphy will play, though rumour has it that Weaver’s character will have an assistant. If Murphy is cast in that part, expect it to be an important one.

Meanwhile, the flick’s barebones poster has been unveiled at the American Film Market. Shock Till You Drop posted a copy online, check it out below…

Sucker Punch releases its second trailer online

Zack Snyder’s twisted new action movie Sucker Punch has unveiled a second trailer online.

If you saw the first one, released earlier this year, you’ll already know the flick looks visually arresting and completely bonkers.

Whereas the first trailer concentrated on wacky images and girls getting rough, this new look at the film reveals more of the plot – as well as giving us more of that gloriously-lensed bedlam.

Check it out below…




If that doesn’t get you excited for Sucker Punch, nothing will. Looking every bit the definition of ‘epic’, the film seems to cram in everything plus a few kitchen sinks.

Pathos. Swords. Chicks in riot gear. Dragons. And Scott Glenn spouting lines like: “If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.”

Can Snyder keep a handle on his nutso images and stop the plot running away from him? We’ll find out when the flick’s released March 2011.

Mission Impossible 4 Given Subtitle

While the plot to the latest Mission Impossible film is being kept tightly under wrap, Tom Cruise - who's reprising his role as super duper special agent Ethan Hunt - has revealed the film's official title: Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol. Oooh, sounds fancy.


I'm all for cool subtitles, and Ghost Protocol - although slightly cheesy and very Tom Clancy-ish - is plenty cool. But it does seem a little strange coming from a series that's lacked subtitles for the first three films. 1996 gave us Mission: Impossible, 2000 gave us the high-flying, John Woo-directed Mission: Impossible II, and in 2006 J.J. Abrams directed a star-studded Mission: Impossible III. Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol will be called just that, with no indication (in the title) that it's the fourth in the series.


Along with Tom Cruise, series star Ving Rhames will return as Luther Sticker and Simon Pegg will reprise his Mission: Impossible III role as Benji Dunn. New cast members include Russian actor Vladimir Mashkov (Behind Enemy Lines, 15 Minutes), Josh Holloway (Stay Cool, Sawyer from Lost), Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker, The Town), Paula Patton (Deja Vu, Mirrors), Samuli Edelmann (Finnish actor), and Swedish actor Mikael Nyqvist (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo) will play the film's main antagonist, with Anil Kapoor (Slumdog Millionaire, 24) and Lea Seydoux (Inglourious Basterds, Robin Hood) also playing villains.


It's good to see that they're not limiting themselves to American actors and instead dipping heavily into the international talent pool.


Possibly the weirdest addition is not to the cast, but to the crew; Brad Bird will be directing the film. Among Bird's directing credits are The Iron Giant, The Incredibles, and Ratatouille. They're all great films, but they're also all animated. This will be Bird's first time directing a live action production.


Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol is scheduled to hit theaters on December 16th, 2011.

Tron Legacy (2010) Official Trailer [HD]

Noomi Rapace discusses Sherlock Holmes 2 role

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo star Noomi Rapace has confirmed that she will be playing a gypsy in Sherlock Holmes 2.

The Swedish actress spoke with Screen Rant, and revealed that she’s taking her first big Hollywood role very seriously.

“I’m doing a lot of research about gypsies,” she says. “I’m going to Paris to visit some gypsy camps, and I’m going to Transylvania to actually see how they live.

“Because the gypsies are so poor, they live pretty much the same as they did then, and they keep in the traditions and all of that, so when you go to Transylvania, for example, they live pretty close to the way they lived hundreds of years ago. So I’m listening to gypsy music and I’m learning to sing and dance.”

Sounds like the ideal role for Rapace – something completely different from bisexual hacker Lisbeth Salander, who she famously played in the Millennium Trilogy.

We’re sure she’ll get a chance to bruise her fists at some point in the period sequel, though.

After Holmes 2, Rapace has a variety of films in the waiting, with The Voyage Of Demeter up next, and rumours linking her to Hansel And Gretel and the Alien prequels.

Star Wars 3D in cinemas by 2012

Star Wars is set to return to cinema screens in 2012 with 3D re-releases of all six films, seven years after Revenge Of The Sith called the whole thing off.

George Lucas is finally happy that enough cinemas worldwide are now equipped with suitable 3D equipment to warrant the re-issue, and has gotten to work converting the first prequel Episode 1: The Phantom Menace for screens.

In a bit of a stinker plan-wise, Lucas plans to release Episode 1 first in 2012, and then the rest of the series will follow in consecutive years based on how well Menace fares. In other words: you have to watch Phantom Menace again!

Still, pod-racing in 3D should be enough of a consolation, as well as the anticipation of seeing all those classic moments (Carbonite freezing! Yoda training! Death Star bye-bye!) re-rendered on the big screen.

Of course, you could always just settle for re-watching the original three on your suped-up home entertainment system, but where’s the fun in that?

Meanwhile, Lucas is planning on releasing all six films on Blu-ray next year, with “upgraded picture and sound quality” alongside brand new deleted scenes and new-to-Blu features.

Will the 3D re-releases be a hit? Impossible to see, the future is. Still, we wouldn't mind catching The Empire Strikes Back up there again.
 

Will you be queuing up for this in 2012? Or has Lucas screwed with his franchise enough?

Resident Evil 5 on the way

Resident Evil: Afterlife, despite lukewarm critical response, so it’s no surprise that another flick in the profitable franchise is being considered.

Mrs Resident Evil Milla Jovovich spoke with Vulture, and confirmed that Screen Gems are looking to her to continue the horror franchise with a fifth entry.

“This new Resident Evil is the first one to ever open at No. 1 worldwide. It's the biggest movie in the franchise,” she says. “So we're definitely going to make another one.”

Handily, the fourth Evil entry ended on a cliffhanger that could easily set up the next flick – and it seems director Paul W.S. Anderson already has ideas for the fifth Evil entity. But could this be the first interactive sequel?

“We've been talking to a lot of fans on Twitter and stuff, so it's probably going to be one of the first movies where we really talk to fans to see what they want, and what characters they want to see. It's going to be a more interactive process.”

Whether you’re a fan of the undead franchise or not, better get used to it being around – it’s resolutely refusing to die.

Leonardo DiCaprio becomes Devil In The White City

Leonardo DiCaprio is taking a trip through time to the late 1800s to play a serial killer in The Devil In The White City.

Based on the non-fiction novel of the same name, the story follows architect Daniel H. Burnham and Dr H. H. Holmes, the latter of whom is a serial killer merely posing as a doctor.

Holmes used the Chicago World’s Fair, built by Burnham, in 1893 to dice up his victims in the Murder Castle attraction. Considered one of America's first serial killers, it's thought that Holmes killed between 20 and 200 people.

Which makes for a particularly juicy role for DiCaprio. The actor, who was once considered the epitome of heartthrob, has consistently challenged himself with fascinating material - not least this year's Shutter Island and Inception.
DiCaprio will produce the film through his production company Appian Way with business partner Jennifer Killoran.

“I think that a guy who is that intelligent and that charismatic is nothing less than complex, and it's that complexity that [DiCaprio] is drawn to,” Killoran says.
We know Leo will kill it.

Leatherface returning for another Chain Saw Massacre

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre may have been plundered for endless sequels and remakes – and sequels to remakes – but Leatherface is set to return for yet another traveller-butchering slashfest.

Twisted Pictures, who’ve been planning a new Chain Saw Massacre sequel for a while, have finally moved ahead and hired writers Adam Marcus and Debra Sullivan to scratch out a script.

The pair previously worked together nearly two decades ago to pen the after-thought slasher sequel that was Jason Goes To Hell.

The plot of this seventh human-flesh wearing movie picks up 35 years after Leatherface first rampaged in Tobe Hooper’s chilling original, and sees a set of new relatives entering the fold.

“It’s 35 years later, there’s a relative going back,” producer Mark Burg said last year. “Why is he going back? I don’t want to set it in a dusty town. How do we make it more urban but keep that feel.

“There will be some relatives, some new people. There’s still the subtext of ‘are they eating these people?’ The whole idea of cannibalism, we’re bringing it back.”

Ghostbusters 3 ?

Ghostbusters 3 could be heading in front of cameras as early as May 2011, if new reports are to be believed.

The much-beleaguered threequel, which has yet to even receive an official greenlight, is apparently being set up by Sony to head into production May next year.

Last we heard, star/scripter Dan Aykroyd was re-writing a script from The Office scribes Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky, though Bill Murray was still branding the project a “myth” that had no hope of getting made.

According to Production Weekly, though, Sony “is planning to put Ivan Reitman‘s Ghostbusters 3 into production in May 2011”.

Does that mean Aykroyd’s submitted his draft and it’s been approved? Or are the studio just throwing a date around to keep Ghostbusters 3 in the headlines?

The Human Centipede (Blu-ray)

demented surgeon will wield any instrument to perform the unspeakable. No conscience, no mercy and no hope!
Two pretty American girls on a road trip across Europe end up alone in the woods at night when their car breaks down in rural Germany. As they search for help they find an isolated house. Offering to call them a taxi, the house's owner Dr. Heiter, a retired surgeon, invites the girls inside with the promise of a drink and dry place to wait until help arrives. However they realise that there is something not quite right about the formidable Dr. Heiter...

As their demented host explains his twisted vision, the two girls discover that they are soon to become a lot closer to each other than they ever wanted to be. Heiter's plan is to connect the two girls to each other with a third person, a hapless Japanese tourist, via their gastric systems in a daring bid to be the first person to create a Siamese triplet -bringing to life his sick lifetime fantasy 'the human centipede'.

Truly one-of-a-kind, Tom Six's twisted biological horror film The Human Centipede confidently goes where few films have dared to go. The sick vision of a demented surgeon, a role portrayed so brilliantly by Dieter Laser it is sure to join Freddy, Jason, and Leatherface in the horror pantheon, is a 100% medically accurate nightmare.

Gamer (Blu-ray) {pick up}

Gamer is a high-concept action thriller set in a near future when gaming and entertainment have evolved into a terrifying new hybrid. Humans control other humans in mass-scale, multi-player online games: people play people... for keeps. Mind-control technology is widespread, and at the heart of the controversial games is its creator, reclusive billionaire Ken Castle (Michael C. Hall). His latest brainchild, the first-person shooter game "Slayers," allows millions to act out their most savage fantasies online in front of a global audience, using real prisoners as avatars with whom they fight to the death.

Kable (300's Gerard Butler) is the superstar and cult hero of the ultraviolent "Slayers." Kable is controlled by Simon, a young gamer with rock star status who continues to defy all odds by guiding Kable to victory each week. Taken from his family, imprisoned and forced to fight against his will, the modern day gladiator must survive long enough to escape the game to free his family, regain his identity and to save mankind from Castle's ruthless technology.

Review

This was one of the most interesting action films of the year, great story, great cast and lots of original concepts! You can't have much more fun with a film. Loads of violence but all-round fun, you will be rooting for Gerard Butler, his character is pretty cool. Worth a look.

Next (Blu-ray) {pick up}

Las Vegas showroom magician Cris Johnson has a secret which is a gift and a curse which torments him: he can see a few minutes into the future. Sick of the examinations he underwent as a child and the interest of the government and medical establishment in his power, he lies low under an assumed name in Vegas, performing cheap tricks and living off small-time gambling 'winnings.' But when a terrorist group threatens to detonate a nuclear device in Los Angeles, government agent Callie Ferris must use all her wiles to capture Cris and convince him to help her stop the cataclysm.

Review

This film is not perfect but I loved it, there is nothing else like it. Nicholas Cage plays his part brilliantly as expexted and there is action throughout. The storyline is an unusual and interesting one, Nicholas plays a charater who can see the future and he plays this to his advantage when finding a certain group of criminals and stopping them. I would definately recommend this film to be added to your collection!



The HD DVD Format

HD DVD is an optical disc storage technology which competed with Blu-ray in the post-DVD high-definition/high-storage market. Like Blu-ray, HD DVD uses a blue laser used instead of red to increase storage capacity.

HD DVD was backed by a group of manufacturers and content providers (led by Toshiba) calling themselves the DVD Forum. The DVD Forum decided upon HD DVD as their preferred format in 2003.

A single-layer HD DVD can hold 15GB of data, a dual-layer disc can hold 30GB. Prototypes have been demonstrated up to 45GB and the theoretical limit is 60GB. Although this is a big improvement over DVD, it is well short of Blu-ray's capacity.

Initially HD-DVD touted advantages over Blu-ray such as being fully backwards-compatible and cheaper to produce, although the compatibility issue was quickly countered by Blu-ray.

Toshiba announced an end to its HD-DVD production in February 2008, effectively ending the format war.

The Blu-ray Format

Blu-ray is an optical disc storage technology. The name refers to the blue laser used (instead of the red laser used in DVD) — blue light has a shorter wavelength so more data can be stored in the same space.
Blu-ray competed with HD-DVD for the post-DVD high-definition market, eventually emerging as the winner in February 2008.

A single-layer Blu-ray disc can hold 25GB of data, a dramatic improvement over DVD's 4.7GB. This is enough for approximately 2.5 hours of high-definition video or 13 hours of standard-definition video. A double-layer Blu-ray disc can hold 50 GB, enough for approximately 4.5 hours of high-definition video or 20 hours of standard-definition video.

Prototypes have been demonstrated which hold up to 100GB with a theoretical limit of 200 GB. However it should not be assumed that these specifications will be available any time soon (or at all).

Blu-ray supports 1080p resolution. This is touted as the best high-definition resolution for consumers, despite the fact that pre-recorded content is not yet widely available. However the inclusion of 1080p is another big tick for Blu-ray.

The Blu-ray format also allows you to:

• Record one program while playing back another
• Create playlists
• Edit and rearrange programs
• Search for empty disc space
• Access the Internet to download features such as subtitles

As far as the corporate game goes, Sony owns Columbia Pictures and MGM, and has the support of a number of big players. It also has PlayStation 3 on it's side which will play Blu-Ray DVDs.

Welcome to my Blog

I set up this blog so that I can share my love for films, In time I will keep people up dated with recent pick-ups and my impressions of films that I've recently seen.