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Dan Owen reviews
I s s u e # 11 9 J u l y 2 0 0 2
** MOVIE NEWS **
‘BATMAN’ VS ‘SUPERMAN’?
“Batman Vs Superman” has been given the officially go-ahead, withdirector Wolfgang Petersen (“The Perfect Storm”) at the helm. “The plotis structured in a way that these two very different sides basically ofthe same coin have to clash at some point because they handle situationstotally differently,” Petersen told MTV.com.
“For a large portion of the thing they are at each other’s throats. Butthen, of course, because they are both crime fighters, they join forcesagain and fight evil. First of all, the dynamics are different becauseif they are in one movie together it changes a lot of things and itgives you a new perspective on superheroes. You have also the look andfeel of Metropolis, the bright golden city, and the feel of Gotham,which is a shadowy, sinister city, in the same movie. This isSuperman/Batman of the time after September 11th, also. It takes placein today or tomorrow’s world.”
Petersen also belayed fears from comic-book purists by stating he wantsactors with real ability to play the leads, sighting Matt Damon as anexample of the type of actor he will be looking for.
‘BLADE 3 – ARMAGEDDON?’
Screenwriter David Goyer, who penned both “Blade” and “Blade 2”, hasgiven some hints about what fans can expect from “Blade 3”. “Well, we’regoing to make a third one, but I don’t know that there will be a fourthone. We’ll see, but having successfully done two, you never know howmany you’re going to have,” Goyer said. Until now, both Goyer and NewLine have spoken as though “Blade 3” would be the third and final film.
“It can’t last forever, and also for Wesley [Snipes], they’re physicallygrueling. At a certain point, he just won’t want to do it anymore whichI don’t blame him.”
Interestingly, it’s said that Goyer has set his original idea for “Blade3” back 20 years, to feature an apocalyptic event that could giveVampires the opportunity to conquer the planet. So, some sort ofpermanent solar eclipse then.?
Sadly, “Blade 2” director Guillermo Del Toro is now far too busy withhis film adaptation of comic-book “Hellboy” to return for the thirdmovie of the vampire franchise. His successor may be German directorOliver Hirschbiegel – director of “The Experiment”.
‘ID4-2’
“Independence Day 2”? Okay, I’m sure the studio would love a sequel from1996’s Summer hit starring Will Smith, but where can they possibly gowith the idea? Well, according to producer/writer Dean Devlin, plans foran “ID4-2” are in place: “Since September 11th, [director Emmerich] andI did a lot of reflecting on the movie,” Devlin said in an interviewwhile promoting his latest film, “Eight Legged Freak”s.
“It started because people were asking us about images that were fantasyimages that then looked so frightening real in the [wake of] horribleevents that took place.” Regarding the movie’s inspiration themepost-alien attack – “after the great attack, everyone comes together who had been at odds, and we kind of watched our world do that,” he said.
“The one good side, I think, of something horrible is how people cometogether and band together. And through those discussions we startedtalking about the other parts of “Independence Day” that we actuallyliked the most, and that led us to a new story.”
Well, call me a cynic, but the pulling power of “ID-4” was the prospectof watching aliens destroy major cities in a realistic fashion -something I doubt the sequel will do again (post September 11th) andwhich wouldn’t make much sense anyway – you can’t blow up Washington D.C twice!! Watch this space for more news.
‘MATRIX’ CHOPPER ACTION!
Producer Joel Silver has let slip the climax to “The Matrix Reloaded”,currently shooting in Australia for a 15 May 2003 release. Silver saysthey are now filming a climactic 14-minute long action sequence with ahelicopter flying low to the ground through empty city streets.
What’s most interesting is Silver’s claim that the effects-packed finalewill set a new benchmark for visual effects in movies, and it shouldtake years for a movie to supersede the effects work being done – owingto the huge amount of time they have to polish the visuals. It’s saidthat the principal photography shoot alone will take two months for the14-minute running time!
‘SPIDER-MAN’ SPINS AGAIN?
Sam Raimi will direct the sequel to his box-office behemoth”Spider-Man”, which will again star Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst.It’s expected to feature Sam Neill (“Jurassic Park”) as head villainDoctor Octopus, although nothing has been confirmed.
Co-star Kirsten Dunst is said to be expecting a rival love interest forPeter Parker’s affections next time around, and there’s a rumour thatThe Lizard may take henchman duties in the sequel – as his alter-ego was mentioned in the first film. Christopher Walken’s name has beenmentioned as a possible candidate to play the cold-blooded creature.”Spider-Man 2″ is expected to start production in 2003 for a Summer 2004release date.
‘STAR TREK’ BEAMS UP?With “Star Trek Nemesis” being advertised as ‘The Final Adventure’ forThe Next Generation crew, fans will obviously flock to see the latestinstalment of the ongoing Trek franchise. However judging by thecash-driven ethics of Paramount, is this really likely? According toVice-Chairman of Paramount Rod Friedman, “The new TV show “Enterprise”is strong, video sales are strong, and the movies are performing in the$80 million to $100 million range.” Will they really let the castdisappear after just four movies, with no obvious replacement followingthe lack of cultural impact made by spin-off shows “Deep Space Nine” and”Voyager”?
Regardless, buzz about “Nemesis” is slowly building, with testscreenings delivering far more satisfied movie-goers than the tragic”Star Trek Insurrection”. Rick Berman, Trek’s foster father since thedeath of Gene Roddenberry, has even said, “I don’t want to start talkingin ridiculous superlatives, but fans are going to get one hell of amovie. There are immense space battles and a good deal of humour, butthere are also some extremely terrifying elements to the story.”Actor Tom Hardy, who plays Shinzon, the titular enemy of “Nemesis” hasalso come in for some praise from test audiences and Berman himself.”He’ll go down as perhaps the greatest “Star Trek” villain ever, rightup there with Ricardo Montalban’s Khan.”
‘TOMB RAIDER 2’ UNCOVERED!
Well, the screenplay’s almost done, and now the project has a director – Jan De Bont; the foreign guy behind “Speed” and, er, “Speed 2”. But isAngelina Jolie still involved? Let’s hope so, as the screenplay issignificantly more meaty this time (how could it now be when compared tothe anorexic original?!) “Lara Croft & The Cradle Of Life” concerns thesearch for the legendary Pandora’s Box, which Lara discovers theco-ordinates to from a sphere hidden inside a sunken temple. The film’santagonist is Chen Lo, an oriental villain with martial arts skills.
The action sequences are said to be excitingly staged and faithful tothe computer games (with Lara even getting into some skintightwetsuits). The opening sequence apparently takes place in an underwatertemple (inside a convenient air-pocket), which is also tilted at a 45degree angle, with thousands of swords dangling down from above.Hair-raising stuff!
‘SIGNS’ OF THE TIMES
M. Night Shyamalan’s latest movie, “Signs” could become a surprise hitof the Summer if the latest word-of-mouth can be believed. Shyamalan,writer/director of “The Sixth Sense” and “Unbreakable” has chosen cropcircle formations as the topic of his latest supernatural pot-boiler.”Signs” stars Mel Gibson as an American farmer whose crops becomecuriously, er, flattened.
If that doesn’t sound particularly frightening, the tense trailer shouldperk your interest, and a number of test audience members have begunlikening to impact of the movie to Steven Spielberg’s “Close EncountersOf The Third Kind”. High praise indeed. And it seems the rumour ofDisney’s crop-circle marketing trick is more fact than fiction,as this picture proves!
US TOP 10 (CINEMA)
UK TOP 10 (CINEMA)
** TRAILERS **
AUSTIN POWERS IN GOLDMEMBER – can lightning strike three times? MikeMyers hopes so! Although judging from this trailer, the laughs look tobe significantly reduced as franchise fatigue weasles in…
Austin Powers: Goldmember trailer
STAR TREK NEMESIS – tenth (and final?) outing for the Star Trek filmfranchise? Get a look at this tasty theatrical trailer from Paramount,and marvel at how much it looks like a proper MOVIE and not a glorifiedTV 2-part episode. Well, it is an even numbered Trek sequel – so it’spreordained to be worth your money ;0)
Star Trek: Nemesis trailer
xXx – Vin Diesel. His name screams action movie star, so now thebald-headed gravel-voiced hard-nut gets his own movie to headline.Forget voice-over duties in “The Iron Giant”, and marvel at James Bondas an extreme sporter!
xXx trailer
SPY KIDS 2 – overated first movie, yes, but can the sequel deliver for people over the age of 10 this time? To be fair, the trailer looksgorgeous, but then.. so did the “Spy Kids” trailer…
Spy Kids 2 trailer
THE LORD OF THE RINGS – THE TWO TOWERS – what will you be getting for Christmas this year? A ticket to see Lord Of The Rings 2? Let’s hope so!The trailer seems to be “more of the same” despite Peter Jackson statingthe opposite – but is that a bad thing, anyway?
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers trailer
THE HULK – Ang Lee directs next year’s big hope in the superherorenaissance, kickstarted properly with “Spider-Man”. Can the man whobrought foreign language chopsocky action to the world with “CrouchingTiger…” make people believe in a big green radioactive brute? We’llsee next year, but this modest teaser hints at the possibilitites…
The Hulk trailer
REIGN OF FIRE – surprise Summer hit alert! Rob Bowman throws aside his “X-Files” director trappings to direct a Summer blockbuster with storyand characters to back up some rather impressive CGI dragon action!
Reign of Fire trailer
DAREDEVIL – before “The Hulk” dominates 2003 (in the superhero stakes, anyway) audiences will first get to see Ben Affleck as the blind lawyerwith bat-like sonar, together with Michael Clarke Duncan, Colin Farrelland TV’s Jennifer Garner (“Alias”) as Elektra. Could be good, but thetrailer looks average, and the world beyond America may not view a movieversion of “Daredevil” as anything to get excited about…
Daredevil trailer
Page Content copyright © Dan Owen, 2002.
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.