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Dan Owen reviews
I s s u e # 6 52 4 O c t o b e r 2 0 0 3
KING ARTHURSome early photo’s have been released from King Arthur, starring CliveOwen (Croupier) and Keira Knightley (Pirates Of The Caribbean) (seeright). ALIEN VS PREDATORAt the ‘LA Comic Book Convention’ there was a video presentation onAlien Vs Predator, including a 10-minute session with director Paul W.SAnderson.
Anderson told the crowd that the film opens 5000 years ago at an Aztectemple. It transpires that such temples were created by ancient humansas a means to welcome aliens to Earth. Anyway, the movie begins with agroup of teenaged Predators entering a temple where Aliens lurk as partof a ceremony.
Of course, the ritual goes wrong and the Predators face an army ofAliens and are forced to activate their self-destructs – obliteratingthe temple in the process.
The film then picks up in the present day, where a team of scientists inthe Arctic find a similar temple that is also playing host to a Predatorversus Alien ceremony…
BLADE – TRINITYAn insider snooped around the Blade III set and reported back recently:“I was on a TV set in North Vancouver BC the other night, and whilstthere I found someone connected to one of the animal wranglers on BladeIII.”
“Seems there will be Rotweiller vampire dogs in the upcoming sequel andapparently the dogs will be of the same type of super vampire (i.e. TheReapers) as the ones in the last movie, you know the ones with the headsplitting act.”
“There is a scene where Kris Kristofferson is bound up and the dog wakeshim up, at some point a command is given and the dog’s head splits openas it feigns an attack at Kris. The script sounds pretty cool, and I canhardly wait to see the FX on the dogs.”
BONDPierce Brosnan has announced that he’ll hand his 007 role over to CliveOwen – but maybe not just yet! Brosnan: “Sure, he could do it standingon his head if he wants to, but he’s just gonna have to wait!” DIE HARD 4Swedish newspaper ‘Expressen’ reports that Die Hard 4 will involveterrorists in the Caribbean.
BROTHERS GRIMMStars Matt Damon and Heath Ledger both revealed aspects of theircharacters in the Terry Gilliam fantasy: “They’re con artists, goingfrom town to town trying to fool people into thinking they’re riddingthe town of the local witch or bridge troll. We’ve got forest fires…running and people trying to kill us! It’s all that kind ofswashbuckling stuff!”
The basic plot has the conmen – Will & Jake Grimm – getting a famedreputation so good that they’re hired by Napoleon’s Government toinvestigate a woman [played by Monica Bellucci] who may be stealing theblood from young girls in order to stay beautiful.
THE GREATEST AMERICAN HEROActor William Katt indicated at ‘MC Comic-Con’ that Owen Wilson is thefirm favourite for the title role in a film adaptation of the TV seriesabout a school teacher who is given a suit by aliens that endows himwith extraordinary powers. PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN II & IIISources close to the film say the producers are pondering thepossibility of filming back-to-back sequels (a la Matrix). THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MANThe Six Million Dollar Man project is finally up and running. The moviehas been fast-tracked after the studio met with Jim Carrey and pairedhim with writer/director Todd Phillips for a comedic take on the 70’scult show.
‘Dimension’ Co-Chairman Bob Weinstein said: “The teaming of Jim and Toddis the perfect creative combination to launch The Six Million Dollar Manfranchise. Todd is a director with proven instincts and Jim is asuperstar.”
The Six Million Dollar Man is based on the popular 70’s TV show of thesame name. The show, which starred Lee Majors as Astronaut, Cornel SteveAustin, followed the adventures of government agent who was half man,half machine as he solved crimes across the globe. The show was based onthe novel “Cyborg: A Novel” by Martin Caidin.
Jimmy Miller and Eric Gold of Mosaic Media had the idea of taking theexisting franchise, previously owned by Dimension and UniversalPictures, and teaming their original comedy idea with Jim Carrey andDimension.
DONNIE DARKOThe surreal teen movie that became discerning critic’s best film of 2002could be re-released in US cinemas next March. Donnie Darko is already acult hit in the States, where it plays to packed teenaged audiences atspecial midnight showings, and found great acclaim overseas. So,finally, the movie has a second chance at some serious box-officeearnings – perhaps boosted by a rumoured Director’s Cut to be releasedon DVD. STAR WARS EPISODE VII – IXAn inside source reported back on the possibility of a sequel trilogy toStar Wars: “One of my pals at ILM told me a few days back that anothertrilogy ‘might’ happen. This is the sequel trilogy that Lucas said he’dnever do. It’s very, very early days yet, but apparently there is sometalk, even to the point of Mr Spielberg – who was interested in doing[Attack Of The] Clones at one point – stepping in for Lucas, who maywant to write, but probably won’t want to direct.”
“If Lucas doesn’t they’ll probably work out a deal for say FrankDarrabont to pen (a la the current Indiana Jones 4 arrangement). Thisone would be the three films following Return of the Jedi, Han Solo,Skywalker, post-Darth etc. How hard of a time are they going to have ontheir hands getting some of those original players! Ha Ha!”
“Finally, a fitting use for CGI, hey? The deal is everyone wants thesequels, except Lucas, who is apparently exhausted [Personally I’d saystudio pressure]. If Spielberg directs, it could be ok. Better thanthose terrible prequel movies”.
WESTWORLDArnold Schwarzenegger’s name has been linked to the remake of Westworldfor some years now, but with The Austrian Oak now The Governor ofCalifornia, it seems studio bosses hope to cast Sylvester Stallone inthe role made famous by Yul Brynner.
But this rumour has been condemned as hogwash by Arnie’s fans online.
US TOP 10 (CINEMA)All figures are weekend box-office gross.
- 1. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003) ($28.0m)
- 2. Kill Bill: Vol.1 ($12.4m)
- 3. Runaway Jury ($11.8m)
- 4. School of Rock ($11.0m)
- 5. Mystic River ($10.4m)
- 6. Good Boy ($8.9m)
- 7. Intolerable Cruelty ($6.5m)
- 8. Out of Time ($4.0m)
- 9. Under the Tuscan Sun ($3.3m)
- 10. The Rundown ($2.7m)
UK TOP 10 (CINEMA)
- 1. Finding Nemo (£5.92m)
- 2. Kill Bill: Vol.1 (£2.69m)
- 3. The League of Extraodinary Gentlemen (£2.00m)
- 4. Bad Boys II (£0.71m)
- 5. Calendar Girls (£0.68m)
- 6. Cabin Fever (£0.52m)
- 7. Mystic River (£0.29m)
- 8. The Italian Job (2003) (£0.18m)
- 9. Down With Love (£0.178m)
- 10. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (£0.177m)
** IN THE PIPELINE **Note that these are UK release dates.
Email Dan Owen
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.