Back to the Fox...

This is an awesome teaser remake, Fox is still the king of the cool teens.

No no no no no no...

Plus there is a Fraggle Rock movie in the pipeline too. A Weinstien production would you believe? Although they did do Hoodwinked!
Woof...

Prince of pauper...

Once more a video game is adapted to the big screen and once more it fails.

Not quite as badly as past efforts (Super Mario Bros.) but still for all it's leaping, jumping and impressive Parkour antics it still falls short. Mike Newell's Prince of Persia: The Sands Of Time adaptation efforts are sturdy and some of the set pieces are impressive enough but for a Bruckhiemer production you can't help feeling that there was simply not enough money in the pot.

The script feels as though it was written with a classic Indiana Jones vibe, in one scene it almost lifts dialogue straight from Raiders, but then re-written to explain the time bending powers of the mystical dagger maguffin. Indeed this explanation is so painfully over explained that you can't help feeling patronized. Jake Gyllenhaal never really reaches his stride as a leading man and God knows why they decided on his 'British' accent. The most solid performances come from Gemma Arterton as the plucky princess and Alfred Molina as the sleazy bandit whilst Sir Ben Kingsly simply put on loads of mascara and seemingly turned up for duties as a pantomime baddie.

That said it's not that bad a film, it ticks all of the genre boxes and although you won't be scoffing popcorn it is still and enjoyable romp. Let's just hope they don't angle for a sequel as it would be as pointless as making this film in the first place.

The Fly...

That's right we all new that it had been earmarked for the re-tooloing, re-imagining and re-making, only what we didn't know was who would be directing the Cronenberg body shock classic The Fly. Well it turns out that Cronenberg will be directing the Cronenberg body shock classic The Fly. Big sigh and relax. Well not quite I say, let's not forget that Carpenter "oversaw" the writing and directing during the remaking of his classic The Fog... and that was cack....

Never sleep again...

Wish they'd never make this film, again.

Sure it won't be the same without Robert Englund and Jonny Deep. Can't they just re-release the original or something?

I'm sorry, Lord. I've done so many bad things...

Original Abel Ferrara '92 Bad Lieutenant with Harvey Keitel.

New Werner Herzog '09 Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans with Nicolas Cage

I like Herzog I just don't think Cage can follow what Keital did with the character originally. For all his trying, Cage is never really that bad, he's tooo - nice? I don't know, I'll have to go and see.
Check out Ferrara's reaction on hearing that his film was being revisited...

MORE ELEMENTARY DEAR WATSON...

A press release has stated that the shoot for "Sherlock Holmes" is going ahead smoothly and on schedule. One can't help wondering then why the studios have insisted that Mr Ritchie go back and include an entirely new story-line involving Moriaty, Holmes' nemesis and eventual destructor. Why this story line wasn't in the original is anyones guess but you don't have to be Baker Streets finest to deduce that the film was seen to be flimsy without it. There is also a worrying rumor on the streets of London that at short notice non other than Brad Pitt has stepped up to play the nefarious baddie... What were they thinking?

and another thing...

On the subject of game to film adaptations why does everyone forget the massively underrated Silent Hill. I was pleasantly surprised by this film and even happier that it seemed to scare some "youths" in the cinema into stunned silence. Good work!!

His Name Is Prince...

That's right people another computer game to film adap. Maybe this one will be good! Or maybe it will follow the route of The Super Mario Bros...dear God let's hope not. Mike Newell is set to direct a Jerry Bruckheimer production of The Prince of Persia, with Jake Gyllenhaal picking up princely duties. Throw into the mix Gemma Arterton as the love interest and Ben Kingsley as a Jafar style baddie and all is not lost. Also something to bear in mind is the Prince's ability to slow down, stop and even reverse time. Let see how those sfx peeps deal with that... and the writers for that matter. No doubt it will be largely aimed at the younger movie goer and game fan but you never know it might just surprise us all.

Timecrimes...

No idea what's going on, but some dude sends himself a couple of hours back in time and has to sort it all out. Sounds interesting, plus Cronenberg plans to remake it in 2011. Might be brilliant.

Dwarf update...

Check out Kryten's website...

And everything I do is funky like Lee Dorsey..

Compare and discuss...

Nein, nein, nein, nein, nein, YES...

Who cares if it isn't a true depiction of the 1939 - 1945 global military conflict between the Allies and the Axis powers, it's Quentin Tarantino's WWII film and I'm excited.

The Last House...

This is one remake that might be worth a watch...

I'm dead, and I move...

More remakes, more reinvention / reinterpretation coming our way. This time a film that is only 15 years old - that does make me feel old.

The Crow is to be restarted by Stephen Norrington of LXG 'in-fame', if that works. Quite frankly why bother? Alex Proyas did a great job with the brilliant late great Brandon Lee. It's fairly true to the comics and it looks fantastic. Still fresh today. A dark and fulfilling story of revenge from beyond the grave; how it shoud be. David J. Schow's screenplay boast's some of the great 90's one-liners. 'Is that gasoline I smell?'
Whatever, it's only early days. Saying all that Norrington's Blade was good and producer Ed Pressman, who produced the original '94 version is onboard. Although he did have a hand in all the other rubbish sequels.
We'll see, at least he's British.
Check the I/V here. (Doco style? How's that gonna work?)
Bark.

Bright light. Bright light...

Brilliant.
Check the making...

Forget it...

Can't really believe they did a remake with the once mighty Steve Martin but low and behold they are making a sequel remake. Or something.
Pink Panther 2.
Load of old arse. I used to love Steve Martin and of course I love Peter Sellers, even in the later Pink Panther films. But this is just tarnishing so much on so many levels. Leave it alone, please for the sanity of the film loving world. Stop squeezing the life out of film treasures.
Idiots.
No comparison.

The spirit of evil...

I've been looking forward to Oleg Stepchenko's Viy since its 2006 slated release date. Apparently the producers decided that they needed a couple more years in post to finesse the CGI, no complaints here. Viy is a horror short story by Ukrainian-born Russian writer Nikolai Gogol, first published in 1835, and now very much part of Russian folklore. The title refers to the name of a demonic entity central to the plot. Here's a synopsis -

Early 18th century. Cartographer Jonathan Green undertakes a scientific voyage from Europe to the East. Having passed through Transylvania and crossed the Carpathian Mountains, he finds himself in a small village lost in impassible woods. Nothing but chance and heavy fog could bring him to this cursed place. People who live here do not resemble any other people which the traveler saw before that. The villagers, having dug a deep moat to fend themselves from the rest of the world, share a naive belief that they could save themselves from evil, failing to understand that evil has made its nest in their souls and is waiting for an opportunity to gush out upon the world. Even in his worst nightmares our materialistic scientist could not suppose that he was going to meet devil’s faithful servant.
Now have a butchers at the trailer.

All hail the new flesh...!

Opera the new 'remake'? I hope so. Hollywood loves a sure deal and to audiences annoyance keeps revisiting old successful scripts. I think they should take David Cronenberg's lead. It's been posted before but I found a good review with a music sample. Hope it travels to the UK - If not I hope they fix the Chunnel!

Shipwrecked and comatose...

It's not quite over.
A new hour of Red Dwarf to shoot in October...
Cool.