You’ve never seen destruction like this. Roland Emmerich apparently decided in reading about the Mayan calendar doomsday conspiracies that his previous armageddon films, Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow, were far too subtle. This is the type of film where the scope of the effects work and the imagination behind the mayhem glue you to your seat. The beauty behind 2012 is that it takes disaster movie elements and cranks them up to the nth degree. Seen tsunamis bury skyscrapers? Here they bury mountain ranges. Seen volcanoes rain lava and ash on our heroes? Here a super-volcano sends off an atom bomb of lava and makes ash rain thousands of miles away. Seen buildings destroyed? Here you have entire continents destroyed. Emmerich gives us perhaps the most impressive effects sequence of the year… and then tops it… and then tops it again. This is the daddy of all disaster films, and easily the pinnacle of Emmerich’s career to date.

In 2009, massive solar flares alert a select number of scientists, including Adrian Helmsley (Chiwetel Ejiofor), that the Earth’s core is rapidly heating up as a result. Dr. Helmsley reports this to Chief of Staff Carl Anheuser (Oliver Platt), who sets in motion a plan to save humanity– we see the Mona Lisa replaced by a forgery, so the original can be carefully stored, and we see plans for a secretive dam being built in China that we suspect is not a dam at all. Flash forward to 2012, where one-time author/current limo driver Jackson Curtis (John Cusack) is late picking up his kids (Morgan Lily and Liam James) for a camping trip to Yellowstone. His ex-wife Kate (Amanda Peet) and her new boyfriend Gordon (Tom McCarthy) eye him with scorn before they depart. While in Yellowstone, Curtis sees dried-up lakes and new government testing facilities. He also meets a conspiracy-filled radio host, Charlie Frost (Woody Harrelson), who tell Curtis the end of the world is coming due to the Earth’s crust being displaced, which will set off massive earthquakes, tsunamis, and super-volcanoes. He also claims to have a map to the place where the government is building ships to save those rich enough to buy a ticket for survival.

Now don’t get me wrong– this is not a “good” movie. The characters are all very familiar, the speeches we’ve heard a hundred times, and the Russians are the fat bulbous detestable cliches that we’ve seen since the Cold War. I don’t mean for this review to convert those who know that they hate disaster movies. I’m not saying this is the disaster movies that will sway you on the ability of disaster movies to entertain. However, if you find enjoyment in the specific entertainment value that disaster movies provide (which I do), then get ready for two and a half hours of bliss. The special effects are among the best of the year– unlike Michael Bay, Emmerich gets off on the long shot, where instead of editing an action sequence to pieces, he lets the shot be packed with special effects without cutting, totally absorbing you into the suspense. The limo racing away from the splitting crust as the freeway crumbles, raining cars into the family’s path, is as intense and joyous a silly action sequence as I’ve seen since Live Free or Die Hard– in fact, it’s better than that. This is the moment where you either buy the movie in its entirety or check out early.

Emmerich also picked some terrific character actors to lead the way. Cusack brings his particular brand of barely likable schmo charm to Jackson– he’s believable as both a jaded writer and impatient limo driver. Chiwetel Ojiefor is one of the best young actors in Hollywood, and while he doesn’t have anything in terms of character (he’s the noble government worker who believes in humanity over the power of the almighty dollar), he delivers his speeches passionately and earnestly. Oliver Platt is a national treasure when it comes to playing smarmy villains; he fully embraces everything ugly about his chief of staff, yet manages to give him shades of dimension in between the dialogue. Danny Glover mostly sits and looks grim, but his mere presence provides some dignity to the proceedings. Amanda Peet is fairly worthless as Cusack’s ex-wife– far better is Tom McCarthy, as the nice guy boyfriend who Jackson’s kids like but who we know from past film experiences will be very very lucky if he survives. He manages to toe the line between the obnoxious new love interest stereotype and the harmless better-option new love interest stereotype… unlike in other films, where you can’t wait for that character to die, I rooted for his survival. Finally, there’s Woody Harrelson as the conspiratorial radio host, who joyously chews the scenery. Every disaster movie needs a shameless ham, and Harrelson not only embraces the ham, he bathes in it.

Why was this movie not released in IMAX? It’s easily the “biggest” movie in recent memory. Shockingly, it’s all based on a real theory– when Harrelson spouts off about Hapgood’s crust displacement theory, and that Einstein believed it was true, he’s not lying. Now, the movie loses steam in the last half-hour… the chaos has mostly ended, and the action moves inside the ships, and the sheer epic nature of the film hits a roadbump. However, when they look outside, and see an ocean covering the Himalayas, where only Mount Everest and K2 are large enough to peek out as islands, we get the full vision of how BIG a scale Emmerich wanted to operate on. This isn’t a film where you feel the effort to entertain– this is a labor of love for Emmerich, filling every corner of the film with every disaster movie cliche that he truly and earnestly loves. I love them too, and even with its flaws, I loved this movie. And yes, just as in every other Emmerich film, the cute little dog survives.

Okay, as you probably know by now: I’m a fan of Superman Returns. I may or may not be listening to the soundtrack right now.  But YOU probably hated it so now I have to think of who else I’d want to direct another Superman movie. Fortunately, since V for Vendetta, James McTeigue, director of the upcoming Ninja Assassin, has been at the top of my list, and, pretty much since V for Vendetta came out, he hasn’t stopped talking about what HE would do with the movie.  And what would HE do with a Superman movie?  Well to  sum it up for him:  make it awesome.  And I’m okay with that.  Read more!

Next up on my fanboy wishlist is Len Wiseman, director of Live Free of Die Hard.  I don’t know what the hell he’s been up to since and I’m too lazy to look it up (I lied — not much.)   I’d also be interested in somebody like Paul Haggis getting a crack at a tent-pole like Superman.  Or I might give up my first born for Alfonso Cuarón.

If given the opportunity to post a pic of V on my blog, I'll take it.

Timothy Olyphant

Have you seen “The Girl Next Door” ? It is a fun comedy: a teenager (Emile Hirsch) falls in love with the girl next door (Elisha Cuthbert). The problem is she’s a porn star and her producer Kelly (Timothy Olyphant) doesn’t have any plans of letting her live a cute fantasy with her boyfriend. It’s a funny, harmless little movie and this is the first movie I have ever seen Timothy Olyphant in. The thing is I just thought Kelly was a nuisance and a morally corrupt character and didn’t think much of him. It wasn’t a difficult role. And I didn’t even find him remotely attractive.

Timothy Olyphant in The Girl Next Door

And I completely forgot about him. Then I saw Catch and Release.

CATCH AND RELEASE (2006)

Timothy Olyphant and Jennifer Garner in Catch and Release

I actually didn’t even recognize him. He didn’t look that different and it wasn’t like he had a wild change with his image. But this role was completely different.

Gray is barely hanging on. Her fiancé has just died, she is broke and his friends are basically are all she’s got. So she moves in with Dennis and Sam. And Fritz is sticking around for some reason, though he seems to be getting on everybody’s nerves. Gray has accidentally witnessed Fritz having sex at the funeral and she has been mad at him ever since. But as time passes, Gray discovers some truths about her dead fiancé and realizes that maybe he wasn’t as great as he thought he was. First she finds out he has a secret account she never knew about and has been regularly sending money to a person- and then she learns that person is the mother of his child. To make matter worse, he has been cheating on her. While Sam is lost in his own depression and Dennis seems way too considerate for a friend, it is Fritz that helps her cope with these new facts and helps her have fun. Fritz may not be perfect, but he is not the jerk she thought he was.

Timothy Olyphant as Fritz

The minute you see Fritz, you just want Gray to get over her fiancé’s death and her hatred for Fritz soon and well, hang out with Fritz so that he will have much screen time. He is good-looking, fun and whatever stupid things he might have done, it is not that easy to judge him since he has lost a close friend and everybody has a different way of coping. And you want her to stop mourning when you realize the guy was a tw0-timing liar and had been with another woman for years without her knowing it. And the more you know Fritz, the more like him. He is fun, sweet and well gorgeous. So it is weird falling for your fiancés friend and him falling for you, but it is a fun,emotional film. It is not original but then I don’t think it ever tried to be. It is also a question of how well we really know the people we think we know really well.

Below is the link to one of my favorite scenes. Gray has just found out that her fiancés kid is much younger than Fritz initially told him,which means he had been cheating on her for years. Fritz was just trying to soften the blow on her. Now, she is very mad at her fiancé- which is good, so she doesn’t really feel guilty about Fritz. The scene also happens to be one of the best kisses in a movie. Impulsive and passionate, and still managing to be gentle:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9lt4v04FTA&feature=related

DEADWOOD (2004-2006)

Timothy Olyphant as Seth Bullock in Deadwood

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guxNtlktMbU&feature=related

It’s a western/drama/thriller and Timothy Olyphant is one of the leads. If you have seen Deadwood after Catch and Release, it is a lot more surprising to see Timothy go all wild west on his audience. As Fritz, he was an advertising hotshot with a place in Malibu. Here, he is a much more complicated character as the Sheriff. He is not nearly as composed, and as a modern man for his time, he seems to have a hard time excepting the horrifying level of crime and violence going on in the town. He has 0 tolerance for betrayal and he prefers speaking his mind to acting diplomatically. The show has two seasons and it is highly rated.

The movie also uses a very free language, meaning: brace yourself for some R-rated dialogue. Note that one of the characters’ names is Swearengen and it is not a coincidence.

Live free or Die Hard

Timothy Olyphant as the villain in Live Free or Die Hard

There are two impressive things about Timothy, one about his looks and one about his acting. Now, Timothy is normally a young-looking actor. In Catch and Release, I just couldn’t believe he was 37! However a year later, he plays the villain in the 4th movie of the Die Hard series and he suddenly looks seasoned. He didn’t age overnight,of course. He is just really good at adapting to his role. He had to be a guy who seeked vengeance for what felt like wrong doing on his part and he just takes this revenge thing on everyone. It just wouldn’t look convincing if he looked like a man fresh out of college; his nemesis is Bruce Willis, for god’s sake! However, Tim’s character is one of the coolest, most cold-blooded villains seen on screen- and he brought the role facial expressions I had never seen him do before. I don’t know a lot of actors who can do that. Yes, there are a lot of good actors but their expressions/way of acting don’t really differ that much or cease surprising you at one point. The last time I was pleasantly surprised like this was by Robert De Niro’s performance in Stardust- I have seen his 3 decades of movies and it was the first time a role of his and his portrayal surprised me.

It is not just Tim’s performance though. Live Free or Die Hard is a solid action movie. It sure includes some physically impossible stuff but hey it is John McClane we are talking about, it is expected. The explosions and chasing and plotting are great. The villain is not just muscles, but brains- who doesn’t mind getting his hands dirty/bloody when he needs to. His smooth delivery and coolness make an impressive, chilly effect.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khwHUyt-CYQ&feature=related is the trailer.

HITMAN (2007)

Timothy Olyphant as Agent 47 in Hitman

Hitman is based on a very popular computer game. Agent 47 has been raised as a kid to be the perfect assassin. No emotions, no complications. Just get the mission, get it done, and get out. An impressive bank balance, no conscience and no emotions. He can get himself out of any danger and you seriously do not want to mess with him. However some people do, and things go awry. After all, the people who “programmed” him have forgotten that no matter how “mechanic” they trained him to be, he is still human. He is also surprised to see he has some feelings he can’t define, which starts after meeting his female target: a Russian hooker (Olga Kurylenko), whose political figure boyfriend might very well involved in the conspiracy.

I actually laughed when some people commented that Timothy’s acting was flat. Did they pay attention to anything going on in the movie? 47 was raised to show and feel no signs of emotion. He is based on a computer character. He is supposed to be flat. But later with the Russian girl, he starts to feel a variety of mixed emotions and he portrays the different levels of reaction perfectly. The movie is fast and it is entertaining as hell. We go to different places in the world, including Russia and Turkey with the characters. There’s lots of action- both with weaponry and fighting. There is also a subtle sense of humor and it is fun to watch Agent 47 begin to change and how he deals with himself. A scene where she’s trying to seduce him and he gives her a sedative shot to get her off him is just plain hilarious. There is also a fun nod at the computer game. I like mindless action. Bring it on!!!

Trailer for the Hitman: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUAURAgF2Kc&feature=related

A link for one of the best scenes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0z9EyP38SIM&feature=related

A PERFECT GETAWAY (2007)

A Perfect Getaway with Timothy Olyphant

Timothy is featured in the show Damages, but I already wrote about it. So I am gonna end the post with one of his latest movies, a thriller called A Perfect Getaway. I just got my hands on the movie and haven’t seen it yet but am quite looking forward to it. With this, Timothy is back to his familiar gorgeous look- which suits the exotic and dangerous vacation theme of the movie.

The great thing about him is that he is a very versatile actor. I could only feature some of his films here. He has had no problems playing a bisexual character falling for his gay boyfriend’s female best friend (Advice from a Caterpillar), a cold-blooded villain (Live Free or Die Hard), a highly professional killer (Hitman), a misunderstood nice guy (Catch and Release); an annoyingly slick TV reporter with no moral principles (Bill), a sheriff in the old west (Deadwood), a drug dealer (Go)….Well the list speaks for itself. It is great that he is very good-looking, and that he doesn’t show his 41 years- which gives him the opportunity to play more kinds of roles.

It is also impressive that he is married with 3 kids and that he has been married since 1991. He has been around for a while and it seems like the movie-makers seem are smart enough to take advantage of this skilled actor. Hope he gets the credit he deserves.

Timothy Olyphant, 90s. I don't really see much of a difference...

my post about Timothy in Damages: http://inthenameofmovies.wordpress.com/2009/11/02/damages-when-your-favorite-big-screen-actors-go-tv/

To: Doctors Raymond Stantz and Egon Spengler

From: The Bottom of My Heart

Since the advent of the world wide web in my parents’ den in the mid-1990’s, I’ve found the internet good for two things: firstly, this, and secondly, staying current on news of a possible third GHOSTBUSTERS film. There was the GHOSTBUSTERS IN HELL treatment that languished despite a Ben Stiller attachment, then a long dry spell in which I went to college, then a decidedly not-half-assed videogame, and now, drumbeats are sounding again for a third film. Based on a treatment by you, Doctors Stantz and Spengler, (Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis,) the screenplay’s being written by Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky, a couple of funny guys with funnier names. Once again, you’ve begun to stir the pot with plot tidbits and cast and crew commitments.

GHOSTBUSTERS 3, now made possible with revolutionary "cartoon finger addition technology"

But what I’m feeling right now isn’t called ‘excitement’ – partly because, Mr. Ramis, I just finished watching YEAR ONE, the recent would-be yukfest you directed and co-wrote with Eisenberg and Stupnitsky. It’s not just that this film isn’t funny. It’s inept. Countless gags fall flat due to poor editing, awful TV movie-quality photography, and worst of all, a Biblical disregard for plot and character. It’s hard to believe this is by the guy who made GROUNDHOG DAY… Mr. Aykroyd, your career of late seems defined by risk avoidance. Nearly all your feature roles have been supporting, and most of them have been of the same authority figure variety: from the President in MY FELLOW AMERICANS, to a Naval Captain in PEARL HARBOR, to a Fire Captain in I NOW PRONOUNCE YOU CHUCK & LARRY, to… the Vice President in WAR, INC. It’s obvious you’ve been the lead drum-beater on GB3, (check out this self-promotion-disguised-as-musing from last week,) but when the tidbits with which you tease us include the introduction of a hip, young band of Ghostbusters including Alyssa Milano, the only thing I can say is… Alyssa Milano. Uh. Wow. You promise? … Apparently, this is a “passing the torch” movie. But might I ask a favor, Dan? Can you just hold the torch? Just- just hold it right there. Don’t pass it. Everyone, please stop passing the torch. It’s your torch, you lit it, you hold it.

It’s been a rough-and-tumble stretch for children of eighties cinema. The harbingers of darkness were the STAR WARS prequels, made palatable only by… you know… that one part with Yoda flipping around, I guess… In 2007, the DIE HARD trilogy was given a worthless addendum that took place in an alternate universe where the word “motherfucker” was never invented – though I do remain grateful to LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD BUT DON’T SAY ‘F*CK’ IF YOU DO for softening the blow of May 2008, and the sodomizing of my most significant icon, Dr. Henry “Indiana” Jones, Jr. Yes it’s true, nothing’s sacred. But that’s about the only reason I can think of to bust any additional ghosts.

We came, we saw, we kicked His ass!

Of course, my apprehension over GB3, based on the recent work of its two prime movers, is flawed. The Spielberg entering the KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL was coming from MUNICH, a near-perfect film, helicopter sex montage and all. Who knew that Spielberg would be so out to lunch when returning to his greatest franchise? Perhaps Ramis could turn back the clock from YEAR ONE, to the quality of the original GHOSTBUSTERS… You know, with the help of Alyssa Milano. But let me say, if only to make up for the last DIE HARD, I seriously fucking doubt it.

What is it about these franchises that we feel the need to see what these characters would be doing twenty years on? The problem with that question is that it’s not we who need anything. It’s they, the filmmakers and stars. They have a full understanding of what they’re getting into by dusting off the fedora, recharging the proton pack, going back to the well – pick your epithet. They want to prove to themselves they’ve still got it, and they want points on the back end. (That is, a percentage of a film’s profit, as opposed to a lump sum up-front.) Say what you want about THE PHANTOM MENACE, the film wasn’t juvenile by miscalculation. George Lucas sought out a new market share – a fan base of the average age of ten – and he got what he wanted. By his own admission, his prequels weren’t made for anyone old enough to have seen the originals in theaters. The same can be said about Shia LaBeouf in CRYSTAL SKULL. If you can justify his inclusion, apart from drawing teens to a movie about a sixty-five year-old, please, speak.

The saddest action figure in all the world

Somebody’s youth is constantly being re-packaged for a youthier youth market. Known quantities sell to distributors before unknown, so sequels, remakes, re-imaginings and re-sequinvisionings hold the marketplace edge over original material. (Other Reagan-era properties set to re-appear soon include Conan, Axel Foley, Robocop and Johnny Five.) One day in a distant age, a future blogger will pen their own open letter imploring the powers that be not to compromise the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, or the ‘Twilight’ series – just as in the streets of ancient Athens, the original proto-blogger snootily announced that he refused to count ‘Oedipus at Colonus’ as part of the real Oedipus trilogy.

The first blogger, Epaphras (pictured right,) who called playwright Sophocles a "total sellout" circa 404 B.C.

Here and now, I’m just filling a role, as one whose childhood entertainment is currently on the chopping block – fodder for re-launch – a process that, due to the predictable appetites of movie makers and men, is perhaps inevitable. So, Ray, Egon, limber up, get out there, and have another go at GHOSTBUSTERS. Do it for yourselves – for cash – for kids. Just don’t do it for me.

Following on with a horror theme for Halloween, it has been 36 years since famed zombie lover George A. Romero created one of his most loved films to date, The Crazies. It seems that Inevitably, along with many other old school horror movies, such as ‘Halloween‘ and ‘The Nightmare On Elm Street‘, having been made into remakes, with fairly successful reputations. The Crazies is no exception, with a theatre release set for February 26th, 2010, one can only hope; much like with other films mentioned, that it is equally, if not more popular than the original of it’s franchise.

The plot focuses on the inhabitants of a small Iowa town suddenly plagued by insanity and then death after a mysterious toxin contaminates their water supply. The 2010 version seems more like a reinvention than a remake where in the original the military attempts to contain a manmade combat virus that causes death and permanent insanity in those infected, as it overtakes a small Pennsylvania town.

Of course Mr. Romero is known for his influence in zombie culture over the last few decades, it may seem like his influence in the film may be irreplaceable, but is it really? New director Breck Eisner, aged 39 attended USC where other notable alumni include; Neil Armstrong, Will Farrell, George Lucas and Forest Whitaker, so it’s not like he wasn’t around an aura of success at a young age. From his previous work on the unappreciated film ‘The Sound Of Thunder‘, I expect good things from him. On a equally as important note, the cast members! Timothy Olyphant (The Girl Next Door, Hitman, Live Free Or Die Hard) will play the protagonist David Dutton, with Danielle Panabaker (Sky High, Yours, Mine and Ours, Friday The 13th) and Radha Mitchell (Phone Booth, Silent Hill, Surrogates) also making appearances within the film. What do you think will come of this remake?

This weekend sees Bruce Willis’ new action flick “Surrogates” face off against “Fame” and “Pandorum”.

“Surrogates” should win the top spot. Although it shouldn’t be as successful as Willis’ last big action movie, “Live Free or Die Hard”, an opening of around $23-26 million should be in order.

“Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs”, last weekend’s number one film, should continue to bring in strong business and make another $19-22 million.

“Fame”, which stars Asher Book will make around $13-16 million and “Pandorum” starring Dennis Quaid will struggle to find business and make $10-13 million.

Lukas Eggen

Cast: Bruce Willis, Timothy Olyphant, Justin Long, Cliff Curtis, Maggie Q, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead
Director: Len Wiseman
The Verdict: Live Free or Die Hard is Die Hard With a Vengeance all over again. Like John McClane’s last outing, this fourth Die Hard finds our ever-reluctant hero covering a lot of ground rather than being trapped inside a confined space. Except Live Free or Die Hard does not costar Samuel L. Jackson. Instead, you have the extremely irritating Apple pitchman Justin Long as—of course—a computer geek who helps McClane thwart the plans of cyberterrorist Timothy Olyphant. Guess director Len Wiseman thought it would be amusing to cast the Mac man as McClane’s blabbermouth sidekick. Sorry, but Long’s about as funny as a computer virus. Worse, the stone-faced Olyphant’s Thomas Gabriel makes for a terribly anonymous adversary. That’s a shame, because the Die Hard franchise has always prided itself on pitting McClane against the most flamboyant and resourceful of bad guys. Alan Rickman created the template for smart, ruthless Eurotrashy villains with Die Hard. Olyphant’s disgruntled ex-government agent is such a wimp that it’s easy to see why he’s so intimidated by McClane’s daughter Lucy (a gritty but underused Mary Elizabeth Winstead), whom he inevitably kidnaps in an attempt to get McClane off his back. Olyphant’s attack on the United States is so very Y2K: he brings the nation to a halt by crippling the computer systems of various government agencies, including transportation and utilities. His motives are somewhat unclear—is he more interested in exploiting our post-9/11 fears? Or making off with a huge payday?—but where there’s a threat, there’s McClane. “You’re a Timex watch in a digital age,” Gabriel snarls at Willis. That’s fine. It’s nice to have such an old-school hero as the smirking McClane back in action. Much like Sylvester Stallone in Rocky Balboa, a bullet-headed Willis has a blast returning to the role that made him a film star. Still, Willis is saddled with some rather flat one-liners, and while the wisecracking McClane remains as dogged as ever, there’s a sense that he’s gotten dumber and softer in his old age. For example, he allows henchwoman Maggie Q to live after their brawl, only to pay for his mistake a few minutes later. The younger McClane would have shown no mercy. Wiseman, who previously directed the effects-heavy Underworld series, shows a flair for staging breath-taking scenes of mass destruction on a James Bondian level. What’s the most amazing about Live Free or Die Hard is its PG-13 rating. Wiseman doesn’t tone down the violence; it’s not just as bloody. With Live Free or Die Hard, the MPAA seems to be saying that it’s OK to shoot dozens of people, push them off buildings or out of helicopters, and make mincemeat out of them—as long as you don’t show a drop of blood. Any bets that the inevitable unrated DVD version will be drenched in blood? Oh, and a supposedly teen-friendly Die Hard also means that Willis can’t fully utter McClane’s famous catchphrase, “Yippee-ki-yay, motherf—ker.” Now that’s just plain embarrassing. Even in its sanitized form, Live Free or Die Hard is no better or no worse than Die Hard With a Vengeance. But after two sequels that have allowed McClane to roam free, it would be nice to see the franchise go back to basics if our favorite New Jersey cop’s ever again finds himself face to face with terrorists.
Release Date: June 27, 2007
Rating: PG-13
Running Time: 128 minutes

Ah, here’s another article I really couldn’t wait to write. Geeks united across the world will be having a spasm of excitement once they’ve finished reading this. Here’s a run down of the top 5 upcoming movie adaptations of some of the best selling games to date.  I know, I’m just as eager to write it as you are to read it.

Roasted Necromorph anyone?

At #1. Dead Space – PS3, 360, PC

Director is none other than D.J. Caruso, previous works of his would be ‘Eagle Eye‘, and ‘Disturbia‘, both of which have Mr. Lebeouf in, how much do you want to bet he has a part in this? Anyway, for those of you who AREN’T geeks. Dead space is set in the 26th Century in well.. the deep, dark, vastness known as space, where a lone engineer picks up a distress signal from a mining ship and investigates before realising that the entire crew is horribly mutated into necromorphs, It’s up to him to fight them off and destroy whatever’s controlling them at this point. Anyone looking forward to it?

Hulk! Smash!

At #2. BioShock – PS3, 360, PC

Anyone care to take a stab in the dark as to who the lucky director is? No? Well, you may be pleasantly surprised… I was. It’s only Gore Verbinski, why does that name sound familiar? Because he only directed the ‘Pirates Of The Caribbean‘ trilogy, he would be directing the forth, but bailed for this baby of a project. Estimated budget exceeds $100 million. Something tells me that this film is going to be great. Is it the awesome game? Awesome director? Or just the fact that if this hits the cinemas, then that practically means BioShock 2 is gauaranteed to be made. Personally, if that’s the case, I can’t wait… I loved the game and I will probably love the movie. And am I the only one that thinks the fist in the picture resembles hulks at all?

You Feelin' Lucky Punk? Well Do Ya?

At #3. Mass Effect – 360, PC

This is where the lovely geeks of the world join together and snort in unison. Why,you ask? Oh.. You didn’t ask, well anyway. The Director of this bad boy is only Avi Arad.. I know what you’re thinking ‘Who the heck is that?‘ I’ll tell you who, he’s only the previous owner of Marvel movies and producer of the Spiderman and X-men movies. If you liked those, you’ll like this.

As the story goes,  Commander Shepherd (Yes, the renegade in the picture) and his crew have to save alien species from the systematic eradication that a random species must face every 50,000 years from a pitiless mechanical foe. Why? Don’t ask me, maybe they have to do some good deeds before going to Mass Effect heaven.

What's that coming over the hill? Is it a monster? is it a monster?

At #4. World Of Warcraft – PC

It’s a well known fact that ‘World of Warcraft’ is the leading MMORPG in the world, it’s so well known that it’s actually getting made into a big blockbuster hit, and I have a gut feeling it will be pretty good. Despite rumours. Sam Raimi is directing this one, as you would know if you read my spiderman article a while back.

For those that do not understand what World Of Warcraft is, it originally started out as a MMORPG on the PC. The forth addition to the Warcraft universe, ever since ‘Warcraft: Orcs & Humans‘ in 1994, It’s lore has become full of depth and detail, and ultimately setting out the stepping stones for what could be the largest universe in terms of complexity on screen. I’m just hoping this baby will be filmed cinematically.

Don't make me break my foot off in your ass.

And last but not least:
#5. Gears Of War – 360, PC

Two names, Len Wiseman (Live Free or Die Hard) and Chris Morgan (Wanted) are directing and scripting Gears Of War respectively. Not bad. We’ve been assured that Dwayne ‘The Rock‘ Johnson will NOT be starring in the film as anyone. Yes, that means Cole train and Tai will not be forced to relive the same fate as Sarge in DOOM, thankfully.  Rumours of Kate Beckinsale playing Maria however are slowly emerging, and may be true.

If you’re not a fan of the game, let me explain the concept to you. Gears of War takes place on the planet Sera. The Coalition of Ordered Governments (COG) originally existed only as an obscure world-government philosophy, but it evolved into a legitimate, though minor, political party during the 79-year long Pendulum Wars. After “Emergence Day,” when the Locust began their attack on humanity, the COG were the ones who took the necessary steps to ensure the survival of human civilization, instituting martial law and taking charge of the effort against the Locust.

Maggie Q

Borys Kit and Patrick Frater – Hollywood Reporter

Maggie Q is joining Paul Bettany and Cam Gigandet in the horror Western “Priest.”

Adapted by Cory Goodman from a TokyoPop comic, “Priest” is set in a world ravaged by war between man and vampires and follows a warrior priest (Bettany) who teams with a sheriff (Gigandet) to track down a murderous band of vampires who have kidnapped his niece.

Scott Stewart is directing the Screen Gems project.

The Hawaii-born Q, who became a star of Hong Kong action movies and toplined “Mission: Impossible III” and “Live Free or Die Hard,” will play a priestess, a vampire hunter as tough as the priests.

This was written quite some time back and posted elsewhere.  But Bruce Willis being my personal favourite, I dusted this review from the attic, got it refurbished according to exacting blogging standards and spruced it up with some pics sourced from the net.

Jostling in an unruly queue for 30 minutes and then being told that only a few seats ‘lower down’ were available, was something I had not experienced even during my heady college days. So when this awkard situation confronted me, I took it as an opportunity to add to my rather minuscule cine-going experience and grabbed whatever was on offer than retreat empty handed. It was a seat pretty close to the screen, and amongst an assorted crowd of hardened rowdies. Never mind, I told myself. The opening scene was already rolling when I ambled into the hall, and after trampling on quite a few unhappy feet, finally managed to land myself first on somebody’s lap, and then on a precious empty seat next to him. However, the guy whose lap I consecrated chose to overlook my indiscretion (probably I had not hurt his anything) and stayed glued to the screen, much to my relief. Bruce Willis had made his appearance by now and was already mouthing expletives merrily, when I was briefly distracted by an SMS from a fellow blogger from down South (who enquired how hot it was in Jaipur; to which I replied that yes, it was indeed smouldering!). During the next 2 hours or so, I got terribly busy repeatedly picking my jaw from the floor which kept dropping at fairly regular intervals. And when I was not doing that, I was having a hard time controlling my wayward eyeballs which kept popping out every now and then. I had a loud chuckle when one of the rustic rowdies behind me asked his neighbour “Arre iss heero ka naam kya hai?”, and pat came the reply “Burush Willy”. (He’ll surely have his willy brushed with the toughest of bristles if Bruce Willis gets to hear that!)

Live Free or Die Hard (Die Hard 4)

Bruce Willis returns with a renewed twinkle in his eyes as Detective John McLane, a smartass cop who is just as deft with his ammo as he with his mouth, shooting wisecracks and profanities with equal gusto. A perfect antithesis to complex digitalisations in today’s world, Officer McLane is a nut when it comes to understanding how computerised gizmos work. He hasn’t changed much, still divorced, unable to get along with his near & dear ones (in this case, his daughter), nearly heartbroken, but more than willing all the while to whip the backsides of all those who try to cross paths with US Federal law. Of course there are a few subtle changes which only a diehard Bruce Willis fan would appreciate; his unmistakable, charming smirk which has become a little more pronounced, with a hint of Sly Stallone like crookedness at the corner of his lips, and, his willingness to wear a T shirt this time (as opposed to various states of undress Bruce used to be in earlier).

The Plot

John McLane (Bruce Willis), the quintessential  NYPD cop, is at a loss to make his daughter Lucy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), a thou-may-kiss-but-thou-shall-not-fondle-my-assets kind of lass, appreciate his fatherly concerns over dating strangers. After one such confrontation with his daughter, McLane gets a call from the FBI to apprehend and escort a hacker Matt Farrell (Justin Long) into FBI custody. As McLane is introduced to Farrell, the latter is attacked by a crack team of mercenaries sent by the baddie Thomas Gabriel (Timothy Olyphant) who literally slice up his apartment within minutes. McLane somehow manages to rummage through the hell fire to save his terrified charge from being roasted live. Gabriel, driven insane by hatred towards the State, meanwhile initiates ‘Fire Sale’, a sequence of hacking programs aimed at maiming the nation’s infrastructure and economy, and it is upon McLane and Farrell to rescue the Motherland (and Lucy , whom Gabriel abducts), after liquidating Gabriel’s henchmen including his martial arts trained girlfriend Mai Lihn (Maggie Q). In the process, McLane and Farrell dodge countless bullets, and though their asses get toasted sweetly, the duo manage to cling to dear life in the midst of crumbling services like transportation, telephone network and power.  After a lavish helping of absolutely stunning, adrenaline laced, out of the world action sequences, which includes McLane ramming a police car into a hovering helicopter and somehow managing to steer a rig even as he is literally shredded to smithereens by an F 35 fighter jet, they manage to trace Gabriel’s whereabouts and proceed to confront him in a deadly climax…..

Performances

Bruce Willis – He redefines action with Die Hard 4. The 52 year old veteran literally blows you away, effortlessly jumping in and out of speeding cars, hanging precariously in mid air, beating the living daylights out of the rogues with his phenomenal 10 pound punch and mouthing the choicest of profanities, maintaining his good humour all the while.

Timothy Olyphant – Ever since the portrayal of Le Chiffre by Mads Mikkelson in Casino Royale, the trend it seems is to project baddies as suave, smooth talking and outwardly calm personalities who only throw things off their tables in fits of anger. Olyphant’s characterisation of Gabriel, an IT geek himself, is apt – smart computer professionals are not supposed to wear ringlets in ears and sport outrageous tattoes over their biceps.

Justin Long – Fits the bill perfectly as Farrell, a young hacker who unwittingly gets sucked into the drama, just because he unknowingly wrote a hacking sequence of the Fire Sale. The lad seems pretty obfuscated at first, getting to act beside the legendary Willis, but as the movie gets along, makes an impression of his own.

Maggie Q – Mai Lihn. Boy, she is hot. Particularly when she kicks Willis all over the place, you can’t take your eyes off her razor sculpted figure. This is without any skin show, mind you, for the total surface area of her exposed parts would be less than what is usually hidden by Mallika and Udita!

Mary Elizabeth Winstead – As Lucy Mclane, has nothing much to do except hiss occasionally at Gabriel and remind herself every now and again that though Bruce as a father is intolerable, it is he and only he who would finally extricate her from the clutches of her captor.

It was funny to watch

The whole of US of A plunged into darkness in an age where they are talking of setting up malls on Mars. Guess why no one sells APC inverters there???

An F35 jet having a tough time targeting a mammoth rig. It’s missiles hit everything except the rig. Wonder how such nincompoops dominated in Iraq and Serbia???

How swiftly the hackers typed out complex sequences in no time. It that really how nerds usually work? Typing speed – 3,86,000 cps, no typo errors. Remarkable.

Officials from the White House kickbutted by the FBI. Is it a regular phenomenon?

Value adds – Trailer of Sivaji – the Boss. Aah…how I long to see Rajnikanth in Die Hard 5.

Verdict – Looking at what you are supposed to expect from a Die Hard movie, this has all the essentials. John McLane pummels a bunch of armed-to-the-teeth baddies. Able sidekick who adds comic relief and keeps you absorbed.  An insane rogue who pushes McLane to his limits.  Bruce Willis battered, bruised and soaked in blood by the end. Eye popping action sequences with a nail biting finish. If you’re a fan of Bruce and DH, this movie will just blow you away.

Actor Michael Papajohn. Photo taken on-location by Dimitri Halkidis (UPA) at The Ace Hotel, Palm Springs, CA; men's grooming by Barry/The Salon at The Beverly Hills Hotel; wardrobe by John Varvatos

Michael Papajohn has one of those faces that is instantly recognizable, especially to avid moviegoers. A veteran stuntman and talented actor, he was kicked in the jaw in Charlie’s Angels, fell out a window to his death in Spider-Man 3, and was even pumped full of lead courtesy of a gun-totting Bruce Willis in Live Free or Die Hard. During the past 20 years, this former college baseball player has appeared in dozens of TV as well as feature film roles and can currently be seen in four major motion pictures. Having worked with director McG on Charlie’s Angels, the actor was offered a role in Terminator Salvation, where his skills as both an actor and a stuntman served him well.

“I play a renegade, I guess you could call him, who has been surviving in the desert for three or four years and has probably had a bit too much radiation,” jokes Papajohn. “He encounters this beautiful woman, played by Moon Bloodgood, and in that scene my character tries to have a relationship with her in one way or the other.

“My experiences as a stuntman absolutely came in handy with this job. That’s one of my assets and I always try to play to my strengths in this business. I come from an athletic background, so I love physical roles, and I think directors like to work with me because I feel comfortable handling the dialogue along with the physicality of a character. So they don’t have to cut away to a stunt double. I mean, if I was directing a movie, I would love to be able to hold a shot for the entire time instead of worrying about cutting away and putting in a stunt double. Believe it or not, after we filmed the fight scene for Terminator, they brought us back to make it even more violent and intense.”

Papajohn and Cameron Diaz in Charlie's Angels. Photo courtesy of Papajohn's official website.

Papajohn was pleased to be directed once again by McG for this film. “I know when walking onto his set, that he’s going to be passionate about the work and he also gives his actors a lot of freedom to play,” says the actor. “When I worked with McG on Charlie’s Angels, he took me aside right before a scene I did with Cameron Diaz and said, ‘Hey, Papajohn, film lasts forever, so have fun.’ That freed me up insofar as my acting. When I subsequently showed up on the Terminator set in New Mexico, I brought that story back up to him and said, ‘I’ve always remembered that and use it on every movie that I do.’ All actors have their own ways of doing things, but I know that if I’m free in my body, then I’m free to play as an actor. Again, having an athletic background I work with my body and am always in tune with it, so that was a valuable piece of advice.”

From radioactive renegade to estranged parent, Papajohn plays Cal, the father of Mikaela Banes (Megan Fox) in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Although his character never appeared in the first Transformers film, there was a history established in the movie between father and daughter. The actor made sure to use that to his advantage when trying out for the 2009 sequel.

“My acting coach, Larry Moss, taught me a great deal about biography,” notes Papajohn, “so when I auditioned for this movie it wasn’t about how many lines I had in it, but rather my character’s background with his daughter, their experiences together and how he felt about her. I worked very hard on that, and when I showed up on the set, I was able to look at her [Megan Fox] and, without saying a word, you know that our characters are related. Cal has been in prison and hasn’t seen his daughter for a long time, so he has all sorts of questions for her and I enjoyed playing the ups and downs of that relationship.

Papajohn in the 2005 film The Longest Yard. Photo courtesy of Papajohn's official website

“Like McG on Terminator [director] Michael Bay also allowed me a lot of freedom with my work. He gave me some good dialogue choices on the set and also the chance to improv with Megan, which was fun. It’s been interesting to be part of such big blockbuster franchise-type movies like Transformers as well as Terminator and Spider-Man. The best part for me now, though, is that I have a 14-month-old son and it’s exciting that I can actually share all these experiences with my family, which means a lot to me.”

Hot on the heels of Terminator and Transformers, Papajohn worked on Land of the Lost, a big screen version of the 1974 Saturday morning live-action children’s series. “When I first saw the set I couldn’t believe it was a soundstage because of the big redwoods and water,” he says. “If you’ve seen the movie, you know what I mean. Brad Silberling is a cool director and just a real pleasure to be around and work with. They actually asked me to come back on the very last day of shooting to do some CGI [computer-generated image] work with a green screen When I walked onto the stage, I had the opportunity to watch Will Farrell [Dr. Rick Marshall] ride a 70-foot dinosaur and whip it like a rodeo star. Now that was something to witness,” enthuses the actor.

Rounding out Papajohn’s summertime film appearances is his role of an FBI Techie in producer Jerry Bruckheimer’s 3-D movie G-Force. In it, a specially trained squad of guinea pigs is dispatched to stop a diabolical billionaire from taking over the world. “It’s a Jerry Bruckheimer movie, so naturally when we filmed this military-type scene there was plenty of action,” he recalls. “They did a close-up shot following me and there were explosions and all this other stuff going on behind me. When I watched the playback I thought, ‘Wow, it really looks like there’s a war going on in the background.’

Michael Papajohn. Photo taken by Dimitri Halkidis (UPA) on-location at The Ace Hotel, Palm Springs, CA; men's grooming by Barry/The Salon at The Beverly Hills Hotel; wardrobe by John Varvatos

“I play a good guy in the film and I don’t get killed. This is something that I’ll be happy to show my son one day, and to top it off it’s in 3-D, so I can’t wait to sit on the couch with him, put on the 3-D glasses and watch it together.”

A native of Birmingham, Alabama, the actor graduated from Vestavia Hills High School in 1983. Two years later, he was drafted by the Texas Rangers, but instead of signing with the team, he accepted a baseball scholarship to Louisiana State University. In 1987, the cast and crew of Everybody’s All-American came to Baton Rouge for location shooting, and, while still attending college, Papajohn was chosen to play Dennis Quaid’s stunt double in the movie. He had no idea that this would forever change his future.

“As a baseball player, whenever I made a game-changing play I would get a high. When I doubled for Dennis for the first time, [director] Taylor Hackford said, ‘Action!’ I did the stunt, hit my mark, and they said, ‘Cut,’ well, I experienced that same type of high,’” says Papajohn. “I’ll always be grateful to Taylor Hackford for staying true to his word. At one point, he pulled me to the side – I was 22 at the time – looked me in the eye and said, ‘Hey, Papajohn, you’re an athletic guy and you’re very well-liked on the set. I think you should pursue a career in this business.’ Not much later, when I decided to do just that, I phoned Taylor, he took my call and then hooked me up with some quality people in the industry to kind of watch over me.

Papajohn up at bat in For Love of the Game. Photo courtesy of Papajohn's official website

“Now years later, all these great things are happening with my family as well as my career and it’s because of him. I get chills just talking about it. I don’t mean to sound cheesy or anything like that, but when I stop to think about it, I’m doing what I love to do and it’s because of someone who maybe saw something in me and stayed true to his word. It just foes to show how powerful words can be, especially when they’re backed up with action.”

Titanic, Starship Troopers, The Waterboy, Enemy of the State and Starsky and Hutch are just a few of the movies in which Papajohn worked as a stuntman and/or stunt double. It was after playing Tucker Kain in 1994’s Little Big League that he decided to make the jump from stunts to acting. “That’s not an easy thing to do in this business,” he explains. “I continued taking acting classes and studying with various teaches in Los Angeles, but I kept hearing about [acting coach] Larry Moss. I tried to get into his class but it was proving impossible, so I called his assistant and told her that I just got a really good role in a Denzel Washington movie and wanted to meet with Larry privately.

“That afternoon I went to his condominium, walked in and said, ‘Hi, Larry.’ He said to me, ‘Hey, Michael, congratulations. Let’s hear about your part and start working on it.’ I admitted, ‘Larry, I didn’t get the part. I just wanted to meet you and talk about acting.’ The two of us then went on to have an hour-long conversation that totally changed my life. He told me things I had to do and I did them. Larry is also a man who stays true to his word. It was another moment in one’s life when you look at someone and trust in whatever they say.”

Papajohn stunt doubling for Adam Sandler in The Waterboy. Photo courtesy of Papajohn's official website

One of the actor’s most memorable film roles is Dennis Carradine a.k.a. The Carjacker, who he played in the first Spider-Man movie. Much to the actor’s surprise, he was asked to reprise the role in Spider-Man 3, but this time around there was more to the part than even he imagined.

“Grant Curtis [Spider-Man 3 producer] called me to say that they were bringing me back in the movie, but he wouldn’t tell me anything else,” says the actor. “Three weeks later, my wife Paula and I were at a charity event and I saw [writer/director] Sam Raimi. I asked him, ‘Is it true, Sam? Am I coming back?’ He said, ‘Yes, you’re coming back, but you can’t tell anyone.’ I said, ‘I won’t. What’s going on?’

“Sam said, ‘We’re going to show that your character didn’t kill Uncle Ben [Cliff Robertson].’ I looked at him and said, ‘You mean I’ve been carrying that on my shoulders for four years and you’re just telling me now.’ Then I looked at my wife and said, ‘Hey, honey, now we can have kids,’ and Sam just about busted a gut laughing,” chuckles the actor. “Working on Spider-Man 3 was awesome, and it was the first time that my wife got to sit on-set behind the monitors with Sam Raimi and watch me work.”

Playing a baddie in Spider-Man 3. Photo courtesy of Papajohn's official website

Besides his film roles, Papajohn has guest-starred on such TV series as Without a Trace, The Shield, CSI:NY, The Unit and Castle. His fans can look forward to seeing him in an episode of the HBO cable series True Blood, which is in its second season, and the made-for-TV movie Dark Blue. The actor is also a documentary filmmaker, and his most recent project spotlights his friend and former NFL player Bo Eason. “Bo wrote a one-man show called Runt of the Litter, which he took to New York,” says the actor. “What I want people to see in my documentary is the work involved in properly putting on a show for the theater while having to deal with everything from rejection to family members getting sick along the way. Larry Moss directed the stage show and both he and Bo opened their lives up to me. I shot over 200 hours of footage over 10 years and we’ve just started the editing process.”

Looking back, Papajohn has no regrets about trading in his baseball bat and pursuing his dream to become an actor. “I love what I do, and I know so many people that may be in a business or make a lot of money, but they don’t love their job,” he says. “And I know, too, that when I’m hired to play a part, it’s not about me, it’s about telling the story and me making the best [acting] choices to do that. Also, it’s really gratifying to know that I can help tell a story that can change a person’s life. Believe me, I don’t say that arrogantly, but rather as a way of pointing out just how powerful storytelling is. It’s terrific to be a part of that and, in the process, affect people in a positive way.”

To find out more about Michael Papajohn and his career, check out his official website @ www.michaelpapajohn.com

 Steve Eramo

As noted above, all photos either courtesy of/copyright of Dimitri Halkidis or courtesy of Michael Papajohn’s official website, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any form. Thanks!

Sometimes I wonder what the other Die Hard movies would’ve been like if John McClane ran all around barefoot in those like he did in the first one.

He was pretty harcore in the first one without any shoes, right?

Could he sustain that level of hardcoreness and smart-mouthedness in Die Hard 2, what with all the running around in the snow and all? Or would he get frostbite and have to have his feet amputated?

I’m pretty sure that’s what would’ve happened.

Then he’d have ended up shooting Samuel Jackson’s character in Die Hard With A Vengeance for making too many wisecracks about the prosthetic feet he’d, of course, have been running around trying to solve those silly riddles with.

And then, if Al had put down the Twinkies and helped him skirt the charges for killing Zeus in NYC, even though Al was, of course, an LA cop, I doubt that he’d have been able to do half the stuff he did in Live Free Or Die Hard with prosthetics.

Unless Justin Long went all “I’m a Mac…” and hooked him up with some iFeet to do all sorts of futuristic John McClane shenanigans with, like hovering in front of that one fighter jet that just ravaged that one freeway, and while hovering in front of the plane, point a handgun at the cockpit, and be all like “Now who’s afraid of heights?” and then bust a cap in the bad guy pilot’s grill, causing the jet to crash atop the remains of the freeway and burst into a firey mess.

In conclusion, the original Die Hard is the best.

Oh, and Die Hard 2 is cool, too, though, because not only does John McClane stab a dude in the eye with an icicle — an icicle! — but he blows up an entire jumbo jet by lighting its fuel leak on fire with a zippo lighter.

Yippie-kay-yay, motherlovers.

Mark Fujii – CollegeNews.com
   During Epic Games’ Gears of War Panel at Comic-Con 2009 in San Diego California, the director, Len Wiseman, and writer, Chris Morgan, of the upcoming film adaptation shared some details with fans about potential casting selections for the movie.

According to IGN, amongst the prospects to play Maria, the wife of one of the game’s protagonists, Dominic Santiago, Len Wiseman said he was interested in British actress Kate Beckinsale.

   “If I can convince [Kate Beckinsale]—and I think I have a shot—I’d love to see that,” said Wiseman. He is also currently married to Beckinsale. Minor detail, that.

Though best known for her more dramatic roles in films like The Aviator and Pearl Harbor, Beckinsale is no stranger to making action flicks either. She starred in 2003 action movie Underworld as a sultry, leather clad vampire, and co-starred opposite Hugh Jackman in 2004’s Van Helsing.

   However, contrary to Internet rumors that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson would be starring in a Gears of War movie, Wiseman was quick to announce they were currently not pursuing the former WWE wrestler.

   “A Doom connection would not be smart for us,” said Wiseman, referring to the 2005 film adaptation of the classic PC shooter franchise which was a box office flop. The Doom movie starred recognizable actors like Johnson and Karl Urban, but was scorned by critics and currently holds a Rotten Tomatoes rating of only 20%.

Wiseman said he wasn’t looking to “throw a bunch of strongmen into the ring and see who comes out victorious… I’m looking for an actor for the role and then put him into shape,” according to IGN.

   Wiseman also added that he’s “always thinking who could play the best Marcus [the leading protagonist in Gears of War]. You want to get hooked into the character and then all the amazing spectacle.”

In addition to talking about some of the casting choices for Gears of War, the game’s executive producer, Rod Ferguson, talked about how they were taking steps to avoid the failures of past video game movies.

“You can be too tied to what is the game,” Ferguson said.

   Ferguson then elaborated that creators “so oriented at grabbing the gaming audience, we don’t leave behind what shouldn’t be in the movie. We’re about making the best movie possible, not about making Gears of War the game into a movie” before adding that previous movie-game adaptations “haven’t been willing to let go.”

According to Ferguson, Epic Games, developers of the Gears of War video game series gave the film’s director and writer “basic stuff that are important” but otherwise only requested that Wiseman and Morgan “”make the best movie possible that fits [their] medium.”

   One change that gamers could see in the movie that differs from the video game is the appearance of female COG soldiers. In the Gears of War video games, the cast is almost exclusively male. When asked if women soldiers would play a bigger part in the film than in the games, Wiseman said, “I’d love to see it happen. I’m a big supporter of that.”

   Though a script or a firm plot has yet to be written out, Morgan told Comic-Con attendees that “Emergence Day is making its way into the film. That will be big.”

Emergence Day is a pivotal moment in the Gears of War video game’s storyline where an alien race called The Locust dig their way to the planet’s surface and begin waging war on humanity.

   However, Emergence Day takes place before the events of the first Gears of War game, leading many to believe that the movie will be a prologue for the series rather than a sequel.

Len Wiseman’s last film as director was for Live Free or Die Hard; Morgan is known as the writer for the Angelina Jolie shooter Wanted.

Len Wiseman

Jay A. Fernandez and Borys Kit – The Hollywood Reporter

Len Wiseman has signed to develop and direct a film adaptation of the graphic novel “Shrapnel” for Radical Pictures.
Wiseman said was browsing comic-book stores with his 10-year-old daughter, Lily, when he happened upon the comic the day it hit shelves. He quickly had his agent at ICM scout the rights.
The graphic novel, which Radical Publishing teased at last year’s Comic-Con, describes a sci-fi future where humans have colonized the solar system and formed a Solar Alliance to govern the planets. The story focuses on Venus, the last rebellious holdout, and a self-exiled former Marine who teaches the colonists how to fight back.
“I am really drawn to the reluctant-hero story,” said Wiseman, who noted that the last hero he directed — John McClane in “Live Free or Die Hard” — fit that archetypal mold.
Nick Sagan and Zombie Studios chief Mark Long created the property. Radical principal Barry Levine will produce with Wiseman and Mark Gordon.
Josh McLaughlin of the Gordon Co. brought the project in and will oversee “Shrapnel” for the company. Long and Radical’s Jesse Berger will exec produce.
Being developed as a live-action pic, a 3D approach is considered possible. A video game is planned with Zombie Studios.
ICM-repped Wiseman is attached to direct “Motorcade” at DreamWorks from a Billy Ray screenplay and also will helm DreamWorks’ adaptation of the comic book “Atlantis Rising,” penned by Joby Harold, for a summer 2011 release.
Wiseman also plans to direct the video game adaptation “Gears of War” for Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros. and is producing the original sci-fi action thriller “Nonstop” for DreamWorks.
Radical has several of its comic properties in development, including “Abattoir,” to be written and directed by Darren Lynn Bousman; “Freedom Formula,” which Bryan Singer is producing for New Regency; and “Hercules: The Thracian Wars,” which Peter Berg is producing for Spyglass/Universal.

“It is a great principle in psychiatry that ‘all symptoms are overdetermined.’  This means that they have more than one cause….
I want to scream this from the rooftops:  ‘All symptoms are overdetermined.’”  M. Scott Peck, In Search of Stones

Malcolm Gladwell has a new article out.  Gladwell fans wait for these with great anticipation.  And, as usual, it does not disappoint.  This time, he tackles the financial crisis, and the problems of Wall Street.  His title reveals his view:  COCKSURE: Banks, battles, and the psychology of overconfidence. Here’s his take:

“Since the beginning of the financial crisis, there have been two principal explanations for why so many banks made such disastrous decisions. The first is structural. Regulators did not regulate. Institutions failed to function as they should. Rules and guidelines were either inadequate or ignored. The second explanation is that Wall Street was incompetent, that the traders and investors didn’t know enough, that they made extravagant bets without understanding the consequences. But the first wave of postmortems on the crash suggests a third possibility: that the roots of Wall Street’s crisis were not structural or cognitive so much as they were psychological.”

Gladwell wrestles with the problems of overconfidence:

“Of course, one reason that over-confidence is so difficult to eradicate from expert fields like finance is that, at least some of the time, it’s useful to be overconfident—or, more precisely, sometimes the only way to get out of the problems caused by overconfidence is to be even more overconfident.”

It is a complex issue!

Critics are weighing in quickly.  Conor Friedersdorf, for a vacationing Andrew Sullivan on The Daily Dish (where I was first tipped off to the article), states his opinion in his title: A Cocksure Malcolm Gladwell Gets It Wrong. He argues that the structural explanation has great merit, and Gladwell fails to see such merit.

Elsewhere, the Gawker argues that Gladwell should not reduce it to the psychological explanation only.

I say, they are all right.  Because, there is no one explanation – the causes are overdetermined.  There are multiple causes, all feeding on and reinforcing each other.  And since there are multiple causes, there is no one simple solution.  The simple, easy solutions only work in Hollywood – especially in your typical 30 second commercial  (young man, just spray your body with AXE and the beautiful women will all chase you…)  But in a world as complex as ours, with problems as big as ours, we need all the possible diagnoses, and all the possible cures, we can get.

There have been some pretty good minds at work on this question, so why haven’t they solved it by now?  What did go wrong?  They are seaching for an answer – no, they are searching for the answer.  From the disagreements, we should learn that there is no the answer.  And we should grasp, and understand, and acknowledge our “ignorance.”  It might keep us humble, and help us not be so cocksure to the point of disaster.

There’s a line in the movie Live Free or Die Hard.  The young computer wiz Matt Farrell is astonished at the arrogant ignorance of Bowman, the FBI “expert,”  “The things he does not know,” Farrell says to John McClane.

So it is for all of us – the things we do not know.

————————————————————————————————————

• For a terrific article on why Malcolm Gladwell is so good, so valuable, check out:  Why do book clubs love Malcolm Gladwell? He reads deeply and writes clearly, in plain English by Shelley Blanton-Stroud.

• You can order synopses of my presentations for all three Gladwell books, The Tipping Point, Blink, and Outliers, at our companion web site, 15 Minute Business Books.

Die Hardererer by Nicholas Chatfield-Taylor. Die Hard, Die Hard 2: Die Harder, Die Hard with a Vengeance and Live Free or Die Hard edited down to only the frames containing fire.

Well,

Wanna read something filthy? I bet you do! Because I sure did and it was filthy and awesome and dirty and amazing and REALLY you won’t even care if you read the fandom or saw the movie or what the fuck ever because it’s just that filthy and awesome:

Title: Holistic
Author: SM
Fandom: Live Free or Die Hard
Pairing: McClane/Farrell
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: 1041
Warnings: implied barebacking, kink
Disclaimer: Not for profit, just for fun
Summary: Matt’s got a new toy.

http://community.livejournal.com/mmom/302082.html

Enjoy!

Keira Marcos