The Geek Caucus
TrekMovie.com reported today that they have confirmed the identity of the villain character in the sequel to J.J. Abrams’ 2009 Trek reboot. Benedict Cumberbatch has been known to be portraying the next villain for some time, but it wasn’t until recently that his character was revealed.
Click here to find out who it is. You may or may not be surprised.
Latino Review and io9 think they do, anyway. It seems like there may be hints pointing towards Iron Man 3 involving elements from the Extremis story arc.
http://latinoreview.springboardplatform.com/mediaplayer/springboard/video/ltrv001/955/454845/
Incredible. More excited than ever about this film. Does anyone else sense a Steve Jobs allusion here?
I’m not sure I completely understand the ongoing confusion (up until this video came out) about whether or not Prometheus is directly connected to the Alien universe/films. It obviously is. The Space Jockey, seen in the first trailer, is straight out of Alien. The derelict ship is straight out Alien. How is this movie not connected to Alien?
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Hearing Karl Urban’s Judge Dredd voice today made me think about the upcoming Dredd film reboot (titled simply “Dredd”) for the first time. And since we don’t know much more about the film than what the cast and crew have said about it and what can be gleaned from a few production photos, I focused on the look of Dredd himself.My first impression was that I’m not sure I like the new costume better than the costume from the 1995 Sylvester Stallone film Judge Dredd. I was 13 when the Stallone movie came out. I loved it, critics be damned. Looking back, I have a nostalgic, campy appreciation for it, but Karl Urban and company will be hard-pressed not to improve upon it. On a totally superficial level, though, I can’t decide whether I like the new, more “realistic,” quasi-tactical look they’re going for with Dredd’s armor. Stallone’s costume is hardly practical, but it seems truer to the character from the comics. Also, is it just me or does Urban’s helmet make his head look too big in proportion to his body?
What do you think? Which Dredd is cooler?
From Belated Media, a hypothetical discussion of how The Phantom Menace could have been a good movie:
[Via io9]
Money-grubbing 3D re-release of The Phantom Menace got you down? Here’s John Scalzi on why we should all just shut up and learn to accept the fact that the Star Wars films aren’t going anywhere:
Star Wars has the books, games, merchandising, and so on, but at the end of the day the movies are at the heart of the universe, and Lucas is smart enough to know he has to engage each new generation with them. In that respect, the theatrical re-releases aren’t aimed at the people who saw the films when they were originally in the theaters; they’re aimed at the ones who have never seen them there — or indeed possibly have not seen them at all. Lucas is explicitly taking a page from Disney, which before the age of home video would re-release its classic movies every seven years or so in order to bring in a new crop of fans to Snow White and Pinocchio and Dumbo (and which is also using 3D right now to do the same trick — note the recent releases of The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast).
To be blunt about it, if you’re an older Star Wars fan, your exasperation at the 3D release of The Phantom Menace – and the future 3D versions of the other five films in the series — is almost totally irrelevant, because you’re not really the intended audience. Your kid is. And, speaking as the father of a 13-year-old girl, I can assure you that your child finds your exasperation quaint and adorable. The good news here is that in 10 to 12 years, when a new Star Wars release is out, you’ll smile when your child has his or her own nerd rage about how the films have been changed. It’s the nerd circle of life.
Variety and io9 reported yesterday that Mythology Entertainment, a new production company formed by Brad Fischer (producer of Black Swan, Shutter Island, and Zodiac), Laeta Kalogridis (producer, Shutter Island; executive producer of Avatar), and James Vanderbilt (screenwriter of Shutter Island, Zodiac; producer, Zodiac), have purchased film rights to Richard Morgan’s classic cyberpunk noir novel Altered Carbon.
The production team obviously has some chops, but I agree with io9: this makes me nervous. This is an important book. Too important to screw up (much like the long-rumored, long-dreaded adaptation of William Gibson’s Neuromancer). If the producers are willing to make a movie with a hard ‘R’ rating, then they will be on the right track, but turn this into a PG-13 effects fest and the spirit of the novel will be lost.
