Info on a Justice League Movie and more.

From Comicbookmovie.com and Comic Book Resources information from DC and Warner Brothers are coming from Geoff Johns panel at the New York Comic Con.  The highlights included that with the end of the Harry Potter movies Warner Brothers will be filling the void with two comic book movies a year.

With the releases of Green Lantern next year, and Batman 3 and the reboot of Superman in 2012, there hasn't been much news in the way of anything else confirmed.  There has been rumors of a Flash movie, as well as a Wonder Woman movie, but one movie that, as of now, is not in the plans,is a Justice League movie.  From Geoff Johns, "I'm going to speak frankly: I think our characters are bigger than Marvel's." He said that he'd rather spend time building each character on his or her own rather than "smashing them together."

Cover via AmazonSo I guess that's that, and as always we'll have to just wait and see.  Good news is that DC will be ramping up its production and development of its characters, and the first trailer for Green Lantern will be played before the new Harry Potter in November. 

New Green Lantern Character teased!

For the second wave of Green Lantern figures, revealed by Matty Collector, comes more figures from the comic book, but one shown just as a silhouette is called a "Green Lantern Movie Preview Figure."

Green Lantern will be hitting theaters June 17th 2011 starring Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan. 




From previously leaked concept art, this silhouette pretty much confirms G'Hu as the character for the movie.

October 8th Movie Releases! And Trailers!

Secretariat 

Rating:  PG
Runtime: 1hr 56min
Production Budget: $35 million
Studio: Disney
Director: Randall Wallace

Penny Chenery (Diane Lane) is a self-described housewife who agrees to take over her ailing father's stables, despite her lack of horse-racing experience. With the help of veteran trainer Lucien Laurin (John Malkovich), she ultimately fosters the first Triple Crown winner in 25 years and what may be the greatest racehorse of all time.

The Official Site








Life as We Know It

Rating: PG - 13
Runtime:  1hr 52min
Production Budget: $38 Million
Director: Greg Berlanti
Studio: Warner Brothers


Two single adults become caregivers to an orphaned girl when their mutual best friends die in an accident.  Starring Katherine Heigl and Josh Duhamel.

The Official Site







My Soul to Take

Rating: R
Runtime: 1hr 47min
Production Budget: $25 Million
Director: Wes Craven
Studio: Universal

A serial killer returns to his hometown to stalk seven children who share the same birthday as the date he was allegedly put to rest.  Starring Max Thieriot, John Magaro, and Denzel Whitaker.

The Official Site







It's Kind of a Funny Story

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 1hr 41min
Production Budget: $8 Million
Director: Anna Boden
              Ryan Fleck
Studio: Focus Features
In Limited Release

A clinically depressed teenager gets a new start after he checks himself into an adult psychiatric ward.  Starring Keir Gilchrist, Emma Roberts, and Zach Galifianakis.

DVD Releases for October 5th 2010

Image via WikipediaThe first week in October is typically a big one for DVDs, and is when Disney temporarily opens the vault for one of their classics.  Here are the major releases for today and some that are interesting:

Beauty and                  The Karate Kid        A Nightmare on Elm St.
The Beast                                                                     

The Secret                   The Human                      Splice
of Kells                        Centipede


















 




Here are some of the TV Series coming to DVD this week:


Bones Season 5         Caprica Season 1        SGU:  Stargate
                                                                     Universe Season 1
     

Zack Snyder Confirmed for Superman

Yes it is finally confirmed, Zack Snyder will be directing the new Superman reboot from Warner Bros. Pictures coming to theaters in late 2012.  Zach Snyder, director of 300, was originally offered the job for Superman Returns but declined the opportunity to take on the super hero at that time.

With a script from David Goyer and Jonathan Nolan I look forward to seeing another Superman film.


Zack Snyder currently has Legend of the Guardians: The Owl of Ga'Hoole in theaters and his next film Sucker Punch opens March 25th 2011.

At Deadline.com Snyder confirmed the report in this statement:

 "I've been a big fan of the character for a long time, he's definitely the king of all superheroes, he's the one. It's early yet, but I can tell you that what David [Goyer] and Chris [Nolan] have done with the story so far definitely has given me a great insight into a way to make him feel modern. I've always felt he was kind of awesome. I'll finish 'Sucker Punch' and get right at it."

Box Office Results for October 1st-3rd 2010

Here are the top ten movies for the past weekend, domestic gross:


This Week             Movie                     Weekend Gross       Total Gross        Budget       Week Number


      1            The Social Network              $23 Mil.                $23 Mil.           $50 Mil.              1
      2           Legend of the Guardians:        $10. 85 Mil.           $30 Mil.           $80 Mil.             2
                     The Owls of Ga’Hoole
      3                  Wall Street:                     $10.1 Mil.              $35.8 Mil.        $70 Mil.             2
                      Money Never Sleeps
      4                 The Town                         $10 Mil.                 $64.3 Mil.        $37 Mil.             3
      5                   Easy A                            $7 Mil.                   $42.4 Mil.        $8 Mil.               3
      6                You Again                         $5.55 Mil.              $16.4 Mil.        $20 Mil.             2
      7                   Case 39                          $5.35 Mil.              $5.35 Mil.        $26 Mil.             1
      8                 Let Me In                         $5.3 Mil.                $5.3 Mil.          $20 Mil.             1
      9                     Devil                             $3.67 Mil.              $27.4 Mil.           ?                     3
      10            Alpha and Omega                $3 Mil.                   $19 Mil.              ?                     3


The Social Networ k opened at a reasonable $23 million doing better in bigger cities, but the word is expected to catch on and should have a solid week.  On the other hand Let Me In was a dissappointement, opening in 8th place with $5.3.  Another light weekend with little to excite movie goers.

Coming up this weekend is Disney's Secretariat, My Soul to Take, and Life as We Know It.

The Social Network!

This is the story about the founders of the social-networking website, Facebook, starring Jesse Eisenberg (Zombieland, Adventureland) as founder Mark Zuckerberg and Zachary Garfield (Spider-Man Reboot, Never Let Me Go) as co-founder and CFO Eduardo Saverin. Screenplay was written by Aaron Sorkin (A Few Good Men, West Wing, Sports Night), and the film was directed by David Fincher, who directed some of my favorite movies, such as Fight Club, Se7en, and Panic Room. He most recently directed The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and is currently working on The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo starring Daniel Craig (Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace) and Rooney Mara (The Social Network, A Nightmare on Elm St.) and is currently scheduled for release on December 21^st 2011.
　
The Social Network already has some Oscar buzz surrounding it as we get to that time of year when the nominating committee tends to start paying the most attention. To get as close to the most accurate story, Fincher and Sorkin took their story from three separate points of view. The movie develops as a story told through the depositions of two separate and simultaneous lawsuits that were brought against Mark Zuckerberg.
　
It started with Mark getting dumped by his girl friend Erica Albright, played by Rooney Mara. As he is drunkenly badmouthing her through his blog, he comes up with a program that takes pictures of two girls from the surrounding schools and has people rate which one is hotter. The pictures he obtained were through hacking different college student directories.
　
Impressed with his work, the Winklevoss brothers ask him to develop a private social network only for Harvard students. Agrees to do so, but never actually works on it, instead Mark decides to work on his own social networking site with his friend Eduardo while pretending to work on the other site. After the launch of Facebook, realizing he didn’t work on theirs, and after the site starts expanding rapidly, the Winklevoss’ decide to sue Mark Zuckerberg for his first suit against him.
　
As CFO Eduardo wants to start monetizing the Facebook and starts to set up meetings in New York with advertisers. Mark has zero interest in doing this as he feels it cheapens the brand. Only one meeting got Mark excited and that was with Sean Parker, founder of Napster, played by Justin Timberlake (Friends with Benefits, Alpha Dog). With the advice of Sean, Mark moves to California to expand the site to even more schools, and gets some big time investors. Eduardo and Mark start to have a falling out and Eduardo is eventually squeezed out where he then files the second lawsuit against Mark Zuckerberg.
　
Overall I give it a 4.5 of out 5. I must say I love this movie, I always enjoy movies that are compelling and that are based on true events and that are pretty near how things actually went. This will definitely be near the top of my end of the year rankings. The acting was great, there is much hate for Jesse Eisenberg, many for his close likeness to Michael Cera, and one is enough of him. For me I believe there is enough distinction between them to enjoy them both. A great choice of actors for the characters.
　
It has a style of writing that I always love, that quick back and forth, and the smooth flow of conversation. A style that you seen in one of my favorite TV shows, Sports Night, and one of my top 3 favorite movies, A Few Good Men, both written by Aaron Sorkin. Not to pile on too much, but music from Trent Reznor, who is from my favorite band, Nine Inch Nails, is the score to this film, and is excellent as well. I would definitely recommend this movie to all.

Salt!

Sony Pictures releases this action/adventure spy thriller starring Angelina Jolie as Evelyn Salt and Liev Schreiber as Ted Winter, both as CIA agents caught up in a classic Russia vs. US espionage story.

Evelyn Salt tries to live a normal life, or as much as she can for a CIA agent.  A night that was supposed to be her anniversary is interrupted by a Russian nationalist claiming he has information and is attempting to defect.  He insists that there is an uncover agent that has been ordered to kill the Russian President that is traveling to New York City for the funeral of the US Vice President.   During the interview Orlov claims that Salt is a Russian spy.  

Detained for questioning and unable to reach her husband on the phone, Salt is determined to escape, find her husband and prove her innocence.  Trained as a covert operative Salt escapes the CIA building and returns home only to find her husband has been taken.  Now on the run from her former colleagues the chase takes to the highway as Salt jumps from semi to semi in a typical movie chase scene that eventually leads to her escape. 

The movie has everything you’d expect from a spy thriller.  The plot was well conceived and the action was appropriately used to advance the story.  Angelina Jolie has become an excellent choice for the female action star, and her performance as Evelyn Salt does not disappoint. 

Allowing yourself to get immersed into the story you will find Salt to be very enjoyable and entertaining movie.  A few different twists can keep you wondering where the story will end up.  The action was great, and mostly believable.  The story is also well resolved and does leave room for a potential sequel.

Overall I would give this movie a 4 out of 5.  If this is your type of movie, as it is mine, you will be pleased with the money spent.  The visuals, editing, and score were all average, that said, they didn’t add or detract anything from the film.

Despicable Me!

Brought to you by Universal Studios Despicable Me stars Steve Carell (The Office) as Gru, an aging, mostly unsuccessful villain, Jason Segal (How I Met Your Mother) as a young promising villain and Miranda Cosgrove (iCarly as an orphaned girl forced to peddle cookies for the seeming evil Miss Hattie (Kristen Wiig).

The ads have everything to draw the kids in, and the movie has just enough to keep up the kids’ attention.  In recent years animated movies had just enough adult humor and references to make these “family movies” actually entertaining for the whole family.  Despicable Me has too many tendencies that pander to the children in the theater, rather than try to entertain the broader audience. 

Intended to be cute and funny the minions, employed by Gru, fail to do either.  There were times that I would grin or chuckle at the noises and gestures, but overall I found them to be overused and occasionally annoying.  Some of the bright spots were Dr. Nefario (Russell Brand) and the three orphans, of which gave the most consistent comedy. 

With Pixar raising the bar to its highest level, it is hard for others to meet such standards.  This film always felt like something was missing, but overall I have to take it for what it is, a children’s movie.

Still entertaining, but only average, I give it a 2.5 out of 5.  Visuals, voice over, and music, a much better 4 out of 5.

Inception!

Christopher Nolan does it again with another supremely written and perfectly directed film. He continues to create a story that demonstrates enough depth without losing the audience or insulting their intelligence.

The best actors want to work with the best directors. With his reputation, Christopher Nolan is able to get A list actors that continue to perform at a high level. Inception does not stray from this trend. Leonardo DiCaprio has quickly become an actor that you can count on for a more than satisfying movie going experience. Both Nolan and DiCaprio have a track record that will be hard to tarnish.

At the risk of using some hyperbole the score for Inception is epic, and the visuals amaze. The music transitioned each scene with seamless flow. The cast of actors were well selected for each roll, and Nolan wrote each part to play to their strengths.

With a summer that has lacked big blockbuster movies, it might be easy to say, "well this is probably as good we're going to get". That may be the case, but that is not the fault of the film. The individual aspects of Inception may be greater than the whole, but none interfere with what will be remembered as a great film.

Overall I would give it a 4.5 out of 5. While acting, story, score, and visuals I rate a 5.


With Inception all wrapped up, Christopher Nolan is now free to work on the much anticipated following up to The Dark Knight, yet to be titled Batman 3. We shall see soon if the rumors are true that the Riddler will be the villain, as well as Joseph Gordon-Levitt teaming back up with Nolan to play said role.