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SDCC 2011 News: Was EXPLOSION the alternate title to PROMETHEUS?

By CARL CORTEZ 07/22/2011

ALIEN movie poster | ©1979 20th Century Fox

While speaking to the press at the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con, LOST co-creator Damon Lindelof spoke about scripting the new Ridley Scott directed film PROMETHEUS, which depending on who you speak to, is a thinly veiled prequel to Scott’s 1979 ALIEN. In coming up with a title, Lindelof says he wanted to come up with something “pretentious” like INTENTION. “PROMETHEUS makes the movie sound much smarter and much better than my original title EXPLOSION,” Lindelof says with a grin. Lindelof does go on to say that the title is very key into the story of the film, since Prometheus was […]Read On »

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SDCC 2011 News: PROMETHEUS star Charlize Theron wishes she got into shape for the new sci-fi film

By CARL CORTEZ

Charlize Theron in AEON FLUX | ©2005 Paramount Pictures

While Sigourney Weaver clearly has some big shoes to fill now that Ridley Scott is helming a loosely connected prequel to his 1979 classic ALIEN, casting Charlize Theron in the new film called PROMETHEUS surprisingly didn’t require the actress to get into shape. “I was going to do MAD MAX, so I started training for that for six months,” says Theron. “I would be lying if I said I was training for this.” Her character of Meredith Vickers is more business-like than kick-ass heroine, which got very interesting for the actress. “I’m the Suit,” she says. “I have a very […]Read On »

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SDCC 2011 News: PROMETHEUS details finally revealed on ALIEN-inspired film directed by Ridley Scott at Comic-Con

By CARL CORTEZ

The first image of Ridley Scott's new ALIEN prequel PROMETHEUS | ©2011 20th Century Fox

While speaking to the press at the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con, writer-producer Damon Lindelof (LOST) finally revealed the secrets behind the new film PROMETHEUS that he penned and produced for director Ridley Scott. What started off as a prequel to Scott’s 1979 classic, ended up becoming its own entity. However, details were scarce until today as Lindelof spilled some of the secrets. “I think from the beginning Ridley has been very cryptically obtuse about it,” says Lindelof. “There are some very big ideas in PROMETHEUS, thereby it covers a vast space of time – the past present and future. Is […]Read On »

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Movie Review: WINNIE THE POOH

By SEAN ELLIOTT 07/16/2011

WINNIE THE POOH - 2011 movie poster | ©2011 Walt Disney Pictures

Stars (voices): John Cleese, Jim Cummings, Brad Luckey, Craig Ferguson, Jack Boulter, Travis Oates, Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Wyatt Dean Hall, Tom Kenny Writer: Stephen J. Anderson, Clio Chiang, Don Dougherty, Don Hall, Brian Kesinger, Nicole Mitchell, Jeremy Spears Based on the works of A.A. Milne & Ernest Shepard Director: Stephen J. Anderson & Don Hall Distributor: Walt Disney Pictures Release Date: July 15, 2011 If you have fond memories of WINNIE THE POOH as a child, before Disney tried to re-invent him with several different types of marketing schemes, you will enjoy the return to formula that Disney Studios has done […]Read On »

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Composer Interview: MICHAEL ANDREWS likes to score with the BAD TEACHER

By DANIEL SCHWEIGER 07/14/2011

Composer Michael Andrews | © 2011 Michael Andrews

BAD TEACHER | ©2011 Sony Pictures There’s nothing wrong with the wacka-wacka style of pizzicato comedy scoring to hit all of the talking animal orchestral shenanigans for the younger set. And though comedies for older folks might share many of those PG movies’ fondness for bathroom jokes, cute string hits just don’t cut it for potty-mouthed R-rated characters whose best idea for a bodily function is getting it on. And they do the nasty with guitar chords, funk rhythms and saucy pop-jazz, vibes that stand for much of the approach when it comes to scoring contemporary teen-adult comedies. However, when […]Read On »

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Exclusive: The scoop on INDEPENDENCE DAY 2 – could it be happening soon?

By CARL CORTEZ 07/10/2011

INDEPENDENCE DAY movie poster | ©1996 20th Century Fox

While speaking with writer-director-producer Dean Devlin who was awarded the Dr. Donald A. Reed Award at the 37th Annual Saturn Awards (and presented to him by longtime collaborator Roland Emmerich), ASSIGNMENT X asked Devlin about the long-rumored sequel to INDEPENDENCE DAY which he co-wrote and produced with director Emmerich back in 1996 (so would that make the acronym ID4-2?) This is what Devlin had to say about INDEPENDENCE DAY 2. ASSIGNMENT X: What’s the status of INDEPENDENCE DAY 2? DEAN DEVLIN: Roland and I would like to do sequel to INDEPENDENCE DAY. We’re still trying to make that happen. I […]Read On »

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Movie Review: HORRIBLE BOSSES

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN 07/08/2011

HORRIBLE BOSSES movie poster | ©2011 Warner Bros./New Line

Rating: R Stars: Jason Bateman, Charlie Day, Jason Sudeikis, Kevin Spacey, Jennifer Aniston, Colin Farrell, Jamie Foxx, Julie Bowen, Donald Sutherland Writers: Michael Markowitz and John Francis Daley & Jonathan Goldstein, story by Michael Markowitz Director: Seth Gordon Distributor: Warner Bros./New Line Release Date: July 8, 2011 Just in case you don’t remember STRANGERS ON A TRAIN, the 1951 Alfred Hitchcock movie based on the Patricia Highsmith novel, HORRIBLE BOSSES provides a name check. If you have that confused with the 1987 parody version, THROW MOMMA FROM THE TRAIN, that gets name-checked as well, with a helpful differentiation between the […]Read On »

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Movie Review: TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN 06/28/2011

TRANSFORMERS - DARK OF THE MOON final poster | ©2011 Paramount Pictures

Rating: PG-13 Stars: Shia LaBeouf, Josh Duhamel, John Turturro, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Frances McDormand, John Malkovich, Patrick Dempsey, Tyrese Gibson, Alan Tudyk, Peter Cullen (voice), Hugo Weaving (voice), Leonard Nimoy (voice) Writer: Ehren Kruger Director: Michael Bay Distributor: Paramount Pictures Release Date: June 28, 2011 Director/producer Michael Bay promised that TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON, the new third film in the saga of the heroic Autobots and the evil Decepticons based on the Hasbro toys, would have a better story than its immediate predecessor, TRANSFORMERS 2. In some ways, DARK OF THE MOON delivers on Bay’s words. Screenwriter Ehren Kruger comes […]Read On »

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Five Questions with BAD TEACHER star Cameron Diaz

By PAMELA HARLAND 06/27/2011

Cameron Diaz in BAD TEACHER | ©2011 Sony Pictures

Cameron Diaz plays a very bad teacher in her new comedy BAD TEACHER, but the 37-year-old actress likes to have fun and keep things as simple as possible in her real life. No bad blood between exes and not exactly in a rush to ever get married, Diaz says she is very content with how her life was, is and most likely will be in the future. As life evolves, so does she. The actress takes five to chat about her new film and working with her ex Justin Timberlake on the hit comedy. TAKE 1 On working on BAD […]Read On »

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Movie Review: CARS 2

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN 06/24/2011

CARS 2 movie poster | ©2011 Pixar/Walt Disney Pictures

Stars (voices): Larry the Cable Guy, Owen Wilson, Michael Caine, Emily Mortimer, Eddie Izzard, John Turturro, Bonnie Hunt Writer: Ben Queen, story by John Lasseter & Brad Lewis & Dan Fogelman Director: John Lasseter, co-director, Brad Lewis Distributor: Walt Disney Pictures Release Date: June 24, 2011 For those who either really liked the first Disney/Pixar CARS, or pretty much liked it but wished it had a genre plot, here is CARS 2. It brings back not only the CGI animated automotive universe of the first film (sans people or animals), but also the main characters, the learn-important-life-lessons through-line and even […]Read On »

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