Movie News for the Week of August 9, 2011

1. In an attempt to grab a best picture nomination, Warner Bros. is launching a huge Oscar campaign for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. They believe the nomination would mean so much to the series as a whole. Up to this point, Academy members have had mixed opinions on the film being nominated.

2. As I have reported before, a Green Lantern sequel is in the works. But, due to the struggles Green Lantern had this summer, the script is going to be completely changed and rewritten. Warner Bros. has promised an edgier, darker sequel. I have already said how I feel about a sequel. If you want to see what I said, go read my review of Green Lantern.

3. There has been a lot of racial tension in the comic book world. First, Peter Parker was killed of in a Marvel comic book series, and his replacement was a black guy. Now, Laurence Fishburne has been named as the actor who will portray Perry White in The Man of Steel. Many people do not like that a black actor will play the role of a usually white character, but who really cares.

4. Disney has locked up three big release dates for the summer of 2014. Two of these dates will be given to unknown Marvel movies, and the other will go to Pixar. It was recently reported that Marvel is working hard on a Dr. Strange film, so many believe that one of the two Marvel slots will go towards that film. Other rumors include a possible Captain America sequel, which would be awesome.

5. Sony has already set a May 2014 release date for a sequel to The Amazing Spiderman. In my opinion, these people plan way too far in advance.

6. The Hunger Games sequel, Catching Fire, has a release date set for November of 2013. The first Hunger Games film is due out in March.

7. As the release of the Footloose remake is not far away, news has now come out that there will be a remake of Dirty Dancing. Kenny Ortega, who directed High School Musical, is heading up the project. What makes this seem like a sure things is the fact that Ortega was the dance choreographer for the original Dirty Dancing film.

This is a first look at Anne Hathaway as Catwoman. Many people are disappointed in the suit, but we must trust in Nolan. I've also included the first picture of Henry Cavill as Superman.

Summer Recap

In my opinion, last Friday was the final big release date of summer 2011 with The Smurfs and Comboys & Aliens tying atop the box office. I am not a big fan of the Planet of the Apes series and The Change-Up just looked dumb, so I chose to write this rather than wasting my time at the movies this weekend, but don't worry, next week I will have a review of 30 Minutes or Less.

The past three summers have brought some of my favorite movies of all time. There was The Dark Knight and Iron Man in 2008. There was Star Trek, District 9, and The Hangover in 2009. And everybody loved Inception and Toy Story 3 in 2010. With those films in mind, the summer of 2011 seems very very weak. Maybe it's not fair to compare these, but the truth is that this was just a bad summer for movies. Many people whined about the abundance of super hero movies, but I don't think this was the problem. Sure, Green Lantern really sucked, and Thor was just ok, but X-Men and Captain America were each high points in a low summer. Many people whined about the abundance of sequels. Once again there were lows such as Pirates 4, but there were many sequels loved by many. I personally loved The Hangover Part II, Transformers 3, and once again X-Men. Harry Potter, Fast Five, Kung Fu Panda 2, and Cars 2 are other sequels that many people loved. So what do we blame the aweful summer of 2011 on?

The problem with the summer of 2011 is the lack of big, original movies. Every movie that I mentioned from previous summers, except Toy Story 3, was a movie that really made itself or its series famous. The two biggest money making movies of 2011 will undoubtedly be Transformers 3 and the final Harry Potter film, but both of these were sold by the success of their previous films. A lot of critics don't care for summer movies because they aren't very Oscar worthy, but, in my opinion, the problem is the lack of original storytelling ability in the film industry these days. My favorite movie of the summer was Super 8, a movie that did a great job of being itself. The biggest surprise of the summer was definitely Horrible Bosses. It may not have been as good as The Hangover, but the storyline really made for many many laughs. Each of these films were certainly original stories, furthering my point.

If you are one that hated the super hero movies or the sequels, you will also be hating the summer of 2012. The biggest films of 2012 will be The Dark Knight Rises, The Avengers, and The Amazing Spiderman, all of which fall into those two categories. But, there is still hope for next summer to be a good summer for movies. The best thing it has going for it? It will be compared to the summer of 2011.

This has been a great couple of months of blogging for me, and I have really enjoyed letting people know how I feel about each film. If there is ever anything that you think would better the blog, just let me know. I am very open to suggestions. I want to thank each of you for listening to what I say, and I ask you to please continue reading.

Movie News for the Week of July 19, 2011

It's been a rather busy week for movie news, and Comic Con is coming up so expect even more in the coming weeks.

1. A movie about Caesar has been picked up by Warner Bros. The film will not follow the lines of Shakespeare but will instead follows Caesar as more of a war/action hero.

2. Chris Pine is the man that MGM wants to play Robocop in the new remake of the classic film. There has been no indication that Pine is interested as of yet.

3. Just in case you wanted to be more excited about Captain America this weekend, it has been announced that the first trailer for The Amazing Spiderman will precede the last pre-Avengers Marvel film. I am now officially pumped for Captain America.

4. Billy Bob Thornton has said that he would do a sequel to Bad Santa, if the studio can find a director daring enough to make a sequel to the hit comedy. It seems that the film is a long ways away but is definitely a big possibility.

5. There has a lot of talk this week about another Friday Night Lights movie. If another film were made, it would be based on and follow the characters of the TV series, rather than the characters of the first film. The show just finished its final season.

6. I don't know how many of you have seen Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, but rumors are that Bill and Ted may return to the big screen. The idea is being called Bill and Ted at 50. This sounds brilliant to me, and I really hope it works out.

7. Johnny Depp will star in a film about the ride of Paul Revere. This really took me by surprise, but we will see. It has not been said yet whether Depp will play Revere himself, but most think he will not.

8. Edward Norton will play the villain in the new Bourne Legacy. Rachel Weisz and Jeremy Renner already have their names attached to the new film that I will officially dub the Bourne-less Bourne. Matt Damon nor his character Jason Bourne will be in the film.

9. Finally, Harry Potter broke the opening weekend box office record as well as the midnight box office record this past weekend. The film brought in $168.5 million in just one weekend, passing The Dark Knight. Unfortunately for Potter fans, this record will not likely stand for long with The Dark Knight Rises due out next July.

First Teaser Trailer for The Dark Knight Rises!

My Farewell to Harry Potter

This post is going to be a bit different, and some of you may not like it but oh well.

On the day of the release of The Deathly Hallows Part 2, I wanted to spend a moment expressing my feelings about the entire Harry Potter series, rather than focus on the final film. Of course the last film is what everyone is looking forward to, and of course, as a critic, I should review the biggest movie of 2011. But I'm not going to do that. You see, the truth is that I have never seen an entire Harry Potter film and certainly have never cracked open one of the books. This may shock anyone who doesn't know me, and some may think the credibility of my reviews to be destroyed, but that's ok. Last Thursday (July 7), ABC Family began showing the first six films on their Harry Potter marathon weekend dealio. I sat down and watched three hours of a little boy who had his life changed drastically in The Sorcerer's Stone. The problem was that I fell asleep with thirty minutes remaining, which totally pissed me off. I assure you that I did not fall asleep from boredom or lack of interest, but from getting up at four o'clock in the morning to go to work. I was actually very impressed with a film starring a bunch of little kids.

It was so weird to see them at that age, and to think that I was younger than them at the time the movie was made. It also made me think of how many Hollywood stars have risen and fallen in the time that these movies were made. That alone earns a great amount of respect from me for the cast, who never gave up. Sure, a few characters were played by multiple actors, but, for the three main characters to have gone that long, dedicated to making a great series, it is truly amazing. I cannot imagine giving up my entire childhood in the name of Harry Potter. Of course there was Radcliffe had his nude Broadway thing, but that just makes him an actor.

The truth is that Harry Potter has defined my generation up to this point. Maybe I am one of the few people who have not seen the Potter films, but my world has certainly been surrounded by Harry's world, ever since I was a small child. Anyone who can write a book or make a movie that has that much influence deserves my respect and thanks. One day I will sit down and watch every Potter film, hoping to fall in love with the characters and the story. One day I will probably regret that Harry Potter hasn't been a bigger part of my life so far. But at midnight, July 14, 2011, I realized how big this series really was, simply by logging on to Facebook and seeing the stati and photos of friends who were saying goodbye to Harry Potter, one last time. Then I celebrated and said goodbye to Potter....... by going to sleep! And to Harry Potter, I say thanks, for letting kids dream a little, in a world where imagination has become reality.

Movie News for the Week of July 5, 2011

1. After taking a break from acting to obtain his college degree, Haley Joel Osment will return to the big screen in a Frankenstein-like movie. The movie, entitled Wake the Dead, will bring the story of Frankenstein to the modern world. This will be the first of many upcoming Frankenstein movies.

2. Will Smith is attempting to bring Hurricane Katrina to the big screen in American Can and wants Denzel Washington to play the lead role. Smith was originally supposed to star in his own production, but now he wants Washington.

3. I new idea called Movie Pass was recently introduced at a San Francisco movie theater and has many people talking. For only $50 a month, you can go to the theater as many times as you desire. This sounded amazing when I first heard it, and everyone was talking about it last week. Unfortunately, AMC frowned at the idea, which really hurts its chances of succeeding nationwide. Let's just continue to hope and pray that something comes through because I believe this is a great idea.

4. The second Thor movie has been given a release date for summer 2013. Marvel movies seem to be going nowhere, considering Iron Man 3 is also due out summer 2013.

5. The creator of Sex and the City has revealed one of her desired choices for the rumored prequel. Selena Gomez is now one of the front runners to play Charlotte, if the prequel becomes a reality. Another name that has been tossed around is Blake Lively.

6. Christopher Nolan is set to produce a secret supernatural thriller. Keith Gordon, known mostly for directing TV shows such as House and Dexter, will direct the film, based an an unknown novel. Details are certainly few and far between, due to Nolan's secretive nature.

A Little Something for the Potter Fans:
If Harry Potter were made into South Park character.