After months of relative silence, finally some movement on the LOTR tip. Regarding the Two Towers extended edition, some possible scenes with Boromir and Faramir leak out (I’d heard these were filmed, but, this report still reads like wishful thinking.) Also, it appears a WETA statue of Gollum will replace the Argonath in the mega-special edition. As for Return of the King, the rough cut of the film is purportedly four hours and twenty minutes long and staying that way. (Again, this seems like wishful thinking, but given how much ground in TTT still needs to be covered, I’d think ROTK would have to clock in at least four.) Morover, new Sam and Frodo toys reveal a sequence I thought for sure they’d cut, and finally one other random (and possibly dubious) source mentioned this exchange at TORN: The Mistress has had a very interesting chat with a source at Miramax, who says that Cold Mountain will be pushed back to 2004. The official reason will be that “the climate is not right” for a movie whose central character is a deserter. Unofficially, Harvey Weinstein has seen a rough cut of Return of the King (he is an Executive Producer) and says that it is “unstoppable” as a Best Picture winner. Unstoppable…I like the sound of that. Update: More TTT-EE and ROTK spoilers from Movie Insider Magazine, including confirmation of Boromir in TTT, talk of a longer Frodo-Sam Osgiliath fight scene and some ruminations on the Grey Havens. Don’t read this if you haven’t read the books. Update 2: TORN.Net kills the 4hr-20min. rumor, but softens the blow by offering up MAJOR spoilers about Saruman, Sauron, and Grima and a pic of Frodo in the lair of…um, you know.
Tag: Cinema
The Matrix: Revealed.
What is Richard Corliss thinking? In a spoiler-filled article that’s more synopsis than review, TIME gives away the ending to Reloaded. I haven’t read the entire piece (since I’d rather not know), but scanned enough of it to see Corliss was breaking the plot down point-by-point. I expect this lame behavior in fanboy chatrooms, but in TIME? A bad call and a bad precedent…I hope the magazine – and Corliss – catch some flak for this.
One Hulk, Many Smiths.
In case it doesn’t feel like summer yet, Dark Horizons points the way to yet another Hulk trailer (Mr. Trailer is annoying, but the green guy’s look keeps growing on me) and another spoiler-heavy Matrix: Reloaded ad (although not as egregious as last time.)
Elvish Hegemon and the Subaltern Orc.
And now the terrible Orcs invade Balin’s tomb. Let’s be clear about a few things here. The Orcs are fighting a war of self-defense against the invading Fellowship. They basically busted in on the Orcs’ place here…One would think that if the Orcs were as bad as the corrupt Man-Elf coalition says, they would be a lot better at fighting. Via a friend of mine in the department, it’s the lost Fellowship of the Ring commentary track by Noam Chomsky and Howard Zinn. Touche.
Me, Me, Me…
The Matrix: Reloaded gets ever closer with this brand-new TV spot. I warn you – if you’re planning to stay spoiler free, do not watch this ad…I’m not sure how it fits in the film, but I still wish I hadn’t seen the last exchange…I fear it was a bit like seeing the Ents and the charge at Helm’s Deep in the final ad before LOTR:TTT.
In the Summertime.
Entertainment Weekly posts a number of new stills from the upcoming summer cinema crop, including new looks at Reloaded, The Hulk, and a host of others.
Original Sin.
As per usual, DC/Vertigo screws up another potential movie franchise. Not only is Hellblazer‘s John Constantine now American, he’s Keanu. That’s just shameful.
Prrreciousss…
News of The Two Towers (theatrical version) DVD (due August 26) breaks over at TORN.Net, with all kinds of enticing screen caps and sundry goodies. Apparently, the TTT-EE will show up Nov. 18, giving us a month of geek-out time before ROTK. Update: More information here, including Quicktime shorts of the (very nice) animated menus and the look of the EE packaging (It might look familiar.)
25% more Ents.
Still quiet on the ROTK front for the time being (other than [Spoiler] Eowyn’s big moment being reshot), but Peter Jackson has recently sounded off on the extended Two Towers due out in November. Apparently, it’ll contain 43 extra minutes (as opposed to 32 in the FOTR EE)…veddy nice.
But does he like baby newts?
The Amazing Spiderman, which was filming on campus this past weekend, gets better with the addition of Dylan Baker (Happiness, Thirteen Days) as Dr. Curt Conners, a.k.a. The Lizard. Chameleon-like character actors like Baker and Alfred Molina are definitely preferable as villains than the hammy A-listers WB brought to the Batman films. Let’s just hope they find a way in Baker’s makeup to atone for the idiotic decision to put a mask on Willem DeFoe the first time around.