Haunting the Web Since 1999
Despite what the post title may imply — I used this — I’ve never been much more than a casual Trekkie, and even less of a fan of J.J. Abrams’ output. (I’m just going to presume Kirk gets tortured at some point in this movie.) Still, it’s hard to imagine my not catching this anyway.
“‘Our vision isn’t your grandfather’s “Moby Dick,”‘ Cooper said. ‘This is an opportunity to take a timeless classic and capitalize on the advances in visual effects to tell what at its core is an action-adventure revenge story.” Breaking news from the Department of Bad Ideas: Universal has signed Timur Bekmambetov of Night Watch and Wanted to “reimagine” Moby Dick for the 21st century. I guess I may be sorta looking forward to the POV angry-whale-cam.
Captain, the second wave of posters from the Star Trek reboot has hit off the starboard thrusters, and this time it’s Bones, Scotty, Sulu, and Chekov. Hmm…ok. Simon Pegg seems bizarrely unrecogizable at Montgomery Scott here (despite the hairline), and Anton Yelchin and Karl Urban look quite like their original counterparts. But, while I dig Harold as much as the next guy, the distinctively Korean-American John Cho seems a somewhat lazy and distracting choice for Hikaru Sulu. Couldn’t they find anyone of Japanese lineage, or did they just expect us not to notice?
The place to be right now, other than Berlin? San Diego, where the 2008 Comic-Con is now under way. There are lots of pictures of the floor here and here — Note the full-scale version of NIte-Owl’s ship (Archimedes) from Zack Snyder’s Watchmen.
One of the first stories down the pike: Strangely enough, the recent rumors are true: Darren Aronofsky is signed for a Robocop sequel. I’d buy that for a dollar…But, don’t get Murphy out of cold storage just yet: Not many of Aronofsky’s projects ever seem to get off the ground. (See also: Batman: Year One, Ronin, Lone Wolf and Cub, Watchmen, Black Swan.)
Meanwhile, Disney brought down the house the first day with a surprise, fully-formed teaser for TR2N, featuring none other than the Dude, in both 1983 and 2008 incarnations. Best of all, as I recently wished in my Iron Man review, they seem to have stuck with the “Col. Kurtz up the datastream” idea. That should be great fun. Everyday, I think I’m going to wake up back on the grid…
Update: Also from Comic-Con Day 1, the trailer for Wolverine airs (ho-hum), Coming Soon has a sit-down with new Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat, and Torchwood‘s Captain Jack is up for Captain America? I don’t see that at all.
Update 2: The TR2N trailer is up in really poor Kramervision…and it still looks grand. (A slightly cleaned up version is here.)
In advance of ComicCon, the preview poster for J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek reboot hits the tubes. (That’s Kirk (Chris Pine), Spock (Zachary Quinto), Uhura, (Zoe Saldana), and the Big Bad (Eric Bana) — click through for the individual one-sheets.) Still unseen: Bones (Karl Urban), Scotty (Simon Pegg), Sulu (John Cho), and Chekov (Anton Yelchin).
Hmmm. I’m only a casual Trekkie at best, and everything I’ve ever seen with Abrams’ name on it (MI:3, Cloverfield, the occasional episode of Alias and Lost) has been underwhelming. And I can’t say frontlining Uhura as the eye candy or introducing yet another putty-ridged-forehead baddy (He’s meant to be Romulan, apparently) gives me much enthusiasm for this. But I’ll probably see it nonetheless.
Klaatu Barada Nikto…the trailer for Scott Derrickson’s remake of The Day The Earth Stood Still, with Keanu Reeves, Jennifer Connelly, Kathy Bates, and Jon “Don Draper” Hamm, is now online. (Here’s the Youtube version. Apparently, it’s playing in front of Hancock, which — after being burned by Wanted — I’m now inclined to skip.
Rumors were floating around a few weeks ago, and an earlier attempt with Christopher Eccleston failed…but now it’s confirmed. The classic British sci-fi show The Prisoner will return as a six-episode miniseries for AMC and ITV, with Jim Caviezel as Number 6 (Patrick McGoohan) and Ian McKellen as Number 2 (Leo McKern, most memorably). “While the original show worked as a metaphor for the paranoia of the Cold War, AMC says the remake will reflect 21st-century stressors such as constant surveillance and the conflict between liberty and security.”
Having tackled The Kingdom, director Peter Berg sets his sights on another tale of political bloodsport surrounding a priceless resource in the desert: another film version of Frank Herbert’s Dune. “Calling the plans for him to direct ‘a done deal,’ Berg said ‘if it weren’t for the writer’s strike, we’d be in it right now’ and calls the film’s scale ‘big big big.’” Let’s just hope the spice hasn’t gone to his head.
Peace on Earth, goodwill to Mad Men: Jon Hamm, a.k.a. Dick Whitman/Don Draper, joins the cast of Scott Derrickson’s The Day The Earth Stood Still remake, currently starring Keanu Reeves (the alien) and Jennifer Connelly. “Hamm will play Dr. Granier, a NASA official who recruits Helen (Connelly) for the scientific team investigating an alien’s arrival on Earth.” Hamm’s impressive on Mad Men, and it’ll be good to see him make the leap to the Big Screen…but an unnecessary remake of a 50’s sci-fi classic from the director of The Exorcism of Emily Rose? I have doubts.
Tyrese Gibson, Jason Statham, and Joan Allen are cast in a forthcoming remake of the 1975 cult film Death Race 2000, to be helmed by (notorious hack) Paul W. S. Anderson. Uh, Joan Allen? That’s “Judi Dench in The Chronicles of Riddick” weird. Update: Al Swearingen’s in too.