Category: news

Blade Runner 2.0

As director Ridley Scott preps another Replicant run-around, Buzz tells him what we want – and what we don’t – in Blade Runner 2…

Ridley Scott is back! Almost 30 years after the Brit director last birthed a sci-fi, he’s returning to the scene of his last hi-tech epic by taking the reins on a new Blade Runner movie. With the rights snapped up by Alcon Entertainment, details on the potential prequel/sequel are harder to find than iron-fisted Replicants. Harrison Ford’s two cents? “If they go into it with ambition and bring something new to it, maybe it’ll be successful.” According to Alcon producer Andrew Kosgrove, though, Ford won’t be playing Deckard again. “This is a total reinvention,” he says, “that means doing everything fresh.” Leave it to Buzz to rustle up some helpful suggestions…

DO get Vangelis back to score
The Greek composter’s nervy, electrifying score for the first Blade Runner infused Scott’s fractured future Los Angeles with twitchy, mesmeric sounds. The last big budget film Vangelis composed for was Oliver Stone’s floptastic 2004 Alexander – like Scott, it’s clearly time for this guy to get back into sci-fi.

DON’T bring back Deckard
We love Harrison Ford. You love Harrison Ford. But do we really need to play the Crystal Skull card? Resurrecting beloved characters is dicey enough, and we like Deckard just the way he is. Besides, his story’s done – we don’t need an answer to the ‘Is Deckard a Replicant?’ conundrum. We just don’t.

DO hire Tom Hardy
Scott enlisted Michael Fassbender for Prometheus, so he obviously has an eye for brilliant burgeoning talent. Next on his list should be Tom Hardy. You want a grizzled anti-hero with soulful eyes and brawn to match the brains? Hardy’s your man. Get on the blower quick, though – he’s a busy guy.

DON’T make an action blockbuster
Blade Runner isn’t a blockbuster. In today’s money, it cost a modest $62m to make, putting it way behind Avatar ($237m) and even next year’s Total Recall reboot ($200m). Any new Blade Runner movie should understand what made the original tick – taut storytelling and memorable characters. And the odd fistfight.

DO keep the same aesthetic
Sadly, Blade Runner cinematographer Jordan Cronenweth died in 1996 – but his elegant work on Runner should remain an important touchstone for Scott’s new film. We’re talking shabby chic aesthetics and mega-moody lighting. Legendary concept artist Syd Mead, who was pivotal in designing Runner’s city and vehicles, is also a must.

DON’T make a prequel
Prequels are tricky to tame. Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes did good earlier this year, and Scott’s own Prometheus looks mind-blowing – but for every X-Men: First Class there’s a Phantom Menace. Let’s push the story forward – anybody else interested in seeing what a Nexus 7 could do?

DO recruit Damon Lindelof
If JJ Abrams vouches for him, we’re all for it. Lost writer Lindelof helped Scott transform an iffy Alien 5 script into Prometheus, and on the evidence we’ve seen of that film, he’s done a bang up job. He also managed to concoct a fan-pleasing reinvention of Star Trek. Get him a pen pronto.

DON’T over-egg the CGI
We’ve already talked aesthetics, but let’s hammer this one home. Runner doesn’t need big impressive CGI landscapes or flashy CG set-pieces. Scott did perfectly well with his practical effects in ’82, and if he wants to craft a decent follow-up, he needs to use CGI wisely. Ridders, we trust you.

by Josh Winning

Super! Aka Say Hello To The Man Of Steel

All those behind-the-scenes shots from The Dark Knight Rises that have been hitting the web this week may have made you momentarily forget, but yes, Superman is returning (again) – and here he is!

Not only is this a first shot from director Zack Snyder’s Man Of Steel, it’s also our first look at Henry Cavill as Supes himself. And it’s everything we’d hoped for and more – moody, atmospheric, super-stylish. The super-suit itself is darker than before (and, apparently, shinier), which is fine by me. Cavill’s also giving us everything he’s got with one seriously steely stare.

The only odd thing is the Count Dracula-esque barnet, which seems to have been plied with serious amounts of Brylcreem.

Still, this is very promising stuff. Let’s just hope that Snyder can match his trademark saturated style with a script strong enough to ensure this new Superman really soars…

by Josh Winning

Emma Bell – "You get to see people die pretty atrociously"

Emma Bell knows fear. Having faced zombies in The Walking Dead and deadly ski lifts in Frozen, the 24-year-old actress confronts death itself this summer with Final Destination 5. Clearly all this scary stuff has had an adverse effect on the New Jersey native. “If I could have my way, I would play a fairy for the rest of my life,” Ms Bell muses…

Tell us a little about Final Destination 5…
There’s a really big giant catastrophe sequence on a suspension bridge. Actually when I was flying to Vancouver for the shoot, I got up to the ticket counter and the woman there said, ‘Will Vancouver be your final destination?’ I was like, ‘Nooo!’

How do the death scenes compare to the previous films?
The deaths are going to be amazing, you get to see people die pretty atrociously. The writer came up with some really interesting ways to go, I mean just sick, perverted ways to go!

Do you enjoy making horror movies?
Walking Dead is probably the most quote unquote horror, but the quality of that show was so superior. It was more like a character driven drama with zombies.

Via Total Film

by Josh Winning

Muppets R Us…

What do you want from your Muppet movies? Personally, I want Amy Adams, lots of singing and dancing, Kermit the frog being Kermit the frog, and massive budget-blowing explosions. Which – luckily – is exactly what we get in this first teaser trailer for the new Muppets movie.

Kudos to the trailer mechanics who came up with the crazy-cool concept behind it. The first 50 seconds set up what looks like a drearily predictable rom-com (dubbed Green With Envy) about Amy Adams’ doomed romance with loveable oaf Jason Segel. Then POW, Kermie and Miss Piggy are listed as co-stars. We all love a little wrong-footing in the name of fun, and this tease pulls it off perfectly.

But stop reading these words. Watch the trailer below instead and get that warm fuzzy feeling in your belly that can only come about from watching puppets bounce around on screen while Amy Adams puts her back into numerous musical numbers…

by Josh Winning

Amazing artwork?

Just in case the Bane Dark Knight Rises image released on Friday eclipsed buzz for the myriad other comic book movies making their way to the big screen, Marvel have hit back by releasing the first poster for next year’s The Amazing Spider-Man.

Coming over a year before the flick’s actual unveiling, this is definitely one to file under ‘massive tease’. That said, the poster at least gives us the film’s official logo, whick copes well with the elongated title but isn’t massively eye-catching.

As for the mysterious (bloodied?) fabric in the background, is that Peter Parker’s Spidey suit post-battle damage? It certainly looks that way. But what’s most enticing about this new image is the possibility that this poster could actually be the first piece in a jigsaw that will eventually be the film’s official one sheet. Stranger things have happened in the cutthroat world of viral marketing…

by Josh Winning

Carrie on…

“The real question is why, when the original was so good?” asked Stephen King yesterday regarding a remake of teen scream Carrie. “I mean, [it’s] not Casablanca, or anything, but a really good horror-suspense film, much better than the book.”

Which really says something about the nature of Hollywood. When the creator of a movie’s title character is as out of the loop and against the project as we are, something’s gone wrong.

King’s reasons for loving Brian de Palma’s evocative 1976 film adaptation of his first novel? “Piper Laurie really got her teeth into the bad-mom thing.” Hell yeah she did. King relents on just one thing regarding the newly-announced remake: “It would certainly be fun to cast. I guess I could get behind it if they turned the project over to one of the Davids: Lynch or Cronenberg.”

While I don’t really agree with the Lynch or Cronenberg mooning (have either ever proven they can handle the twitchy, sensitive minefield that is teendom?), a disastrous remake could be avoided if the filmmakers adhere to just a few rules…

Cast an unknown. Hey, I love Chloe Moretz as much as the next Kick-Ass fan (the kid’s disarmingly smart), but she’s not Carrie. An unknown actress would work best for this role. Sure, Sissy Spacek’s casting in the original film followed her phenomenal success in Badlands. That was in the ‘70s, though. Times have changed. That said, I’d be interested to see Elle Fanning’s take on Carrie.

Don’t restage the bloodbath ending. We saw it in ’76, and it was horrible, and beautiful, and hideously mesmeric. Nothing can possibly match it, and 21st century filmmakers are sure to make it into a histrionic mess. Do something different. Surprise us.

Ignore technology. Nothing’s more annoying than remakes simply trying to ‘update’ their predecessors by shoving in an iPhone and having characters drop Twitter references. It’s achingly uncool. So ignore the new technology; just give us a story.

Speak to Guillermo del Toro. This guy has a hundred little eager fledgling filmmakers attached to his desk by strings, and has proven uncannily brilliant in choosing new talent to create exceptional horror films (The Orphanage, Julia’s Eyes). Talk to him, he’ll point you in the right direction.

Watch The Rage: Carrie 2. Then do the exact opposite of everything they did with that shameful excuse for a belated sequel.

Don’t try to be too clever. This is probably the most important. The original story is beauty in simplicity: a bullied young girl gets revenge on her classmates for torturing her. That’s all we need. So keep it simple, train your lens on the characters, and let the movie make itself.

Edited to add: I dare the Carrie remakers to simply adapt the hysterically camp Carrie stage musical for the screen. Go on. It’d be hilarious...

by Josh Winning

Bane of my life

Those concerned they couldn’t get anymore excited about the currently shooting Dark Knight Rises can all breathe a sigh of relief – yes, you can be more excited, and you should be, and that picture up there is why.

Why? It’s the first official still from the threequel, showing off a considerably/impressively beefy Tom Hardy as big brute Bane. It’s a massive difference from the Bane we last saw on the big screen in Batman & Robin – but considering Rises is being helmed by Chris Nolan and not Joel Schumacher, that’s no big surprise. Released via the Bat sequel’s official website, this is obviously a bid to stop unsanctioned leaks from the movie set, as well as stoking the embers of our love for Nolan’s franchise. Quess what – it worked!

And just for comparison’s sake, here’s Jeep Swenson as Bane in Batman & Robin. Spot the difference?

by Josh Winning

Land ahoy

Oh look! It’s the first ever trailer for Steven Spielberg’s mo-cap adap of Tintin! And… oh… wait… It only looks vaguely ‘alright’. Sure there are some nice flourishes and the detail’s impeccable, but it’s not quite looking like the masterpiece The Beard’s been amping us up for.

Colour me old-fashioned, but the motion capture approach just doesn’t work for me. Case in point: Robert Zemeckis. He’s another filmmaker who wrestled with the medium (having a go with The Polar Express and A Christmas Carol). But after the belly flop that was this year’s Mars Needs Moms (2011’s biggest box office turkey so far), he’s retreating back to more traditional methods of moviemaking.

On the evidence of this Tintin teaser, Spielberg may not fare much better. I’m not saying that because I was never a massive Tintin fan (he was always too twee for my liking), nor because mo-cap is flawed (I thought King Kong was a fun ride). Purely going on this first look at the film, there’s no doubt Tintin will have lavish visuals – but it still seems to succumb to the ‘dead eye’ curse that sunk all of Zemeckis’ attempts. Could Tintin be the final nail in mo-cap’s coffin?

by Josh Winning

My you’ve changed…

A couple of new images from the Fright Night reboot have just been released online, and what a sight they are. The first in particular (top right) shows a gothed-up David Tennant as Las Vegas stage magician Peter Vincent, who ends up helping Anton Yelchin’s teen battle Colin Farrell’s malicious neck-chewer.

It’s quite a wardrobe change from the Vincent we know and love from the original 1987 Fright Night. Whereas the ’87 version (top left) starred Roddy McDowall as a fuddy old vamp slaying horror icon, Tennant here sort of resembles Russell Brand meeting Sirius Black by way of The Crow.

Will it work? Tennant definitely has an ability to make larger than life characters sing (as any Dr Who fan will tell you), but this new Fright seems like such a massive departure from the ’80s film that you wonder why they even bothered using the same title. Apart from the fact that it’s a great title, of course.

The second new image shows off Toni Collette as Yelchin’s mum, with the Aussie native rounding out a seriously impressive cast (not forgetting Imogen Poots and Christopher Mintz-Plasse, of course). To be honest, the most this reboot seems to have going for it is the names involved, with that stellar cast reading from a script by Buffy screenwriter Marti Noxon. If anything, then, we should get some snappy lines read by a snappy cast – but who’d rather just watch the original film? I know I would.

Speaking of, here’s why I love Fright Night ’87…

by Josh Winning