Film Update On ‘The Legend of Conan’

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August 17, 2016

The sequel to the 1982 film ‘Conan The Barbarian’ has been in the script stage for more than a year now.

Chris Morgan, ‘The Legend of Conan’ producer and co-writer brought up the ‘Unforgiven’ style / tone of the film in May of last year.

Now, co-writer Will Beall has chimed in confirming ‘The Legend of Conan’ starts right from the end of ‘Conan The Barbarian.’

“It opens there. It opens with this [hand on the chin]. It’s where you have to. It’s the sequel that we were promised and never got. I’m 11 when my father took me to see Conan the Barbarian which you should never take an 11-year-old kid to. It was a life changing thing. It’s an unbelievable movie. It comes back to [director John] Milius, right? There’s nobody better, and it’s a real movie. It’s a truthful movie. Chris and I from the very beginning said there’s no reason to do it unless it’s a worthy sequel to Milius’s Conan and I think we’ve got that. I really do,” said Beall to Slashfilm.

As ‘Legend of Conan’ remains in active development, everyone better get their acts in gear as Arnold Schwarzenegger is 69-years-old. If the film started production today, Schwarzenegger would be 71 at the time of a theatrical release. If Beall and Morgan don’t finish the script soon, we may never see another Schwarzenegger Conan again. That might not be a bad thing too.

Are you excited for ‘The Legend of Conan?’ Leave your comments below.

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DVD Review: The Brand New Testament ‘Pretentious Claptrap Raised by Excellent Acting’

By

Kieran Freemantle

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August 17, 2016

Anyone who has played a God game like Sim City or Black and White has a sadistic urge to make the lives of the digital beings hell. That is how the filmmakers behind the Belgian fantasy-comedy The Brand New Testament sees God as they take aim against religion.

In The Brand New Testament God (Benoît Poelvoorde) is real – he lives in an apartment in Brussels. He is a drunk who watches sports, dominates over his wife (Yolande Moreau) and 10-year-old daughter Ea (Pili Groyne) and spends most of his time in his Terry Gilliam like office finding ways to make his creation’s life a misery. After a vicious beating, Ea sets out to get revenge against her father, leaking the time of death to everyone on Earth and locking his computer, taking away his power. Ea sets out to see the world for the first time and find her own apostles.

The Brand New Testament is a strange beast of a film, it has an interesting premise for a magical-realist story, and it had a terrific opening act as God and his family live in squalor and Ea sets out to get her revenge. It was a great way to open the movie as God plays with humanity, giving us morals the minor nuisances that are a part of the daily grind of life. This is counter-balanced by God giving Ea a severe beating and Ea announcing to the camera her intent to destroy her father. This act of the movie had a beautiful climax of Ea feeling the rain for the first time.

After this initial 30 minutes The Brand New Testament goes down of a route of directionless wandering. Here Ea goes and finds her apostles, six people she randomly picked who live in the Belgian capital. It is this portion of the movie where people speak to the camera, philosophizing about the new world order and many of them facing their destined date of death. What it boils down to is that even if you think certain things are beyond our control we should live our lives to the fullest; yet the way its presented is like the worst stereotypes of French cinema (I am aware France and Belgium are different nations) – angsty people talking to the camera. It works for Ea since she’s the main character but this approach loses its impact when it’s used to meet new characters.

Some moments are genuinely funny, having a dark edge because of the deaths and attempts of deaths, like one woman finding out she only has minutes to live and gets rid of every possible threat and gets killed anyway while a running gag involving one man testing fate. These moments are outweighed by the movie’s attempts to use surreal imaginary which is enough to constitute a joke – the worst offender is one of Ea’s apostles, Martine (Catherine Deneuve), who kicks out her husband so she can have an affair with a gorilla. Even in a movie where God exists with an all-powerful computer and everyone knows their time of death this idea is out of place and unfunny.

Even the film’s use of music is a mixed bag. Ea has the ability to hear people’s heartbeats as music and which was an excuse to hear some famous pieces of classical music and great for fans, adding some emotional resonant. It is a powerful way for Ea to connect with her apostles. However, The Brand New Testament was too reliant on comedy music for its jokes, having no confidence that jokes could not stand on their own. Jokes ended with a trumpet sound which was saying ‘there’s the punchline, now laugh.’ It’s lazy!

Pili Groyne was terrific in the lead role as God’s daughter, giving a mature performance considering her young age. She was a warm, welcoming presence that people could open up to. Groyne’s two standout scenes were the ones straight after her beating where she speaks to the camera about her desire for revenge and a montage where Ea spends her time with a boy who has only a week to live.

The Brand New Testament has a terrific opening that could have worked as a short film but was hampered by its lack of direction in its second and third act and not as insightful or funny as it thinks it is. Groyne is a young actress with a great future ahead of her if she decides to stay in the profession. She was the bright spot of the movie.

Amazon.co.uk (DVD)

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‘Clue’ is Next Up on The Hollywood Remake Conveyor Belt

By

Larry Taylor - Managing Editor

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August 17, 2016

Clue, the 1985 cult-classic which managed to wonderfully adapt a board game to the big screen, is getting the remake treatment. Something tells me it won’t be as magical this time around.

The Tracking Board broke the news, saying the one-time Universal project has moved to 20th Century Fox (yikes) and Hasbro Studios will produce.

The original starred Tim Curry as the butler/emcee, with Christopher Lloyd (Professor Plum), Madeline Kahn (Mrs. White), Michael McKean (Mr. Green), Martin Mull (Colonel Mustard), Eileen Brennan (Mrs. Peacock), and Lesley Ann Warren (Miss Scarlet) filling out the game pieces.

And this Clue remake has been fumbling about tinseltown for several years now, originally slated for a 2011 remake before that fell through. But, despite the obvious brand attached to the board game and the steady following of the original film, does anyone play the Clue board game anymore? The film pops up on TV from time to time, and is a pitch-perfect comedy with multiple endings to pay service to the game itself. But despite all that, the film wasn’t a box-office smash. The audience seems small, niche, and as much as the original film was ahead of its time this remake feels like it will be a few years too late.

There’s no cast or release date set as of now.

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Jeremy Slater Dishes On His Original Fantastic Four Script

By

Jonathan Bruce

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August 16, 2016

Fantastic-Four — Oh, what might have been if Slater’s Fantastic Four script got made.

Screenwriter Jeremy Slater is becoming a producer with his work on the new Exorcist television series. He is also a writer on last year’s Fantastic Four, which proved to be a box office failure.

In a Screen Crush interview, Slater opens up about his experience on the reboot. He estimates writing ten to fifteen drafts of the screenplay. His vision for the film had “lots of humor, lots of heart, lots of spectacle.”

Slater’s script begins with young Reed and Ben before the former joins the Baxter Foundation. He describes the think tank as a “Hogwarts for nerds.” Victor Von Doom would start as “a damaged young Latverian scientist” who befriends Reed and shows him how to “bend the rules.”

The group goes to the Negative Zone and encounters “a pissed off cybernetic T-Rex”, namely Annihilus. After a battle, the team thinks Victor is dead and returns to Earth with their powers. Meanwhile, Victor kills Annihilus and returns from the Negative Zone, hell-bent on revenge.

According to Slater, “We had Doctor Doom declaring war against the civilized world” and “the Mole Man unleashing a 60 foot genetically-engineered monster in downtown Manhattan.” How very epic.

Slater describes the finale as “…a Saving Private Ryan-style finale pitting the heroes against an army of Doombots in war-torn Latveria.” A post-credits scene would tease Galactus and Silver Surfer for the sequel.

Slater says his script had several elements that harken back to the comic books. He even managed to include H.E.R.B.I.E, a robot who is known to Marvel fans. In fact, this little droid took Johnny Storm’s place in a 1978 animated series.

“We had monsters and aliens and Fantasticars and a cute spherical H.E.R.B.I.E. robot that was basically BB-8 two years before BB-8 ever existed. And if you think all of that sounds great…well, yeah, we did, too. The problem was, it would have also been massively, MASSIVELY expensive.”

Very little of Slater’s ideas are in the final film. However, one bit of dialogue remains intact- young Reed saying “Don’t blow up” as he tests the transporter.

After a troubled production, the movie proved to be a flop. “Would you spend $300 million on a Fantastic Four film?” he asked. “Particularly after the previous two films left a fairly bad taste in audiences’ mouths?

“It’s understandable that everyone involved would take steps to minimize their risk as much as possible. Unfortunately, those steps probably compromised the film to a fatal degree.”

Oh, what might have been.

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‘Gravity Falls’ & ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ Writers In Negotiations To Pen ‘Detective Pikachu’

By

Aric Sweeny

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August 16, 2016

According to an exclusive report from Variety, Nicole Perlman and Alex Hirsc h are in negotiations to write the upcoming Detective Pikachu film.

Legendary recently acquired the rights to make the Pokemon movie last month, following the massive success of the Pokemon GO app.

Perlman is best known for her work on Guardians of the Galaxy, Thor, and is to direct the 2019 Captain Marvel film.

Alex Hirsch has worked on Gravity Falls and Fish Hooks, both successful shows on Disney Channel.

Great Detective Pikachu is a 3DS game released in Japan in early 2016, and will likely influence the upcoming movie.

Source: Variety.

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Warner Bros. Green-Light ‘A Star Is Born’ Remake; Lady Gaga To Star

By

EJ Moreno

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August 16, 2016

Not Only Will Lady Gaga Star But She Will Compose The Score As Well As Perform

Marking the directorial debut of Bradley Cooper, ‘A Star Is Born‘ has officially been announced. The leading lady to fill in for Barbra Streisand? None other than pop & jazz singer Lady Gaga! Greg Silverman, President, Creative Development and Worldwide Production, Warner Bros. Pictures announced the project early on Tuesday, June 16th.

‘A Star is Born‘ is being produced by Billy Gerber and Jon Peters along with together with Bradley Cooper and Todd Phillips. Basil Iwanyk is serving as executive producer.

This will be the first time Bradley Cooper will step into the directors chair and the first time Lady Gaga will star in a feature film. The singer will also compose brand-new songs for the film as well.

“For those of us lucky enough to watch him work as an actor and producer, it has been clear that Bradley would make this transition to director. We are honored that he is doing it, here, at his home—Warner Bros.—and with Lady Gaga as a collaborator and co-star. The world is in for a treat as these great artists craft an all new vision of ‘A Star is Born.’”
-Greg Silverman

While it’s sad that Gaga won’t be remaking “Evergreen” by Barbra Streisand, this is still a huge moment for the singer/actress. This was the film that helped Streisand land another Oscar so maybe this could be the Lady’s time.

Will you be checking out the often remade ‘A Star Is Born’ when it comes out?

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Cyborg Will Appear In ‘The Flash’ Film

By

Aric Sweeny

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August 16, 2016

According to an exclusive report from Variety, Ray Fisher‘s Cyborg will be making an appearance in the Ezra Miller led Flash movie.

The report gives no indication of how big of a role the character will play in the film.

Cyborg made his first appearance in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and can also be seen in the recent Justice League trailer.

Cyborg and The Flash are set to appear in next year’s Justice League film. Read the synopsis for it down below.

“Fueled by his restored faith in humanity and inspired by Superman’s selfless act, Bruce Wayne enlists the help of his newfound ally, Diana Prince, to face an even greater enemy. Together, Batman and Wonder Woman work quickly to find and recruit a team of metahumans to stand against this newly awakened threat. But despite the formation of this unprecedented league of heroes—Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Cyborg and The Flash—it may already be too late to save the planet from an assault of catastrophic proportions.”

Are you excited to see Cyborg in The Flash? Let us know in the comments section of this article.

Source: Variety.

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James Caan has something to hide in trailer for ‘The Good Neighbor’

By

Kris Solberg

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August 16, 2016

The final trailer for Kasra Farahani’s upcoming directorial debut The Good Neighbor has hit the web. In the film, Ethan (Logan Miller) and Sean (Keir Gilchrist) attempts to trick their next door neigbor Harold (James Caan) into thinking his house is haunted. However, their plan backfires when Harold reveals himself to be much more sinister than they had anticipated.

The film hits theatres and VOD/On-Demand services on September 16th.

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Character Study: What Motivated Kyle in ‘Money Monster’

By

Kris Solberg

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August 16, 2016

Money Monster is the fourth directorial effort by Jodie Foster, and it focuses on Kyle (Jack O’Connell) taking a television financial host named Lee Gates (George Clooney) hostage live on-air. Kyle feels betrayed by Lee, as the bombastic host made a stock tip that caused Kyle to lose $60.000.

From his first appearance, Kyle is presented as a member of the “have-nots”. As a part-time employee earning 14 dollars an hour, he seems like a person that’s down on his luck, and looking for a fair chance to take a step up the financial ladder. He attempted to make this climb by wagering his inheritance on a seemingly safe investment highlighted by Lee Gates. This didn’t pan out, and Kyle now feels like the world is refusing to give him a break. Through his erratic, and increasingly frustrated behavior we see that Kyle is not one to think things through. While he’s aware that he likely won’t survive the predicament he landed himself in, he does not readily admit why he went there in the first place.

As a viewer, we don’t learn a lot about Kyle’s true motivation until the final showdown of the film. During this scene, it is revealed that the owner of the company Kyle invested money into intentionally short-shifted his own stock to pay for a business deal gone wrong in South Africa. With a bomb strapped to his chest, the owner admits that he thinks its wrong he was legally allowed to do it, prompting Kyle to say “That’s all I wanted to hear.”

Looking back at Kyle’s choices throughout the film, this line explains a lot of his behavior, as well as his motivation for taking Lee Gates hostage in the first place. Kyle feels responsible for losing the money, and wants to have someone to point the finger at. He is not looking to recoup his loss, as evidenced by two separate people offering to settle his score, rather he is looking to remove the stench of failure from his life.

In a brief scene between Kyle and his girlfriend Molly (Emily Meade), we see that Kyle is looked down upon by his loved ones. Molly sees him as less of a man due to his poor life choices, and through her short moment with Kyle she does nothing but berate him. Within this framework, his failure to make money on an investment Gates called safer than his savings account, was the final straw. He needed to regain a shred of his self-respect, and this could only be achieved by hearing the man he deemed responsible for his loss admitting he was the one to blame. Therefore, when Walt Gamby (Dominic West) satisfied this urge within Kyle, a weight was lifted off his shoulder. Harking back to his awareness that he would die in his plight to gain this satisfaction, he could now die knowing that he was not to blame for losing the money, and feeling like the world would not see him as a failure anymore.

While his motivation is a bit hidden throughout the film, if you were to go back and re-watch it with this frame of mind, it would be a lot more apparent why Kyle is acting the way he is. Foster alongside screenwriters Jamie Liden, Alan DiFiore, and Jim Kouf manage to conceal his true motives for most of the film, which may frustrate some viewers, but actually makes the film a lot more compelling upon a second viewing.

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Kevin Bacon Open To Play Freddy Krueger In Reboot

By

Matthew Sardo

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August 16, 2016

It starts with a tweet, then a retweet, and then you have a movement. Kevin Bacon put gasoline on the rumor mill Saturday when he expressed interest in the role of Freddy Krueger via Twitter.

If a nightmare on elm street gets rebooted again can we please somehow get @kevinbacon as Freddy? I think he’d be fantastic.

— Bettie Toxic (@bettietoxic) August 13, 2016

I like the way you think Bettie https://t.co/oB5HyMo6tG

— Kevin Bacon (@kevinbacon) August 13, 2016

There have been nine films involving Freddy Krueger, with eight films by Robert Englund, and the bad 2010 remake starring Jackie Earle Haley.

According to Bloody Disgusting, back in August of last year, it was reported that New Line was rebooting the Elm Street franchise once more, with David Leslie Johnson (Orphan, The Conjuring 2) attached to pen the screenplay, but there has been no update on the project since then.

Do you want to see a reboot with Kevin Bacon as Freddy? Comment below.

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