The past seven days

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Jena Malone rumored for Catching Fire

It has been announced that Jena Malone is in the rumor mill, along with many others, for Catching Fire. If you aren't aware, this is the much anticipated sequel to The Hunger Games. Malone is being rumored for the role of Johanna Mason.
Johanna is a previous winner from District 7, along with Finnick Odair from District 4, and quickly becomes a strong opponent to Katniss. Johanna definitely has the ability to murder without thinking too much about it. She is quite the badass in the book.

I personally love Jena Malone so I would have absolutely no problem with her being cast. I actually hope it happens.

Frankenweenie full length trailer debuts


The newest, full length trailer for the upcoming film Frankenweenie has surfaced! I have been excited about this movie for months so I can't wait.


Monday, June 25, 2012

The Devil's Carnival to be screened at Comic Con 2012

The Devil's Carnival has been announced for Comic Con International 2012 in San Diego, CA. The itinerary looks similar to that of the road shows that took place this spring (movie screening, cast Q&A, costume contests, etc.).

I went to the road show in Denver this past May (my review of the night is here) and I think it's a fun time for any horror fan, especially those who liked Repo! The Genetic Opera. I felt a bit out of place but I did enjoy myself. Also bear in mind that this is only chapter one of this installment of The Devil's Carnival. They are working on more material for future chapters so anyone going to SD Comic Con who is interested and wants to see what it's like should check it out. Never know, the future installments might gain a little more press and popularity. I think the road tour was a success. Denver was close to a sell out and I heard other cities had packed theaters as well.


Sunday, June 24, 2012

Curse of Chucky to go direct-to-DVD

The upcoming installment to the Child's Play franchise, Curse of Chucky, has officially been set on the Direct-to-DVD path. Production begins this September and will of course have Brad Dourif returning to voice Chucky.

The plot sounds fucking stupid so I am not too excited. I watch the Child's Play movies for laughs anyway.

"Chucky arrives to wreck havoc within a family that’s regrouped for a funeral. In the wake of her mother’s passing, a young woman – in a wheelchair since birth – is forced to put up with her sister, brother-in-law, niece and their nanny as they say their goodbyes to mother. When people start turning up dead, the fearless Nica discovers the culprit might be a 'strange doll' she was sent a couple of days earlier."


Don't expect too much, haha.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter - Review

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter follows our 16th president on his journey from a young boy to a vampire hunter to one of the most historically recognized presidents in American history.


I went into this movie really excited because I enjoyed the book by Seth Grahame-Smith and the fact that Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov were involved. The casting for me wasn't too exciting because I didn't really know Benjamin Walker, I'm not necessarily a huge fan of Dominic Cooper, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead was just Ramona Flowers from Scott Pilgrim to me. Even with that I was still pretty pumped.

However... I walked away extremely disappointed. The pacing was all over the place, the acting was vague, and despite Seth Grahame-Smith writing the screenplay I thought it drowned in comparison to the book. Granted the book wasn't a masterpiece but it was a lot more enjoyable.

Go ahead and click the jump to read the rest so I don't blatantly spoil the movie. It's a little hard to talk about without revealing key points to the plot.


Saturday, June 23, 2012

Brave - Review

The newest Disney/Pixar film Brave follows Princess Merida on her quest for independence but she runs into a bump in the road while trying to change her fate after her parents attempt to arrange her marriage.


I went into Brave excited but, like many others, I was a bit confused on exactly what the story was about. I gathered from the trailers that Merida wanted to change her fate because she was set to be betrothed and was not happy about it but that was about it. Everything else I was a bit in the dark about. However, I think that was the best way to go into it. I really enjoyed this one and I think it definitely was Pixar's redemption from Cars 2. The voices were great, the basic plot was good, and the animation was fantastic. I seriously think visually it was Pixar's best film to date. Merida's hair alone was extremely impressive. I also think Pixar has come a long way with their animation of humans. The facial expressions on those animated characters was great. I was really blown away.

My main problem, and I have heard others say the same thing, is it felt a bit rushed. The film is about 90-100 minutes long and I think they just tried to fit too much in that time span. Certain parts of the film had the potential to be great but they felt a little cut short due to time restraint.

I will now discuss some spoilers to reveal my other issue with the film, so click the jump to see what it is.


Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Breaking Dawn Part 2 full teaser released





After the teaser's teaser yesterday for The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2, we have the full teaser trailer. It also features the footage they teased people with a couple months ago. If you are following this you will recognize the footage we have already seen.

I will admit the final shot of Bella running looks pretty cool, but seeing that I read the book and know what happens (which is basically nothing) I am not all that excited. I thought the trailer for Eclipse looked somewhat promising and that turned out to be the worst movie out of all the ones we have gotten so far. We will just have to wait and see for this one. I will definitely need a drink like I did when I saw Breaking Dawn Part 1

Monsters University teaser released by Disney/Pixar

Pixar has released a teaser for Monsters University, the upcoming sequel to 2001's Monsters, Inc.



Something about this I just don't like. I have been excited for a Monsters, Inc. sequel because I absolutely love that movie, but I expected it to either pick up where the first left off or fast forward into the future a little bit. I didn't really want them to make it a prequel. Disappoint.

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

10-second teaser for Breaking Dawn Part 2

I thought in the book Bella's eyes stayed red the whole time because of how new she was? Fucking movies and their inconsistency.


Anyway, the 10-second teaser for the The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 teaser (boy, that is redundant) has been released this morning. We will get the full teaser tomorrow morning. As you may know I am not a Twilight fan but I have read the books and seen all the movies up to this point. I find them entertaining and amusing, to say the least. I also love pointing out the continuity errors between the films and the books such as Bella's golden eyes in the above screenshot. The book explains why Bella's eyes stay red despite not drinking human blood, but whatever. They obviously didn't want to take the 15 seconds to explain it.


First image of Maleficent

We have the first image of Angelina Jolie as Maleficent in the upcoming film set to be released in 2014. I don't see why they are teasing this already seeing that we still have almost 2 years until the release, but whatever. I think she looks pretty badass.


Saturday, June 16, 2012

Lionsgate planning to remake Twilight

Rumored as of right now but knowing Lionsgate this is most likely true. According to Bloody-Disgusting, which you can honestly take or leave, Lionsgate is planning to either continue the Twilight saga beyond Breaking Dawn or remake it altogether.

I want to reiterate... this is just a rumor as of right now. There is no confirmation on this and no discussion outside of websites like this and people. With that said, this conversation in itself doesn't surprise me at all. Lionsgate already has said that they hope to continue Twilight after Breaking Dawn Part 2 because it is such a huge money maker. I said it then and I am still saying it now, I hope Stephenie Meyer has a way to stop this from happening. I hope their is some kind of clause or whatever that gives her the ultimate decision of what to do with these characters. I cannot handle more of this Twilight shit. I have been looking forward to 2012 since New Moon came out because I knew it would finally be over.

However, if this is going to happen there is only one way I would accept it... if they made it into a TV show. TV shows are so easy to avoid but they have the incredible potential to be popular and make a very decent amount of money. Look at the fanbase for shows like True Blood, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, The Sopranos, The Vampire Diaries, Big Bang Theory, etc.. TV Shows can have a huge impact and enough people know about Twilight so it wouldn't necessarily curse it to fading out completely and it would give fans consistency. They also would have more room to do things correctly in terms of the books and they would have more time to expand on certain things that the movies haven't allowed. Seeing that this franchise has become so popular and is worth so much money I can't think of a single network that would pass on the opportunity.


So yeah. This isn't a surprise and I do agree with Bloody-Disgusting in saying that this will happen but damn it... I don't want it to. I fucking hate Lionsgate.

 
[UPDATE] Apparently Summit Entertainment did some damage control with Deadline and claimed the rumors of the reboot are untrue.

"We are not remaking Twilight. We will happily support Stephenie Meyer if she decides to proceed in any way. But this will be the last one unless that should change."

I think this is just what I said above. This is damage control. I have no doubt they have plans set in motion so they can act quickly if Meyer does give approval or dishes out some new material. They would be stupid not to say this.

Friday, June 15, 2012

[Random] A must hear for fellow Nine Inch Nails fans

My random Twitter find for the day. This is the most awesome and hilarious thing I have ever heard.

http://inversephase.bandcamp.com/album/pretty-eight-machine

Judy Greer confirmed for role in Carrie

It was rumored a while back that Judy Greer was in talks to play the gym teacher, Miss Desjardin, in the upcoming reboot of Carrie but it wasn't confirmed. We now have confirmation that Greer has indeed landed the role. It was also confirmed that Portia Doubleday (I know her from Youth in Revolt) will play Carrie's main rival Chris Hargensen. Other casting confirmations we have so far are Chloe Moretz, Julianne Moore, Alex Russell, and Ansel Elgort.

I think the casting is shaping up nicely. I really like Judy Greer and have seen her in numerous things. This might be good.

Pixar interested in doing a Marvel movie?

Apparently so... if the opportunity presented itself.

John Lasseter, one of the founding members of Pixar, said in a recent junket while promoting the upcoming Disney/Pixar film Brave that if a filmmaker presented an idea related to the Marvel universe to Pixar that he would be open to it. With that said, he also emphasized that Pixar prides themselves on original filmmaking.

"Well, I can’t say anything about that because Marvel just got—[they’ve] been a couple years as part of the Disney company, we’ve been six years as part of the Disney company.  And at Pixar, we stay focused on making original films.  Even our sequels are kind of created internally and we come up with ideas [on our own].  I’m also leading the Walt Disney Animation Studio and all of that.  These studios are filmmaker driven studios, so if a filmmaker comes to me and says, ‘Hey, I wanna do this,’ then I would be really open to it."

I think this is kind of a cool idea because I love Pixar, but a lot of the main Marvel characters have been claimed already. Depending on the character I think it could be a cool idea to pair up Marvel and Pixar. It just has to have the right superhero. 

Thursday, June 14, 2012

First look at The Walking Dead - Season 3

Seeing that everyone else has spoiled this already I guess I can as well. Here is our first official look at what might be the biggest returning character for the third season of The Walking Dead. Ladies and gentlemen... Merle Dixon.


Tuesday, June 12, 2012

New Catching Fire casting rumors feat. Philip Seymour Hoffman

It seems that since we still have no confirmation on who will be playing Finnick Odair in Catching Fire people have moved onto the other characters who need actors. It has now surfaced that the role of Plutarch Heavensbee (aka, the new Gamemaker) could be played by none other than Philip Seymour Hoffman. Plutarch is an important but fairly small character in the book so who knows if Hoffman will accept the offer, but they are trying.

Personally, I think Hoffman could do great things with Plutarch. I hope he accepts.

http://collider.com/philip-seymour-hoffman-hunger-games-catching-fire/172477/

Monday, June 11, 2012

Snow White to get "evil and corrupt" in SWATH sequel

MTV News sat down and spoke with Snow White and the Huntsman director Rupert Sanders about the upcoming sequel to the film. As we learned this past week, Universal Pictures has officially given the green light to a sequel due to the overwhelming (and somewhat surprising) success of the film starring Kristen Stewart and Charlize Theron. Along with this news the studio is also in talks with Sanders to return to direct the sequel and although none of the actors are bound by contract to appear in a sequel, the clauses are in place and they can return if they choose to. Due to the success I doubt anyone would turn down the chance to return for a second film.

Sanders told MTV that he plans on including the theme of abusing power when it comes to Snow White's rise to the Queen. If you saw Snow White and the Huntsman you know that Snow White defeats the Evil Queen (in this case it was Queen Ravenna) and takes her rightful place on the throne. Sanders suggests that the film would focus on Snow White's struggle to maintain her power fairly and that it would center around her becoming corrupt and abusing the enormous amount of power she was suddenly given. To quote Rupert Sanders directly:

"I think the corruption of power would be the second one. I think we've created this very chaste girl who's got to this position and now she's in this position of supreme power. We wanted to be contemporary with the theme here and I think in the next film we'll do the same... People who get powerful sometimes lose their bearings and abuse that power and that's kind of an intoxicating theme."

However... this is not set in stone. Sanders hasn't even officially been attached to the sequel and none of the actors have signed onto another project so this is all speculation and hearsay for right now. I do think that sounds like an awesome storyline, though. I didn't fully dislike Snow White and the Huntsman so I am interested to see what they will do with it next. I just hope the sequel has a better script.

Venom tied to The Amazing Spiderman?

New questions and information have arose for one of the most popular Marvel villains, Venom, in regards to the upcoming reboot The Amazing Spiderman. We have learned that it is possible for Venom to have a tie in to the film starring Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone.

Seeing that previous news has surfaced of Chronicle director Josh Trank taking the lead of a movie based solely on Venom people were wondering how you can have Venom without involving him with Spiderman at some point. At a recent press conference for The Amazing Spiderman, producer Matt Tolmach mentioned:

“I’m trying to say to you without giving anything away is hopefully all these worlds will live together in peace someday… look for the worlds to make sense with one another.”

Collider suggests that they are trying to follow an Avengers-like universe where you introduce the characters and then tie them all together into one movie later on. This idea works for different superheroes fighting one main villain, like in The Avengers, but I don't know if it will work with one movie about a villain (aka, Venom) and one movie about a superhero fighting a completely different villain (aka, Spiderman and The Lizard). Unless there is a third factor thrown in I don't see how it will work smoothly.

The Walking Dead Season 3 character spoilers

We now have visual confirmation of a returning character for the upcoming third season of The Walking Dead. Who is this character? None other than Merle Dixon (played by Michael Rooker). Rooker was spotted on the "Woodbury" set and we assume that he is part of the survivors at the prison led by The Governor.

This will be interesting.

Friday, June 8, 2012

Prometheus - Review

Prometheus follows an exploratory space vessel where two explorers lead a crew in hope to find their creators to unravel the origin of the human race.


I have been excited for Prometheus and I just want to say that I always figured it was an Alien prequel despite Ridley Scott and the actors trying to shoot the rumors down. With that said, Prometheus was very good. The acting was fantastic, the cinematography was great, the visuals were great, and Scott's direction was obviously well done. However... this is yet another exciting, visually driven film with a weak script and poor pacing. I feel like the timing and pacing of the plot was rushed and a lot happened in a very short amount of time. And, of course, it left it open for a sequel 100%. There is no question that there will be a sequel to this movie.
Michael Fassbender plays one damn good robot. His character David really creeped me out but I loved it. I also loved Noomi Rapace, Charlize Theron, and Idris Elba. I think that they all gave a good performance and their characters were pretty good.

Overall I would say Prometheus was good and I enjoyed it a lot, but it was seriously stressful. There were a lot of aspects that rose the suspense up to a ridiculous level. At one point my hands started sweating because I got so anxious about what was happening. But even with that, it had a weak base and poor pacing so I feel like I enjoyed it a lot more while watching it rather than talking about it.



Now I must mention spoilers, but I strongly advise you to not read them if you haven't seen Prometheus. Come back and read this section once you have seen it.


Location announced for The Hangover III

Collider has reported that a location for The Hangover Part III has been set. As we know the first film took place in Las Vegas and the second took place in Bangkok. The upcoming third movie is said to be taking place in Tijuana. Production begins this September and has a release date set for May 23, 2013.

I loved The Hangover and all but I do not want any more movies. I thought The Hangover Part II sucked and was basically the same movie with a different setting. I am expecting more roofies, another member of the party getting lost, another song from Stu, and someone will lose some part of their body. Stu lost a tooth, Alan shaved his head, and Teddy lost his finger. What next?

You just can't produce the same magic that happened the first time around. Todd Phillips needs to quit with The Hangover.

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Universal moves forward with Snow White sequel

Seeing that Snow White and the Huntsman has passed $115 million internationally at the box office in less than two weeks I guess it is safe to say it was a hit. With that said, Universal has announced that it will be moving forward with a sequel to the film starring Charlize Theron, Kristen Stewart, and Chris Hemsworth. I had read before but Deadline's article also mentions the fact that the actors' contracts included sequel options for up to two more movies so this move doesn't surprise me at all, especially with the way Snow White and the Huntsman ended. SPOILER ALERT: The Huntsman's kiss worked when William's didn't and Snow White seemed to know that somehow, so that alone left it open for expansion.

http://www.deadline.com/2012/06/snow-white-and-the-huntsman-sequel-universal/

Whenever this sequel comes out, which I am predicting sometime in late 2013 or early to mid 2014, I will most likely see it. I did enjoy Snow White and the Huntsman (my review is here in case you missed it) although I thought it could have been much better. Hopefully the sequel has a much better script and a villain just as badass as Charlize Theron.
It has also been said that a sequel would focus more on The Huntsman. Whether it would be from his point of view with Snow White as his main interest or if he would just be the main focus with Snow White and William as a background is unknown, but I don't really see any other route they could take with that. All I can really say is leave it to Hollywood to put Kristen Stewart in yet another franchise love triangle. Wasn't 4 years of Twilight enough for that poor girl and for the world?

First trailer for Django Unchained

I wouldn't necessarily call myself a big Quentin Tarantino fan, but I do enjoy his work from time to time. Kill Bill Vol. 1, Kill Bill Vol. 2, Inglorious Basterds, and Reservoir Dogs are all brilliant films and it looks like Django Unchained could join that list.


Cosmopolis gets a US release date

David Cronenberg's new film Cosmopolis starring Robert Pattinson has gotten a US release date. It appears that it will be released on August 17. 2012 in New York City and Los Angeles. Apparently it will expand to other cities soon after.
We are getting Cosmopolis a little late in comparison to the UK and Canada who both get it this month. It has also already premiered at Cannes 2012 and in a few other countries.

I am looking forward to seeing Cosmopolis so hopefully there will be a way for me to see it. I usually miss films like this because of the lousy city I live in.



http://www.indiewire.com/article/david-cronenbergs-cosmopolis-heading-to-us-theaters-august-17th#

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Paramount pushes World War Z to 2013

It seems as though the zombie push has gotten Hollywood a little tired as well. The upcoming adaptation of the book World War Z has been pushed to June 21, 2013. The original date was supposed to be December 21, 2012. Apparently the production was recalled to do re-shoots in Budapest so Paramount opted to release another movie, One Shot, on the December date.

Oh well. I wasn't jumping up and down for World War Z to begin with so I can handle waiting 6 more months.


http://screenrant.com/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-release-date-world-war-z-one-shot-sandy-159160/

Monday, June 4, 2012

MTV Movie Awards 2012 winners list and thoughts on the show

This is only because I posted about the nominations and the new format...

Movie of the Year:
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1

Best Male Performance:
Josh Hutcherson - The Hunger Games

Best Female Performance:
Jennifer Lawrence - The Hunger Games

Best Comedic Performance:
Melissa McCarthy - Bridesmaids

Breakthrough Performance:
Shailene Woodley - The Descendants

Best Cast:
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2

Best On-Screen Transformation:
Elizabeth Banks - The Hunger Games

Best Fight:
Jennifer Lawrence & Josh Hutcherson vs. Alexander Ludwig - The Hunger Games

Best Kiss:
Robert Pattinson & Kristen Stewart - Breaking Dawn Part 1

Best Gut Wrenching Performance:
Bridesmaids

Best On-Screen Dirtbag:
Jennifer Aniston - Horrible Bosses

Best Music:
"Party Rock Anthem" by LMFAO - 21 Jump Street

MTV Trailblazer Award:
Emma Stone

MTV Generation Award:
Johnny Depp



As a whole I thought the show sucked. I don't know why they keep inviting Russell Brand to host because he is incredibly unfunny and annoying. When the audience doesn't laugh at your jokes there is a problem. He had to tell them to applaud and laugh a couple times and his only way of getting audience feedback was to keep yelling "THE HUNGER GAMES! TWILIGHT!" I hope he never hosts again or I might cut myself with a large piece of glass and send the tape to MTV.
The guest list was fairly weak as well, I thought. Not to mention they went to commercial after every category. It was like 4-5 minutes of show time and then 5 minutes of commercial in a steady rotation. I found it ironic that they had Kristen Stewart present Best Female Performance seeing that is is like the first year in the past 4 that she hasn't been nominated for a Twilight movie. I don't know if it was rude or just an odd coincidence. I was happy Jennifer Lawrence got it, though. The archery bit with her, JJ Abrams, and Joel McHale was pretty funny as well.
I also just want to say that Johnny Depp playing with The Black Keys was epic. I didn't know what to think because I was too busy enjoying myself. That was a real treat and he definitely deserved the good time and the recognition. I love Johnny Depp.
Emma Stone winning some new award was confusing to me. I like Emma Stone a lot but what was the point of that award?
And of course... The Dark Knight Rises footage was amazing. Christian Bale, Gary Oldman, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Christopher Nolan all appeared to present it and I loved every second of it. 

Overall it did suck, though. I can't believe I sat through the whole thing.

Thor 2 gets a new release date

Disney announced a couple release date switches including Thor 2 and The Lone Ranger.

Thor 2 was originally set for November 15, 2013 but has been pushed to November 8, 2013. The Lone Ranger was originally set for May 31, 2013 but has been pushed to July 3, 2013. I guess Disney wants to capitalize on the big 4th of July weekend box office for The Lone Ranger. The move for Thor 2 doesn't really make sense to me but I'm not complaining about getting it a week earlier than we originally thought.

http://www.geeksofdoom.com/2012/06/01/new-release-dates-for-the-lone-ranger-thor-2-announced/

Saturday, June 2, 2012

Snow White and the Huntsman - Review

Snow White and the Huntsman is yet another take on the Snow White tale where an evil queen locks up Snow White and attempts to kill her to be the fairest in the land.


I was pretty excited for Snow White and the Huntsman primarily because it looked better than Mirror Mirror and it had Charlize Theron as Queen Ravenna. Overall I would say that it was good but that doesn't mean it was great. It wasn't bad but it was severely lacking in many ways. The main things...

1. Character development of William (aka, the Prince)
2. I wanted more of the dwarves and a little more development with them
3. The film's pacing was extremely awkward
4. The actors' accents going in and out as they pleased

I felt the most cheated with William. They show him as a child and then all of a sudden he pops up as an amazing archer and storm the castle wanting to kill the queen. I was like, um who is this again? They gave almost no background to him at all and it's a shame seeing that he is technically a main character. 
I also feel like this film was split into acts and that it might have been purposely done. The first act introducing Ravenna and showing how she rose to power was fantastic. The second where The Huntsman finds Snow White in the forest and eventually leads her to sanctuary was where it started to die. The third act, however, should have picked it up and it really didn't do it as much as I would have hoped. When Snow White and her army reaches Ravenna's castle the climax of the film was cut very short. It had a slow build, a very short climax, and an even faster finish... that's what she said.
But seriously, I was the most disappointed with the last chapter of the film.


However, there were things that were great...

1. Charlize Theron
2. Charlize Theron
3. Charlize Theron

Charlize Theron was the best actor and had the best character, by far. What she did with Queen Ravenna was fantastic and it's a shame that this movie isn't good enough to gain some kind of recognition other than MTV Award status. She deserves some recognition for this role. Her very presence on screen gave me goosebumps at times.
Aside from her I would say the visuals were stunning. I definitely didn't walk away thinking they skimped out on the effects. I also loved the dwarves, especially Gus. They were really fun to watch.

And of course, how could I get away with doing this review without mentioning the biggest question of all... the casting of Kristen Stewart as Snow White. I want to start of by saying I have actually grown to like Kristen as an actress and I don't think she is terrible like most people do. She is terrible in the Twilight movies but to be fair everyone else is, too. She was fantastic in Welcome to the Rileys, Speak, and The Runaways. She also was a pleasure in her very small role in Into the Wild. However, her as Snow White just didn't do it for me. It wasn't the typical "she is bland" excuse most people give, but I feel like this type of action/leader role just doesn't suit her. She is best playing emotionally damaged, hostile, and vulnerable. She isn't good at being a leader in body armor and swinging a sword around. I don't think she ruined the movie but she definitely wasn't the best part of it and I feel the title character should be the most captivating.




Anyway, overall I wouldn't say Snow White and the Huntsman was terrible but it wasn't great. It had the potential to be great but just missed it. If the script was better and had a little bit more character development, and maybe had a different actress as Snow White, I think it might have worked a bit more. An easy 5.5-6 out of 10. I didn't see Mirror Mirror but I'm sure this one was better,

Friday, June 1, 2012

[UPDATE] Taylor Kitsch will not be in Catching Fire

The casting rumors and shoot downs for the role of Finnick in Catching Fire continue to appear. The latest rumor to die is 31-year old Taylor Kitsch. You may know him from the recent box office bombs John Carter and Battleship. Kitsch told the LA Times that it is "not going to happen." This news comes shortly after Robert Pattinson denied his involvement and said he will not be playing Finnick.

Earlier this week E! Online reported that casting had apparently come down to three finalists: Taylor Kitsch, Armie Hammer (The Social Network, Mirror Mirror), and Garrett Hedlund (Tron: Legacy, On the Road). The downright truth of this remains unknown as Lionsgate is refusing to comment on and/or confirm or deny anything about the casting of Finnick, but if this is true it seems that we only have two options.

 http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/movies/2012/05/hunger-games-taylor-kitsch-finnick.html


Out of the two remaining I would much rather have Garrett Hedlund. I think he has more of the look and overall feel of Finnick over Armie Hammer. I have only seen Hammer in one film, which was The Social Network, and I wasn't all that impressed. The only thing he has over Hedlund is the physique. However, Hammer is starring in The Lone Ranger with Johnny Depp and that is a new franchise hopeful for Disney. It is possible that due to his upcoming scheduling he might not even be available to commit to both Catching Fire and Mockingjay as the role of Finnick is in both.

Universal close to deals for Kick-Ass 2

Despite rumors circulating of re-casting it has been announced that Universal is close to landing deals with Aaron Johnson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, and Chloe Moretz for Kick-Ass 2. Evidently the reason this has become such an issue is because all the actors in the first movie (made by Lionsgate) didn't have sequel clauses in their contracts so Universal basically has to start over with the sequel.

I'm excited for Kick-Ass 2 so hopefully everything goes according to plan and they can get everyone who needs to come back on the project. To have continuity they would also have to try and get back Evan Peters (Todd), Lyndsy Fonseca (Katie), Clark Duke (Marty), and Omari Hardwick (Marcus).

http://www.deadline.com/2012/05/universal-close-to-kick-ass-2-deals-with-aaron-johnson-chloe-moretz-more/