The past seven days

Monday, September 29, 2014

David Fincher turned down Star Wars: Episode VII

J.J. Abrams ultimately landed the job as director of the new Star Wars film, but he apparently wasn't Disney's first choice. Director David Fincher is in the spotlight right now due to the press surrounding Gone Girl, but the director recently revealed that he had been approached to direct Episode VII and also explained why he turned it down.

Fincher revealed that he did meet with producer Kathleen Kennedy but also went into detail about why he turned down the project. Apparently, Fincher didn't feel that he could properly go into the dark aspects of the franchise with just one film and didn't think he could do anything similar to The Empire Strikes Back.

This isn't terribly surprising as just about every director in Hollywood was approached for Episode VII. Not to mention that Fincher doesn't really seem like a good fit for a franchise like this. You win some, you lose some.

Saw re-release gets a new poster and trailer

Just in case you've never seen Saw, you might want to skip the trailer. The 10-year anniversary trailer not only features the classic moments of the original Saw, but it spoils the ending. Just a heads up.




But anyway... the 10th anniversary re-release of Saw also comes with a new poster which looks pretty cool. You can catch it in theaters once more for a week this October beginning at 10pm on the 30th. It's also worth mentioning that if you catch a screening of Annabelle this weekend, some theaters are giving away free posters for the re-release.


Sunday, September 28, 2014

Age of Ultron trailer might air before Interstellar

A new rumor has begun making its way around regarding the trailers set to screen before Christopher Nolan's Interstellar in November. The biggest name on the list is Marvel's upcoming release, The Avengers: Age of Ultron.

This rumor most likely started as a majority of major trailers premiere six months prior to the film's release. Seeing that Age of Ultron has a release date of May 1st, that would put it on schedule to have a trailer surface sometime in November. However, seeing that Interstellar shares a release date with the Walt Disney Animation release, Big Hero 6, it is possible that an Avengers trailer might be attached to that instead.

Either way, we should be getting the first glimpse at Age of Ultron within the next month or so. I doubt they'd make everyone wait until the new year before a trailer comes out.

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Full tracklist for Gone Girl is revealed

Last week we got a sneak preview of the score for Gone Girl, composed by Oscar-winners Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. As "Gone Girl fever" is sweeping across the internet, we now have the full tracklist for the full score composed by the duo.

  1. What Have We Done to Each Other?
  2. Sugar Storm
  3. Empty Places
  4. With Suspicion
  5. Just Like You
  6. Appearances
  7. Clue One
  8. Clue Two
  9. Background Noise
  10. Procedural 
  11. Something Disposable
  12. Like Home
  13. Empty Places (Reprise)
  14. The Way He Looks At Me
  15. Technically, Missing
  16. Secrets
  17. Perpetual
  18. Strange Activities
  19. Still Gone
  20. A Reflection
  21. Consummation 
  22. Sugar Storm (Reprise)
  23. What Will We Do?
  24. At Risk

This marks the third collaboration between David Fincher, Reznor, and Ross. The duo previously composed scores for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Social Network. The latter gave them a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for Best Original Score. Nine Inch Nails frontman, Trent Reznor, recently described the score as, "Think about the really terrible music you hear in massage parlors'... The way it artificially tries to make you feel like everything's OK. And then imagine that sound starting to curdle and unravel."
Early reviews of Fincher's adaptation of the Gillian Flynn novel have been overwhelmingly positive so far and the film is set to open the New York Film Festival on September 26th. The film goes wide on October 3rd and the score will be available for purchase on September 30th.


Sunday, September 21, 2014

Trent Reznor previews Gone Girl score

Gone Girl arrives in theaters in a couple weeks, but Nine Inch Nails frontman and Oscar-winning composer Trent Reznor has given us a preview of the score a bit early.

Gone Girl marks the third collaboration between Reznor, co-composer Atticus Ross, and director David Fincher. The duo previously won a Golden Globe and an Oscar for their score of Fincher's 2010 film, The Social Network. They also scored Fincher's 2011 adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
This score for this film sounds even creepier than the previous two and could perhaps be the best one yet. Reznor surprised everyone earlier this week by posting the song, "The Way He Looks at Me," on the Nine Inch Nails website. You can now preview the track via YouTube.





Gone Girl is an adaptation of the Gillian Flynn novel which follows an investigation surrounding the mysterious disappearance of a young husband's wife. As the investigation goes on, he becomes the focus of a media frenzy after it's suggested that he might not be innocent. It is set to open the New York Film Festival on September 26th, but it won't hit theaters until October 3rd. The film stars Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, Neil Patrick Harris, and Tyler Perry. It also marks Fincher's first film on the big screen since Dragon Tattoo back in 2011.

Thursday, September 18, 2014

Fantastic Four pushed back to late Summer

In addition to Fox announcing a Deadpool film, they made a couple more changes to their schedule. The upcoming Fantastic Four reboot has been pushed back from June 16, 2016 to August 17, 2015. It is taking the spot of Assassin's Creed which seems to have been pulled from the schedule altogether.

Many are speculating that Fox is going to test the August market after Marvel's overwhelming success with Guardians of the Galaxy. For a film that has yet to have any official marketing (seriously, not even a logo), it is somewhat curious as to what caused a delay. Is it to try and have a better box office market or is it because they needed more time? Fantastic Four stars Miles Teller, Michael B. Jordan, Jamie Bell, Kate Mara, and Toby Kebbell.
As far as Assassin's Creed goes, this is even more curious. Michael Fassbender has been attached to star and produce for quite sometime, but Fox removing it from the schedule entirely isn't a good sign. Production on this has been moving at turtle speed and with it still not moving forward when it had a release date of less than a year away was a bit odd. The project isn't officially dead at this point, but it has a big fat "TBD" as of right now.

Deadpool receives an official release date

I guess leaking test footage around Comic-Con was genius because Fox has just announced an official release date for a long-awaited Deadpool film.

Deadpool is currently set for February 12, 2016 and it is expected that Ryan Reynolds will return, but nothing is set in stone so far. Reynolds played Deadpool (aka, Wade Wilson) in the 2009 X-Men spinoff, X-Men Origins: Wolverine. The film will be directed by Tim Miller and produced by Marvel President Kevin Feige and Lauren Shuler Donner. If the February 12th release date sticks it will compete with Gods of Egypt, How to Be Single, and an untitled Universal project.
This character first appeared in print back in 1991 and has quickly become a fan favorite due to his talkative sass and impressive skill. If Reynolds does sign on to play Deadpool it will mark his first superhero appearance since the 2011 box-office bomb, Green Lantern.

This is so exciting it's ridiculous. I have been waiting for a Deadpool movie since X-Men: Origins so I am really excited. I'm not the biggest fan of Ryan Reynolds, but judging from what the leaked test footage looked like I think he would do just fine. Hopefully this is released before the announced Gambit spin-off and that it's R-rated. If it isn't R-rated I won't see it.



Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Matt Smith joins Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Dr. Who alum Matt Smith has joined the cast of the long-awaited, and long delayed, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

Smith will be playing Mr. Collins, a man who proposes to the main character Liz Bennett. The horror-comedy will feature Lily James, Jack Huston, Sam Riley, and Bella Heathcote. It is an adaptation of the novel by Seth Grahame-Smith and will be directed by Burr Steers.
The story follows Bennett as she is pressured by her family to marry, but hates the Victorian English society standards. She decides that instead of fulfilling her family's wishes, she should aid in the fight against the zombie plague.


This movie has been a disaster for quite a number of years and I'm surprised it's being made at all. Natalie Portman, despite turning down the role of Liz Bennett, has stuck on as a producer but that is about the only consistency this project has had. In addition to Portman, the main role had also been turned down by actresses such as Blake Lively, Emma Stone, Mia Wasikowska, Scarlett Johansson, and Anne Hathaway. It seemed like every actress they approached eventually said no. Lily Collins had also been officially cast before dropping out about a week after the announcement. The film also blew through 3-4 directors before landing on Burr Steers.
Panorama Media acquired the project last year and it seems that they have been able to right the ship as filming is set to begin on September 24th and they have retained the cast and director.


Paranormal Activity 5 gets a title and a new release date

We were originally supposed to get the fifth installment of Paranormal Activity back in 2014, but Paramount decided to delay the installment and release a spin-off instead. We now have an official release date for Paranormal Activity 5 as well as the new title.

We can now refer to it as Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension. Yes, they are breaking away from the numerical order and sticking it with a subtitle, which is fucking awful. Depending on if this release date will actually stick, we can expect to see this in theaters on March 13, 2015. Until now it still held an October 15, 2014 release which was obviously not going to happen. It will compete with the new Disney adaptation of Cinderella as well as the upcoming Chris Hemsworth flick, In the Heart of the Sea.

Paranormal Activity has pretty much been in limbo since the ridiculously dreadful, FaceTime and Kinect product placement model otherwise known as Paranormal Activity 4 back in 2012. The movie was the least liked by viewers and critics and also happened to make the least amount of money at the box office. We were supposed to get a fifth one in 2013 and it didn't happen. Instead, we received Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones back in January and the reception has seemed to kickstart the franchise back up a notch. I suppose instead of making people wait almost two years in between films, they decided to test the off-season horror market and put PA5 in the spring.


Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Tom Hiddleston confirmed for Skull Island

We were teased on an upcoming adaptation of Skull Island this past July at SDCC, and now it seems that Tom Hiddleston has been cast as the film's lead. In addition to Hiddleston's casting, we learned that Jordan Vogt-Roberts has been hired to direct.
There is no other word on exactly what role Hiddleston will be playing, but we do know it will be mostly on the island itself and that Godzilla writer, Max Borenstein, is writing the screenplay. Skull Island is currently set to hit theaters on November 4, 2016.

You will most likely recognize Hiddleston from his work as Loki in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He won the respects and praise from many comic fans for his portrayal of the mischievous villain in Thor, The Avengers, and Thor: The Dark World. He was most recently seen in the indie vampire hit, Only Lovers Left Alive, and is rumored to be part of the upcoming reboot of Ben-Hur.




Monday, September 15, 2014

The Best Horror Films (2000-2014)

Next year will mark 15 years since the new millennium and since then we have seen a lot of horror movies. Some were good while most were bad, but here is a list of ones that I personally found to be some of the good. This list was very difficult to order but I tried to do my best.

In this list we will see domestic and foreign, gory and psychological, reboots, and more. Let's get started!

First on the list, we will start with some honorable mentions. These aren't necessarily good enough to make my personal list, but they are still movies that I enjoyed to a point.

House of 1000 Corpses (2003)
Final Destination (2000)
Hostel (2005)
All the Boys Love Mandy Lane (2006)
Train (2008)
Paranormal Activity 3 (2011)
Cloverfield (2008)
Dreamcatcher (2003)
30 Days of Night (2007)
I Spit on Your Grave (2010)
Shutter Island (2010)


Let's get onto the list!


45. Halloween (2007)

44. The Mist (2007)

43. Mother's Day (2010)

42. Jeepers Creepers (2001)

41. Grave Encounters (2011)

40. Teeth (2007)

39. The Ruins (2008)

38. Cabin Fever (2002)

37. Underworld (2003)

36. [REC]2 (2009)

35. The Others (2001)

34. The Devil's Rejects (2005)

33. Quarantine (2008)

32. [REC] (2007)

31. Maniac (2012)

30. Slither (2006)

29. The Crazies (2010)

28. The Haunting in Connecticut (2009)

27. The Strangers (2008)

26. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)

25. You're Next (2011)

24. The Ring (2004)

23. The Descent (2005)

22. Excision (2012)

21. Orphan (2009)

20. The Loved Ones (2009)

19. High Tension (2005)

18. Deadgirl (2008)

17. Evil Dead (2013)

16. American Mary (2012)

15. 28 Days Later (2002)

14. Shaun of the Dead (2004)

13. Zombieland (2009)

12. The Cabin in the Woods (2012)

11. Let the Right One In (2008)

10. Let Me In (2010)

09.  Trick 'r Treat (2010)

08. Drag Me to Hell (2009)

07.  American Psycho (2000)

06. Insidious (2009)

05. Saw III (2006)

04. Saw II (2005)

03. Saw (2004)

02. Martyrs (2008)

01. The Conjuring (2013)





Agree with the list? Have anything you would add?

New trailer for Mockingjay - Part 1

I think after this trailer I'm done, but we shall see.


Monday, September 8, 2014

Iron Man 4 not planned as of right now

Since Iron Man 3 disappointed a majority audiences, many have been looking forward to a fourth Iron Man film to redeem the character. However, according to Robert Downey Jr., a fourth Iron Man is not currently planned and it's not on Marvel's priority list.

The theory as of right now is that Guardians of the Galaxy has changed a lot of Marvel's priorities. James Gunn's film was a much bigger hit than anyone expected and it's currently on track to hit $300 million worldwide and has already won the title of the biggest hit of 2014. The first round of Marvel characters we were introduced to is drawing to a close as newer, more exciting characters are moving in.
Previously, it seemed that Marvel was riding the wave of Iron Man and the popularity of Robert Downey Jr. but now that it's been proven that other characters and actors can bring just as much, if not more, to the table. Not to mention the newer additions don't carry the price tag that Downey does so they make more profit at the end of the day.

This doesn't necessarily mean there will never be an Iron Man 4, but it isn't looking very good at the moment. There are currently 11 open slots in the Marvel schedule until 2019 so there is still a chance Stark will venture out on his own.
I wasn't the biggest fan of Iron Man 3, but in the end it did lend a pretty good wrap for Tony Stark. However, we need to bear in mind that he will return in The Avengers: Age of Ultron in May, so the wrap-up they gave him will most likely be ruined.




Thursday, September 4, 2014

New poster for Mockingjay - Part 1

I like this one a lot more than the previous one. It's much better than the Catching Fire posters, too.


Joan Rivers passes away at age 81

After being in a coma for days, legendary comedian Joan Rivers has passed away at the age of 81. Rivers suffered cardiac arrest during an outpatient procedure on her vocal chords and had been unconscious since. Health officials were in the process of bringing her out of a medically induced coma, but Rivers remained on life support.

Rivers had broke onto the scene as a guest host for The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and was also a fashion icon for red carpet shows with her daughter, Melissa, and hosted the show Fashion Police. She has been mocking her own life as well as everyone else for the past five decades and was incredibly funny. Hopefully she and Robin Williams are making people laugh wherever they are.