The Girl Who Played with Fire is likely not happening

It's been rumored that a sequel for the American adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo would be hitting for quite sometime now, but issues with Sony and director David Fincher stalled the project indefinitely. There's now more hints from actress Rooney Mara that any potential sequels are dead.

Mara told E! Online that she was sad that it doesn't seem to be in the cards, but it doesn't look likely at all. The film didn't hit as well at the box office as Sony would have wanted to begin with, but interest in an American version of the Millennium trilogy seemed to fizzle very quickly. David Fincher decided to move on and the studio was unwilling to pay Daniel Craig's post-Skyfall salary. At one point there were even rumors that The Girl Who Played with Fire would omit Craig's character entirely.
I personally loved Fincher's version and I really liked the books, but the source material wasn't that great. They managed to make great films out of the books in Sweden with Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salander. I just don't think Americans were quite prepared for a dark trilogy like this. It's a shame but it is what it is.

Bond 24 officially titled Spectre

We now have an official title for the upcoming "Bond 24" film that is set for November 2015. Bond 24 has received the official title, Spectre. Along with the announcement there was also the first teaser poster that came with a small hint of its own.

The title is short for SPecial Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge, and Extortion and it is notoriously led by Ernest Blofeld.  
Spectre will have Daniel Craig returning as 007 and recently announced that Oscar-winner Christoph Waltz had joined the cast, too. It was previously thought that Waltz would be playing Blofeld, but the press conference suggested differently.

In addition to the teaser poster we got a glimpse at the new Bond car, an Aston Martin DB10.

Lea Seydoux sought after for Bond 24

Sam Mendes has apparently chosen his own personal Bond girl and that girl is Lea Seydoux. If you saw Blue is the Warmest Color you would recognize her as she played a free-spirited young lesbian named Emma.

Bond 24 has hit a couple speedbumps as of late. The most recent being a massive script re-write by Bond veterans Neal Purvis and Robert Wade. It seems that the re-write did the trick as casting is now starting to move forward. Director Sam Mendes expressed his desire to cast Seydoux in the role of a young agent. There is no telling whether she would be a villain or an ally, but she would definitely be interesting casting. Seeing that Naomie Harris is returning as Miss Moneypenny I wasn't so sure we were going to have a typical "Bond girl" for Bond 24.

Bond 24 production delayed

Shooting of Bond 24 was scheduled to begin in October so it could meet the November 5, 2015 release date, but the project has now received a delay until December. The studio is citing extensive rewrites to the script as the reason for the setback.

Writers Neal Purvis and Robert Wade left the world of 007 after Skyfall and handed the reigns over to John Logan to write the script for Bond 24. It seems as though that was a mistake as Purvis and Wade have been brought back in to rewrite the script for to give it more "punch." Apparently this includes amping up the relationship between Bond and Miss Moneypenny (aka, Naomi Harris), placing in more gags, and a more involved interaction between Bond and Ralph Fienne's version of M. The pair previously worked on The World is Not Enough, Die Another Day, Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace, and Skyfall.

I wouldn't let this worry anyone. Skyfall was 100% awesome and it ended on a very high note. Not to mention Sam Mendes is returning to direct Bond 24. Even if the release date receives a slight delay I don't think this is a bad thing at all.

Sam Mendes to direct Bond 24

Despite previously announcing that he would not be directing Bond 24, Sam Mendes has officially closed the deal with Sony to direct the upcoming James Bond movie. Mendes previously directed Skyfall and did a pretty good job with it.

Along with this news, Bond 24 will now join the extremely large list of blockbusters to be released in 2015. The film will be released in the UK on October 23, 2015 and in the US on November 6, 2015. That puts it on the same weekend as Ant-Man and the untitled Peanuts movie. With that said, I wouldn't be surprised to see Ant-Man's release date moved so it doesn't have a major movie to compete with at the box office. That is unless Marvel doesn't have that high of expectations for Ant-Man at the box office.

Bond 24 will have Daniel Craig returning as 007.

Penelope Cruz cast in Bond 24

Say hello to your new Bond girl.

Penelope Cruz has been cast in Bond 24 and will be the best girl to accommodate 007. She also will be the oldest actress to play in a James Bond movie as she will soon be turning 40. Just a random fact.

Bond 24 is set to begin filming next summer for an unannounced release.

Daniel Craig may be cut from Girl Who Played with Fire

It appears that Sony's disappointment with David Fincher's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is starting to set in.

Rumor has it that if a second film is even released (aka, The Girl Who Played with Fire) one key character may be written out. That character being Mikael Blomkvist who was played by Daniel Craig. Seeing that the second installment of the Millennium trilogy doesn't have a whole lot to do with Blomkvist and more to do with Lisbeth Salander this could potentially work. However, it seems that Sony may want to dump Craig entirely because his post-Skyfall pay demand has become too high for them. Sony is attempting to save some money by potentially not bringing Craig back due to the fact that the first film was a box office disappointment and they just plain don't want to pay to bring him back.
However, the other reason for this may be due to the fee writer Steve Zaillan is charging to write the script for The Girl Who Played with Fire. If you add in potential re-writes if they cut out Blomkqvist that will tack on additional money for Zaillan which could go higher than the pay increase Craig is now demanding. It sounds to me that each way Sony is screwed.

But, of course, Daniel Craig's representative is denying the salary demand and claims they have not even entered negotiations for a second film. There also is question as to if David Fincher will even return. The Girl Who Played with Fire is kinda going out on a loop right now, I think.

Skyfall - Review

Skyfall is the newest film in the long standing James Bond saga. In this installment, James Bond is declared "killed in action," but comes out of seclusion to overcome both injuries and age as he fights to defeat a former agent's plot to destroy the MI6.


I will admit that I wasn't too excited for Skyfall at first. I remember writing an entry when the first trailer was released and when the first images surfaced and I was overall in a "meh" mood. I figured it would be more concrete wall acting from Daniel Craig with very little substance. I am happy to say that I was proven wrong. Skyfall was not only a great James Bond installment but it was a great movie in general. Out of the Bond films we have had with Daniel Craig I would easily list this as #1. He finally nailed James Bond.

As far as the acting goes, aside from Craig, I think Javier Bardem should win an Oscar for this performance. This man has such a great overall character of himself and the way he portrays these villains is just remarkable. I was in awe the whole time he was on screen. If he isn't at least nominated for this role it is just more proof that our movie industry is shit.

I also have to compliment the score. The score in itself was great and the placement of the recognizable Bond theme was very well placed in various parts of the film. I also tip my hat to Adele's theme song. The song fit perfectly and Adele made it even better. I hope she receives an Oscar for it as well. It's well deserved. By far the best Bond theme I have heard in a while.

Now I do have one bug about Skyfall but it does contain minor spoilers, so if you have not seen Skyfall I would restrain from clicking the jump. If you have seen it then click away.

Daniel Craig to return for more Bond films

It has been confirmed that Daniel Craig will return to reprise the role of James Bond for at least two more films following Skyfall. Including Skyfall he has appeared as Bond in three films total with Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace also under his 007 belt.

I personally am not happy about this because I think Daniel Craig is a lousy Bond, but whatever. He is popular an it's more about money than quality these days.

Skyfall official teaser trailer released

Is it just me or does the trailer not even feel like a James Bond movie?

Stieg Larsson apparently would be pissed at Dragon Tattoo marketing

http://insidemovies.ew.com/2011/12/20/girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo-marketing/

Makes sense, tbh. Seeing that I know the trilogy (books and movies) I think a lot of marketing in terms of actual merchandise is pretty dumb. Given what happened to Lisbeth I don't see why anyone would necessarily want to become her.
I think the buzz of the movie should be used to raise awareness for violence and discrimination towards women. Whether we like it or not it is prevalent and stuff that happens in the books does happen in real life. People want to ignore that.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

This movie was fantastic. I don't really know what else to say.

I was nervous and confused about Rooney Mara ever since I heard she had been cast and let me tell you, she was incredible. With the kinds of things she had to do in this film she really shined through it. I loved it because Mara was a little closer to the Lisbeth I got from the descriptions in the book. Noomi Rapace did great as well but I always perceived her as more passive and not as cold.

Daniel Craig gave Blomqvist an interesting contrast. He was serious and felt broken but at the heart of the character he was quite... nerdy? Him politely saying "goodbye" to Lisbeth's house guest was hilarious. His reaction to being shot at was a little quirky as well. It was a nice surprise. Although, I must say, Craig's accent annoyed the hell out of me. It went from being Swedish to an odd mixture of British and Swedish to flat out British at random. Very irritating. In comparison to Mara's flawless dialect it was real noticeable.

But overall I truly loved this film. It was, for me, closer to the book than the Swedish film was and certain parts were more intense. However, there was one major omission; Mikael didn't serve any jail time whatsoever. In the book he went to jail in the middle of his research and even in the Swedish version he went to jail. That disappointed me. I also felt like the actual research Mikael and Lisbeth did on Harriet wasn't as thorough as it should have been. Most of it felt a little rushed.

The musical score was incredible. I thought what Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross did for The Social Network was good, but what they have done for TGWTDT is even better. I also loved the subtle Nine Inch Nails tribute in the movie. I'll wait and see if anyone else catches it.

9.5/10
Best movie I have seen in 2011. Hands down.

6 track sampler for The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

http://www.nullco.com/GDT/usd.php

Go and get the free sampler now. The full score is available for pre-order as well. I'm not going to pre-order. I'll just go ahead and buy it when it is available like I did with The Social Network's score.

These two make amazing music. I can imagine the film and I haven't even seen it yet. I love it.