Daniel Craig may be shooting James Bond 23 in South Africa

This has been the first post in a while so for those of you who have been waiting patiently…

Ever since the rumoured demise of MGM there were many films that were tied up in the administration process. The biggest looming problems were The Hobbit and the indefinite suspension of the Bond films.

It warms the heart then that director Sam Mendes and producer Barbara Broccoli are currently visiting South Africa to scout locations for the upcoming James Bond 23.

Former cricket player Darren Gough sat next to both Mendes and Broccoli on a flight to Johannesburg earlier today, where they told him they were, in fact, scouting locations.

It isn’t known which part of the country the director and producer plan to visit, although the trip could lead to a 007 first: James Bond has never had an adventure in Africa, though villains Wint and Kidd from 1971′s Diamonds Are Forever did have scenes in the country.

Producers were planning to shoot part of the 2006 Bond adventure Casino Royale  in South Africa, but those plans never came to fruition.

James Bond 23 will start production in November.

James Bond 23 comes to theaters November 9th, 2012 and stars Daniel Craig, Judi Dench. The film is directed by Sam Mendes.

Source MOVIEWEB

The filmmakers behind this summer’s hit movie discuss the upcoming sequel to the popular re-imagined franchise

One of the most popular films of this past year was the re-imagining of Star Trek, so naturally fans can’t wait for the inevitable sequel to the film. The movie saw the re-telling (in an alternate time-line) of the early days of the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise so now that the stage has been set fans can’t wait to see where the filmmakers take the series next. Director J.J. Abrams and writers Roberto Orci and Alec Kurtzman appeared at an event in Santa Monica yesterday to speak about the upcoming DVD and Blue Ray versions of the film and answered some questions about the upcoming sequel.

Abrams began by discussing the upcoming project, which is just in the early stages of brainstorming right now according to the writers. The director was asked if he thought the next film would incorporate more of the mythology of the original series or if the script would be an original story? “Going forward the fun of this movie series is that we will have opportunity given its kind of alternate time-line to cross paths with any of the experience, places and characters that existed in the original series,” answered Abrams. “We’ve got to be very careful obviously doing that,” he continued. “I don’t want to do something that is so inside that only die-hard fans will appreciate but I guarantee you what ever the story, we’re just now working on the script and beginning the process of story-breaking, but what ever the final movie ends up being, I know that the intent is that it will work on it’s own terms and not be something that you need to know and study “Star Trek” to get but if you are a fan there will be, hopefully gift after gift of connections, references to characters and things that you hopefully as a fan hold near and dear.”

The director went on to discuss his hopes for the sequel and his hope for adapting some of the allegories that the original show was so famous for. “With Star Trek it’s not like we’re looking to make the second movie some kind of heavy political allegory. I think that it’s important that there is a metaphor to what we know and there is relevance. I think allegory is the thing that made show’s like “The Twilight Zone” and “Star Trek” resonate and still vital today. But because the first movie was so much about introducing these people and is very much sort of a premise movie, which is, how do you bring these people together? It made it difficult to also have the film go as deep as it could about certain conflicts, about certain relationships, about the heart of who some of these characters are. I think it was successful in what it needed to do, to introduce these people but I feel that now that we’ve done that, and yes there is still going to be getting to know each other I’m sure in some degree, but I think that it is the job of the next film to go a little bit deeper, not to be any less fun, not to take it self too seriously but to consider now who these people are and to sort of grow with them and just examine them maybe a little bit more closely now that we’ve gotten through the pleasantries and introductions.”

Roberto Orci added to that by saying, “Now that we’ve established the characters we can have a more philosophical allegory where what’s happening in the future represents our world like the best versions of it in the ’60s did, representing Women’s rights, racial equality and progressive issues.” When asked how much time will elapse between the two films, Orci said, “We’re actually debating that.” “We don’t have an answer yet,” replied his Krutzman.

Orci and Krutzman went on to discuss rumors that they were writing a second and third sequel at the same time. “You know I think we tend to look at this and I think it’s very important to us that each movie is good,” said Krutzman. “Not, hey lets do as many as possible but lets make sure that they’re good. I think we feel like we’ve inherited this incredible honor and this mantel of Star Trek and the most important thing is to make sure that we’re protecting that first. So if the studio wants more than one, great but our thinking is going to be very much about the story, whether it prescribes that they’ll be more than one. Part of what’s great about Star Trek is it is a continuing adventure so you naturally think that there will be many, hopefully but we only focus on what comes next and then build off of that. So right now we’re not thinking specifically about making 2 and 3. It may come up but it’s not where are heads are right now,” he continued.

The writers were also asked if there were elements from the later Star Trek TV series that they had thought about incorporating into the films. “I think we think about it just because we do love “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” but I think our instinct would be to first look at the original series before we considered that,” said Orci. “But all that is on the table for us,” he continued. The writers were then asked if they had given any thought to the inclusion of Khan in future films? “I think where we’re starting is where our characters are now and what are interesting complications that we can put in their lives,” said Krutzman. “What feels like an organic emotional place for them to get to or how do we want to test them? Then you look at everything. You look at everything and start asking who would be the best foe? But the short answer is that we haven’t landed on anybody yet.”

Orci continued, “There’s a mental exercise that we play with. In fact we even at one point had a conversation I recall about the first movie that it could have ended on … and then the Botany Bay floats by. So you can’t be fans of this and not sit around at night and go, what if we … so we’ve gone through probably whatever you’ve gone through in your mind.”

Abrams was asked about a comment that Leonard Nimoy recently made about the Star Trek franchise no longer needing him. “I can say that I can’t imagine a Star Trek movie not needing him,” answered the director. “I’m sure what he is saying is a combination of modesty and honesty. He may actually feel that way but the truth is we could never have made this movie with out him and working with him again would be a joy. It is clearly to early now given that we are just talking story to conclude whether or not Spock Prime is in the film or not. But do I want to work with him again? Of course, one hundred percent, I’d love to.”

Abrams also talked about the possibility of incorporating William Shatner back into the series. “In terms of moving forward, I’m open to anything,” he said. “I would love to figure out something that given the challenge of introducing these new characters, given the burden of having to cast these people. I feel like the first movie did some of the heavy lifting that needed to be done in order to free us to continue going forward. Maybe there is less of a burden and there is going to be more opportunity to work with him. I would love to work with him. We speak; we actually have a lunch date planned. I’m a fan, I’m a friend of his or he’s at least a friend of mine. He may say otherwise on his blog today, I have no idea. But I really couldn’t like him more and would love to work with him.”

Finally, Abrams was asked if he has considered shooting Star Trek 2 in 3D. “It’s funny, Paramount talked to me about doing the first one in 3D and having it only be my second film I was petrified,” the director said. “I thought it would be another dimension of pain-in-the-ass. I just wanted to make a descent 2D movie. I was so worried that rather than being a descent 2D movie it would be a bad 3D one so I’m open to looking at it because now I feel a little bit more comfortable. If I in fact direct the sequel of our Star Trek film 3D could be really fun. So I’m open to it. What I’ve seen of Avatar makes me want to do it because it’s so crazy cool looking.”

Fans attending the Comic-Con convention watch a preview of James Cameron's Avatar 3-D movie. Photo: Reuters

Five months from its release, James Cameron’s Avatar, the first feature film he has directed since Titanic in 1997, promises to take 3-D cinematography to an unrivaled level, using a more nimble 3-D camera system that he helped invent.

Cameron’s heavily hyped return also marks Hollywood’s biggest bet yet that 3-D can bolster box office returns. News Corp’s 20th Century Fox has budgeted $US237 million for the production alone of Avatar.

The movie uses digital 3-D technology, which requires audience members to wear polarized glasses. It is a vast improvement on the sometimes headache-inducing techniques that relied on cardboard cutout glasses with red and green lenses and rose and fell in popularity in the 1950s.

Avatar also raises the bar on “performance capture” technology, which creates computerised images from real human action. The movie depicts an ex-soldier’s interactions with 3-metre-tall aliens on the luminous planet of Pandora, where the lithe, blue, indigenous Navi people inhabit a lush and wondrous place dense with green forests, fluorescent pink flowers, bizarre hammerhead dinosaurs and flying dragons.

Sam Worthington plays Jake Sully, a soldier on duty there, and Zoe Saldana plays Neytiri, the Navi princess who befriends him.

“I’m speechless,” said Nahum Villalobos, a 19-year-old Navy recruit from California, who watched 25 minutes of exclusive footage of “Avatar” along with 6500 people at the Comic-Con convention in San Diego on Thursday. “It’s more extraordinary than any other movie that is out there, or has been.”

The $US237 million production is not as expensive as some 2-D fare such as Spider-Man 3 (2007), which was made for $US258 million. But it blows away Monsters vs. Aliens (2009), a 3-D animation movie made for $US175 million.

Then again, Cameron’s last film grossed $US1.84 billion worldwide. Titanic is the highest grossing film ever.

James Cameron originally wrote Avatar as a way to challenge the special-effects firm Digital Domain, where he served as chief executive.

But it took technology 14 years to catch up with his vision of a faraway planet populated by otherwordly plants and animals where humans embody avatars just to brave the landscape.

“In the same way that I wrote Terminator just to get a directing gig, I decided to write a story that was full of creatures and characters that would push the art of CG for that company,” he said. But after artists there said it couldn’t be done, Cameron shelved the idea.

Ten years later, when he realised technology had caught up with his cinematic visions, he dusted off the concept and helped develop technology to make it work.

In some of the Avatar footage released at Comic-Con, humans filmed with his 3-D camera rig are mixed with the computer-generated images of the movie’s avatars – beings created with mixed human and alien DNA.

Cameron said he wanted to have the filmmaking techniques fade into the background as the story took over.

“The ideal movie technology is so advanced that it waves a magic wand and makes itself disappear,” he said.

“The technology could be made (for it) to happen, but also (it) was just wanting to do something, I don’t want to say important,” Cameron told fans. “But something that has this spoonful of sugar of all the action and the adventure and all that, which thrills me anyway as a fan, but also wanting to do something that has a conscience, that maybe in the enjoying of it makes you think a little bit about the way you interact with nature and your fellow man.”

James Cameron and Sam Worthington

Source:SMH

The animated “Avatar” is set on a distant, lush planet called Pandora, a super-saturated world filled with 1,000-foot trees, exotic, near fluorescent forests, fearsome predators and an indigenous people known as the Na’vi — tall, blue humanoids who are peaceful until provoked. The story revolves around the war between the Na’vi and the human military invading their world.

To make the film, Cameron used a new technology that enabled him to superimpose the computer-generated creatures onto his live actors while shooting. He said he wrote the project 14 years ago specifically to push the art of digital 3-D animation.

The audience, many of whom camped alongside “Twilight” fans for the privilege, were treated to a sequence of scenes condensing the tale: Jake Sully is a paralyzed Marine who volunteers to become an Avatar — a genetically engineered human/Na’vi hybrid. He suffers several brushes with dinosaur-types, a violent flirtation with a Na’vi princess, and an even more violent Na’vi rite of initiation.

Cameron will get to test-run the film on an even bigger crowd on Aug. 21, which he’s declared “Avatar Day.” The filmmaker announced he’ll be taking over IMAX and 3-D theaters around the world to screen 15 minutes of the film for moviegoers for free.

Knowing

Although critically drubbed (Knowing received a rating of 32% on Rottentomatoes.com) the film has been written by Ryne Pearson who is a published novelist with five books (soon to be six) in print, one of which was the source novel for the 1998 Bruce Willis film Mercury Rising.

Father of two sons and a devout Catholic who has two priests that are uncles, Ryne’s worldview of faith comes through in his latest screenplay for the Nicolas Cage film Knowing.

Pearson notes that the film leaves a lot of things open to interpretation and that some of his ideas were lifted from the script.

Feel free to offer your own take on the movie in the comments below.

Does this film use biblical imagery in a positive way?

Does it stray too far from the biblical purpose for this imagery?

If you lived in the world of this movie, would the events depicted here support or undermine a biblical worldview?

Do the film’s departures from the Bible illuminate any aspect of the Bible that you hadn’t really thought about before?

Would the film provoke talk amongst non-Christians about the end of the world?

Click here to read the full interview at Christians in Cinema.

There are some small spoilers in this interview, so if you have not seen the film and intend to, be warned.

Paramount has been trying to relaunch the character ever since, with all stories indicating that they were going for a Batman/Bond-style reboot with a younger actor taking on the role of the noble CIA analyst.

George Clooney is said to have declared an interest in taking on the role previously played by Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford and Ben Affleck, and it’s a fit so perfect we can’t imagine why Paramount hasn’t snapped his hand off and started work on a new Ryan movie immediately.

After all, at 50, Clooney is about the right age to play Ryan, if any new movie is geared to take place after Clear & Present Danger, and he’s got the right mixture of physicality, political acumen, intelligence and heart-on-his-sleeve emotion to play the character. He’s also a looker, which is a plus.

Several Clancy novels remain unfilmed – including Executive Orders, where Ryan becomes President of the United States following a hideous terrorist attack that wipes out virtually the entire government – but if Paramount went down that route, they’d have to seriously update the stories to reflect the ever-changing political landscape.

Sounds ripe for a re-boot…

Source: Empire Online

Just not sure how they will revive the King but in a recent interview with MTV, producer Mark Canton implied that the king might return for the inevitable 300 sequel.

“[The key to the sequel] is about getting it right, you know. [Writer Frank Miller] is a perfectionist, and so is [Director Zack Snyder],” said Canton. “And I think they set the bar pretty high.”

As for King Leonidas? Canton added:

“Never assume anything; never assume anything. It’ll be what it’ll be. But if we really do it, in this case, we have a visionary creator and a visionary filmmaker.”

No word yet whether Gerard Butler wants to don the cape and loin cloth, best rest assured its going to be another violent offering from Zack Snyder whose last film was Watchmen.

I'll be back!

Source: Reel Movie News

Sara and Brian are living an idyllic life with their young son and daughter, Jesse and Kate, when they receive heartbreaking news that leads them to make an unorthodox choice in order to save Kate’s life. Their decision eventually raises both ethical and moral questions challenging everyone’s perceptions of love and loyalty, giving new meaning to the definition of healing.

• Click here to download the ChristianityToday discussion guide.
• Click here to dowload the Truly Moving Pictures discussion guide.

Hangin in there!

The first weekend estimates at the US box office show a dead heat for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs over the Fourth of July holiday, with both taking a whopping $42.5 million.

The final numbers will be in later today, but for the moment it looks like Transformers, despite a 61% drop on its ma-hooo-sive opening weekend, and Ice Age 3, despite taking less than its predecessor The Meltdown, have finished neck-and-neck.

Behind them was Michael Mann’s Public Enemies, with $26.2 million and $41 million in its first five days of release (it came out last Wednesday), followed by The Proposal and The Hangover, both of which saw drops of less than 40% on last weekend. The Hangover also sailed past the $200m mark, making it a huge comedy success.

Up went down more precipitously, after Dawn of the Dinosaurs moved in on many of its 3D screens, but still overtook The Incredibles to become the second highest-grossing Pixar movie with $264.9m.

Elsewhere, Star Trek was left a Romulan nose-hair’s breadth away from $250m, but that still leaves it behind Transformers’ astonishing $293.5m in just two weeks. Whatever deal Michael Bay made with the devil seems to be paying off.

Source: Empire Online