Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Cruise Approached ( as Clooney exits) to Lead 'Man From U.N.C.L.E.'

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol - 2011

Tom Cruise is set to spearhead a second big-screen take on a long-running 60s spy TV drama. The Mission: Impossible star is in talks to appear in a film based on The Man from UNCLE for director Guy Ritchie, according to Deadline.
Warner Bros has been developing a movie based on the cult espionage show since the 90s and Ritchie replaces Steven Soderbergh in the director's chair. The Ocean's Eleven film-maker had proposed a version with George Clooney in the lead, but Clooney later left the project, citing unwillingness to take on an action role because he was having surgery to his neck and back.

Cruise would be taking on a third action franchise, with Mission: Impossible certain to get a fifth outing in the wake of Brad Bird-directedGhost Protocol's $694m (£459m) box-office haul last year and his recentJack Reacher film (a hearty $215m worldwide on a $60m budget) also set for a follow up. The actor will be seen next on the big screen in sci-fi outings Oblivion, for Tron's Joseph Kosinski, and All You Need Is Kill, forThe Bourne Identity's Doug Liman.
The original Man from UNCLE TV show, which aired from 1964 to 1968, saw Robert Vaughn and David McCallum as members of the United Network Command for Law and Enforcement, the former playing American spy Napoleon Solo and the latter a Russian agent called Illya Kuryakin. It was one of a number of espionage shows that flourished after the success of the early James Bond films, and 007 creator Ian Fleming was among those involved in its conception.
The show joins other 60s spy series that have made it to the big screen, including Mission Impossible, Get Smart and The Avengers. Of these, only the first has proved to have any legs in multiplexes.
Ritchie is currently hot property in Hollywood after successfully directing two blockbuster action-oriented Sherlock Holmes films starring Robert Downey Jr as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's ingenious sleuth. He was recentlyreported to be the bookie's favourite to take on the next Bond film after fellow Briton Sam Mendes confirmed he will not return for a follow-up to the $1bn-grossing Skyfall.

Saturday, March 9, 2013

SOMEONE SAW 'MAN OF STEEL' AND REALLY ENJOYED IT

 
 
It's been over three decades since a Superman movie properly connected with moviegoers and the culture at large.  As such, this summer's Man of Steel is a bit of question mark.
But someone inside Warner Bros. has reportedly seen the reboot, after which they took some hyperbole pills and offered some insight on Zack Snyder's retelling of the Superman origin story.
With the notable exception of Batman, Warner Bros. has found it pretty much impossible to make big movies out of its stable of DC Comics heroes.  For its second crack at Supes in the last decade, the studio enlisted The Dark Knight director Christopher Nolan, who crafted the Man of Steel story with his Batman Begins co-writer David S. Goyer.
The studio has a lot riding on the film, which stars Henry Cavill as Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster's durable creation.  Warner Bros. is waiting on Man of Steel's commercial reception to pull the trigger on Justice League and, one imagines, any number of DC movies.  But according to an unnamed scooper who has the total trust of JoBlo, there's nothing to worry about.  This source claims to have seen Man of Steel at a studio screening and shares these thoughts:
- Imagine a Nolan story with Snyder effects/action.
- It’s the best movie of the year.
- There’s TONS of action with Superman kicking all kinds of ass in his suit.
- The cape is CG’d most of the time so it can look awesome.
- They have intentionally left out most of the the Super action in trailers to save it.
- It’s not nearly as dour and serious as the trailers suggest.
- The movie is complete, minus the 3D post-conversion, which is currently taking place
Our hyperbole-meter goes off when someone purporting to be a part of the WB enthuses that a movie is the best of the year only two months into the year, but it really rings at the sentence "The cape is CG'ed most of the time so it can look awesome," which simply makes no logical sense to us.  The idea that Man of Steel isn't as humorless as a modern Batman adventure is promising, since Supes is a more hopeful, aspirational figure, one of whose sci-fi world leaves more room for fun.
Still, this undoubtedly assuages the fears of some folks anticipating a desecration of Superman's mythology or a repeat of Superman Returns, Bryan Singer's overly reverent 2006 sequel, which had too much lugubriousness and too little super-action for most audiences.
Polish up your Rogue 3D Eyewear, because Man of Steel is set to arrive in 2D, 3D, and IMAX 3D on June 14th, and if this report is to be believed, it's worth looking forward to.