Uncharted: The Movie!

This is one of those days where I'm happy to be a movie geek. One of my favorite video games of all time is being turned into a movie - I'm speaking, of course, about Uncharted: Drake's Fortune.

The game is so awesome - I can't recommend it highly enough. Nathan Drake, descendant of Sir Francis Drake and treasure hunter extraordinaire, goes on a quest for El Dorado along with a stubborn hottie (obvs) filming a documentary. When rival treasure hunters get involved, it turns into an all-out dash for the treasure.

It's almost as if it were made to be adapted; the game was so cinematic that if they transcribed the script and added a few scenes here and there it would be perfect. If Nathan Fillion (Serenity, "Firefly") becomes attached to star, this could go down as my most anticipated film since The Expendables. PLEASE - somebody out there with some Hollywood casting power - make this happen. This has a legit shot at becoming the first great video game movie adaptation.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves drops for PS3 in November of 2009.

Ryan Reynolds is Buried

Nice beard, bro. Russell Crowe would be ashamed.

Now this sounds like an awesome project. Sarcastic man's man (and newlywed husband of Scarlett Johansson) Ryan Reynolds has signed on for a film called Buried for Spanish director Rodrigo Cortes.

Reynolds' character is a civilian contractor who is captured in Iraq and wakes up buried in a coffin in the middle of the desert. As if that isn't enough, the only items he has on him are a candle, a knife, and a cell phone. The movie will be shot entirely in Spain.

Michael Bay Leaves Transformers?

Hot on the heels of the ridic technical stats from T2: Revenge of the Fallen, Michael Bay is making headlines again. In semi-shocking news, Bay told wenn.com (via IMDB) that Transformers 2 will be his last directorial entry into the series.

Speculation arose a while back about Bay's future film intentions, but I don't know if anyone actually saw this coming. True, I suppose the exiting of writers Kurtzman and Orci from the franchise (they said they won't be writing the third film, if there is one) could have been a sign of things to come from the boom-happy director, but I honestly thought he'd stick around for one more and top off the trilogy. But he was pretty clear about his stance:

"After three and a half years of making these movies, I feel like I've had enough of the Transformers world. I need to do something totally divergent, something without any explosions."

I'm not sure how reliable this source is, but I would imagine that they wouldn't just conjure up a quote out of thin air, so I guess we can take this as truth until proven otherwise. Slashfilm suggested that Bay's small project with no explosions would be Pain & Gain, based on a couple of Miami bodybuilders who get involved in a drug deal gone bad.

I guess it would be wrong of us as an audience to demand that Bay make the same type of film over and over again, refusing to allow him to stretch his creative wings. But at the same time, that type of movie is what he's great at doing and is a proven way to make some money for the studios. It'll be interesting to see who will greenlight a Bay film that doesn't fit the profile. In my mind, this next project will be like a concept album for a singer - if it works, it'll establish some indie cred, and if it tanks, he'll go right back to the bread and butter.

UPDATE 6/19/09 - Well, it's a good thing I put a question mark in this title. Apparently the source DID conjure this quote out of thin air. Michael Bay responded today by saying he never said that and merely talked about taking a vacation. It's good to know that he appreciates his place in pop culture and isn't completely separating himself from the type of projects he's simultaneously loved and hated for.

Machete Actually Happening?

Robert Rodriguez has been getting some bad habits from his buddy Tarantino over the past few years, announcing projects and kind of bailing on them after a while. Granted, not much of that was his fault per se, but the fact remains that Sin City 2 is nowhere near being made and his remake of Barbarella has died a horrible death.

Good news, then, that Danny Trejo told Gordon and The Whale (via Slashfilm) that Rodriguez and Co. are starting production on Machete within five weeks. Machete, if you'll recall, is the ultra-awesome explotation trailer featured in 2007's Grindhouse. I'm glad we're definitely going to see this, whether it comes to theaters (not likely) or direct-to-DVD (much more likely). Trejo is fantastic in these roles, and it seems like a project where Rodriguez can have some good old fashioned fun directing it (or, to be more specific, co-directing it with his editor).

You can refresh your memory with the trailer here, although I can't verify that this link will work. I'll fix it later on tonight if it doesn't work.

DiCaprio Joins Poker Stars?

The guys who wrote Rounders, Brian Koppelman and David Levien, have sold an untitled pitch to Paramount about online casinos, and Leonardo DiCaprio and his Appian Way Productions have signed on to star and produce. Those dudes beat the "poker craze" by a good five years with Rounders, so maybe they'll be able to recapture that feeling with this new flick. They've worked on other projects since then (Walking Tall, Ocean's 13, The Girlfriend Experience, etc), so it'll be interesting to see if they just wanted to go back to the basics here.

In related news, the whole package (DiCaprio, Appian Way, Koppelman, and Levien) have teamed up for Beat the Reaper, which I mentioned back in January. To jog your memory: that one's about a former-mafia-hitman-turned-doctor who goes into witness protection, but is recognized years later by a patient who is still in the mafia. Sounds pretty clutch to me. And since we're on the DiCaprio train right now, check out the trailer for Scorsese's newest, Shutter Island (which comes out in October of this year), over at Ben's Movie Reviews.

LaBeouf Says No To Y: The Last Man

I know it's been a hot minute since I've updated this page, but this post completely defines the type of stuff that I do on this site. I post things that I find interesting and I don't bother with every insignificant update that floods the internet on a daily basis. For all of those updates, you can check out my man Head Hero's blog here. (I'm not saying that he deals ONLY with insignificant things, because he covers the good stuff, too. But the amount of coverage he provides just isn't my bag. I could care less about half of that stuff, and I know you guys don't give a crap either.)

Shia LaBeouf has turned down the role of Yorick Brown in DJ Caruso's long-in-development adaptation of Y: The Last Man. Such a shame, but Shia's got a point on this one: he says the character is too similar to Sam Witwicky from the Transformers movies.

"You take Sam and you put a monkey on his shoulder. I don't know if that's a big differential. It seems like he's the ordinary guy in an extraordinary situation again. I'm not willing to make that movie currently, and may be too old to play the role by the time it does come around."

As much as I would have loved to see Shia in this role, I guess he's right. If he has any chance of breaking out of his stereotype and not coming down with a bad case of Michael Cera syndrome, he needs to start taking some parts that are a little off the beaten path for him. Here's hoping he finds a good one soon.

Aliens Vs. The Pearsons??????

My friend Jared sent me a version the poster for this film that said "The Aliens Vs. The Pearsons" on it. I was just as confused as he was as to what the hell this movie was all about, so I checked out the trailer and this is what I found. It's a shame that the Pearson name is sullied like this.

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

Roundup 5/19

There's been an Information SuperStorm(TM) sighted in your path, so get ready for the whirlwind of destruction and movie mayhem that's about to blow you right out of your computer chair.

• In a shocking series of events, Hollywood has actually decided to greenlight some original material. [It IS based on a book, but at least it's not another mindless remake, sequel, etc.] The project is called The Minotaur Takes A Cigarette Break, and centers around the actual minotaur from Greek mythology. Apparently, he has survived Thesus's attempt on his life, and is now living in modern times working as a short order cook in a diner. He lives in a trailer park and falls for an epileptic waitress named Kelly. John Stevenson, co-director of Kung Fu Panda, will direct this as a live action movie.


• Contradicting previous reports that Stallone will appear in a Cliffhanger sequel, now the word comes that Cliffhanger is getting the reboot treatment. The producer made a comment about how "they just rebooted Star Trek, we're going to do the same to Cliffhanger." What the F is this guy smoking? There were ten Star Trek films, let alone hundreds (if not hundreds of thousands) of episodes of television devoted to the franchise; Cliffhanger has one movie. I hardly think the two can be compared. That said, I really enjoy the Stallone version for it's cinematography and intense swearing by John Lithgow, so rewatch that if you haven't seen it in a while.


• Martin Scorsese is planning a film about Frank Sinatra, approved by the heirs to Old Blue Eyes' estate. Frank's daughter Tina "trusts Scorsese implicitly" to present the truth about her dad. The guy who wrote Field of Dreams and Sneakers (also directing the latter) is writing the screenplay, (keeping in the tradition of one-word titles) called Sinatra. Johnny Depp is reportedly being considered for the role, but that claim hasn't been corroborated yet. I'm guessing it'll be a little while before we hear anything else about this project - Scorsese's a busy guy post-Oscar - but if they fast track this thing, we should be hearing some more confirmation regarding casting in the next couple months. And to those Sinatra enthusiasts out there, fear not - apparently the role won't require any singing.


• A while back, Disney had a bevy of announcements regarding their upcoming film projects. Updates included Johnny Depp as Tonto in the Lone Ranger, confirmation of National Treasure 3 and Pirates 4, and more. One of those updates now gets a little more light shed on it - the Mouse House will make a live action film based on the Tomorrowland ride, trying to capitalize on the success of the first Pirates of the Carribbean. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson has been pegged to star, playing a test pilot named Rip who gets thrown 350 years into the future while testing a concept plane. It's being written by the same guys who wrote The Hangover, the upcoming flick that could end up being my favorite comedy of the summer, so I have a little faith in this. It's gotta be better than Race to Witch Mountain, right?


• In "Why God, Why?" news, Peter Berg (The Kingdom, Hancock) is directing a Battleship movie, based on the classic board game. Robert "Twilight" Pattinson is rumored to be a part of the project. Humanity collectively weeps.


• In Marvel film news, Kenneth Branagh's Thor is finally getting some casting under way. Chris Helmsworth (George Kirk from J.J. Abrams' Star Trek) will play the hammer-wielding hero, and British actor Tom Hiddleston will play his conniving brother Loki. The movie is scheduled for release in 2011. What happened to Josh Hartnett as Loki? Who the hell is Tom Hiddleston? And is Natalie Portman still being considered for the love interest? All this and more in future episodes here at Ben's Daily Movie News!


• Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes has a trailer. I'm sure action adventure fans will be pleased, as it features many slow-mo punches, explosions, jumping through windows, etc. I don't know about how quality it will be overall, but it looks kinda fun. We'll find out on Christmas Day.

Keanu Reeves in...Jekyll

This sounds fake. Like it could be one of those "Funny or Die" parody videos. But bake me a cake and call me grandma, it's real.

Keanu Reeves has been signed to play the dueling personas of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in a modern retelling of the tale from Universal.

Look, Universal - I'm not trying to tell you how to do your jobs, but you might want to hire someone with actual acting ability to play such a classic character. If you're going to make ANOTHER Jekyll and Hyde adaptation (how many times has that been done?), then just make a movie out of the outstanding BBC TV series that came out a few years ago. To the readers, I'd highly suggest checking that out any way you can get your hands on it.

Hey Mikey - This One's For You

Yeah, these shirts are on sale at this website and you can get them for around 18 bucks. Thanks to Cinematical for tracking these down. (There's one that looks like John McClane's shirt from the original Die Hard, and a Bruce Lee one as well.)

DC Drops The Ball Again, ETC

Big surprise, DC has done it again. By delaying Green Lantern until the summer of 2011 (are you kidding me?), they have proven that they honestly have no plans to even try to catch up with Marvel Studios' recent dominance.* Mind boggling. By the time GL hits theaters, Iron Man 2 and Thor will already have been released, and The First Avenger: Captain America will finish out the summer on a high note building anticipation for The Avengers, which will come out that next summer (2012, assuming the world doesn't end). Effectively, this leaves Green Lantern stuck in the ver forgettable territory of mid-summer heatwaves.

Speaking of Green Lantern, forgettable actor Bradley Cooper (Wedding Crashers) is rumored to be at the top of the pile of candidates for donning the green spandex and ring. I don't take this to mean anything as of yet, since both Anton Yelchin and Chris Pine (both of Star Trek fame) have been talked about for this slot as well - and both quickly debunked. I'll be sure to let you know about the official announcement whenever it occurs.

In unrelated news, Warner Brothers has pushed Zack Snyder's live action follow up to Watchmen, called Sucker Punch, back from 2010 to 2011 as well. Weak-freaking-sauce. I hate it when films that I'm excited for get delayed. Synopsis has been compared to "Alice in Wonderland with machine guns."

One thing that IS coming out in 2K10 is the third entry into the Harold and Kumar series, appropriately titled A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas. Expect massive blasphemy, nudity, and copious amounts of drug use - all possibly on or near a nativity scene. And you better believe NPH is getting down on that action.

*OK, OK - The Dark Knight is a pretty freaking huge exception, but it's been a few months now and we haven't actually heard any commitment from Nolan and his crew on a sequel. I know Warner Brothers is being nice to the guy who made them some serious bank, but you've got to put your foot down at some point if you ever want to lock anything down.

20,000 Leagues Adds A "Rock" Star

*UPDATE* - Apparently the "facts" presented in this article have already been disproven. McG said yesterday that he has never spoken to The Rock about this role. I guess that's what I get for trusting a .pdf picture. Thanks a lot, Production Weekly.
*END OF UPDATE*

Sorry - I just threw up at my own article title.

According to Production Weekly, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson has joined McG's adaptation of Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea. McG has recently said he wanted Will Smith to star in the movie, but no announcement to that effect has arrived yet. Filming should begin in Australia later this year.

Even if Will Smith doesn't join this (which he still might), I'm fine with this because Dwayne Johnson is the man. If the two are in the same movie, that would be extra awesome. Here's hoping Terminator Salvation is as good as we all think and McG can start making some solid movies instead of more Charlie's Angels sequels.

Roundup 5/1

Dear readers, I know you missed me. But don't fret - I'm back with a vengeance from LA. You know what that means: we've got a hell of a lot of catching up to do. Onward!

• Christian Bale has revealed that he is signed on for a third Batman film whether Christopher Nolan returns or not. Interesting. I'm guessing Bale is praying on a nightly basis that Nolan decides to come back and the sequel doesn't end up in the hands of someone less qualified. Because let's face it - if your name isn't Christopher Nolan, you shouldn't be directing a sequel to The Dark Knight.

• Speaking of Nolan, two more have joined the cast of his next film Inception. The "sci-fi actioner set within the architecture of the mind" will now feature Joseph Gordon-Levitt (replacing James Franco due to scheduling conflicts) and Michael Caine. Freaking brilliant. They join the already-stellar cast of Leo DiCaprio, Marion Cotillard, Ellen Page, and Cillian Murphy. If the cast, writers, and director are any indication, this is shaping up to be one of my favorite science fiction movies of all time.

• And back to speaking of Bale, he has apparently joined the cast of The Fighter. No, not the sequel to that Channing Tatum movie. The Fighter is a movie that tells the tale of "Irish" Mickey Ward, a Boston boxer coached to the world title by his half brother. This film has gone through some serious changes recently: Matt Damon and Mark Wahlberg were originally going to star as the brother and the boxer, respectively. I think I remember Wahlberg saying he's been training for two (maybe three) years. Brad Pitt then jumped in to replace Damon. The latest has Bale replacing Pitt and Wahlberg staying on board. Visionary director Darren Aronofsky (The Fountain, The Wrestler) was set to direct for a long time, but left the project due to creative differences. David O. Russell (who?) has stepped into the director's chair to fill the void, but what a void to fill. Can't imagine this will be as good without DA behind the camera.

• These pictures are a bit old, but still worth posting. To your right is the first look at Megan Fox in the new Jimmy Hayward western Jonah Hex, based off the comic book cowboy. If you needed another reason to see this movie besides the cast of Josh Brolin, John Malkovic, Will Arnett, and Michael Shannon, Megan Fox-y (see what I did there?!?!?!) just gave it to you.

• And finally, Oliver Stone and Michael Douglas have signed on for Wall Street 2. This is actually good news in my opinion, as I found the original to be a fantastic film and I think that Stone is better off tackling this kind of film than another war movie. Plus, it has the chance to be topical (i.e: the current economy) and not be too preachy - the fault of many of the war-based films of the past few years. Added bonus: Shia LaBeouf is in talks to take on a Charlie Sheen-esque role in this edition. (Sheen played the fresh faced youngster in the first film.) Gordon Gekko is the man.
  

Trick 'R Treat Might Have Release Date

Spooky. I was sitting in my room, recouping from a screening of Crank 2: High Voltage (which was disappointingly terrible), changing my desktop background from the Crank poster to get the bitter taste out of my mouth. I scrolled through all the pictures I've used in posts on this site, and quickly stumbled across a pic of Anna Paquin from this Trick 'R Treat post a while back. I sighed and shook my head, wondering why we would never get to see the film whose trailer was attached to 300 way back in March of 2007.

Well, the horror gods must have heard my disappointment, because literally an hour later I checked Slashfilm and they have an update about Trick 'R Treat. Spooky, indeed. The gist of it is that on a new trailer for the movie, it ends with "Coming to Blu-Ray & DVD This October." They are dubious of a theatrical release, but I don't care - as long as I get to see the freakin' movie soon, I'll be happy. I've seriously been jonesing for this flick for two years, and I still think it has the potential to be one of my favorite horror films. I'll let you know what happens with this, and hopefully you'll be seeing a review come October.

This is the last post before my trip to LA (I leave early in the morning), so posting will be nonexistant for the next week. Feel free to check out the archives if you're bored, or keep up with This Week in Comics over at The Solar Sentinel and the recent resurgence in sports posts over at The Playing Field.

Who Will Direct Pirates 4?

Gore Verbinski, director of all three Pirates of the Caribbean films, has announced he will not return to the director's chair for the recently announced Pirates 4.

Johnny Depp has signed on to return as Captain Jack Sparrow, and no other details are known for sure about this project as of yet. I've heard rumors over the past few months that the story will revolve around Geoffrey Rush's Barbossa character and Captain Sparrow searching for the Fountain of Youth, and that Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley will not return.

So what's next for Verbinski? He's working on a film adaptation of the video game BioShock, which is supposed to be pretty awesome from what I can gather. I'm glad he's decided to step down, since I'm sure he watched just like the rest of us as that series was run into the ground. He's probably sick of it, even though he must have made massive bank from the record breaking numbers it earned at the box office. Perhaps he'll return in a producing capacity or something; either way, the next film should be much better without the return of Will and Elizabeth.

Inception Adds More To Cast

Christopher Nolan's Inception, the mystery project he's directing next, has some more big names attached to it.

Cillian Murphy (a Nolan favorite), Marion Cotillard (upcoming Public Enemies), and Ellen Page are in talks to join Leonardo DiCaprio in the sci-fi action flick. Fantastic news, as I am a fan of all of the above. More on this as it arrives.

The Hangover

I don't normally post trailers on this site, but this one is my most anticipated comedy of the summer (at the moment). Check it.

It's Alice! In 3D!

To appease the fans (cough Becky Ashley cough), it's time for a little Alice in Wonderland update.

Tim Burton's newest film has been confirmed for an IMAX 3D release. This will surely excite the legions of fans for this sure-to-be-insane movie. Mark your calendars, Crispin Glover fans - March 5th, 2010 can't come soon enough for you.

More Ong Bak 2

To appease the fans (cough, Mikey Boze Branz, cough), I'm showing this kick-tacular clip featuring the one and only Tony Jaa. Ong Bak 2 is sure to be immaculate, and I'll let you know when it is going to be released over here in the States. Honestly, I don't even care if it hits theaters or not - as long as I can see it in some form (DVD, Blu-Ray, Dick Tracy Watch Viewer, etc.), I'll be happy.

Gemma Arterton in Clash of the Titans

Gemma Arterton, better known as "Strawberry Fields" from Quantum of Solace, just announced that she will be playing the character of Io in Louis Letterier's (The Incredible Hulk) remake of Clash of the Titans.

This is the second high-profile project in a row for the up-and-coming actress (she's only 23), after next summer's Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time with Jake Gyllenhaal. Clash will be a reimagining of the stop-motion influenced 1981 film, and definitely has the potential to be awesome if handled correctly. I don't have any knowledge about her character in this film (I don't remember an "Io" in the original, but it's been forever since I've seen it), so I can't say with certainty that she's a good choice for the role. But Gemma's uber-cute, so I'm just glad we'll get to see her up on screen again.