Yesterday, the second official trailer of the soon to be released Prince of Persia movie adaptation hit the web. If you want to know more about the movie, check out my first post on the topic. Prince of Persia will be in cinemas on May, 21st. Without further ado, here’s the trailer:
Most of us will already know that a Karate Kid remake – The Karate Kid – is in the works and slated for a June 11 release. Jaden Smith plays the 12-year-old kid Dre Parker whose mother’s latest career move has landed him in China. Of course, he’s not even remotely as popular there as he was in good old Detroit. Some kid beats him up but he is rescued by maintenance man Mr. Han (Jackie Chan) who will teach Dre the kung fu. Wait, did you read that correctly? Kung fu? Why the hell is this remake about kung fu and not karate even though the title says otherwise?
Well, Dre of course knows a little karate which is way too little to stand up against the class bully. The latest international trailer also shows that Dre is called “the karate kid” by the bully. Apparently, that’s it. Dre will no doubt master kung fu and will defeat his enemy in the tournament, obviously. I don’t especially like the plot but I think I’m going to watch it anyway.
I saw AVATAR on Saturday and I’m still impressed. James Cameron once again employs state-of-the-art technology to create something we’ve never seen before. Of course, with the largest budget a writer-director has ever had at his disposal, one would expect lots of things to be done right. Unfortunately, the movie matches awesome special effects with a lousy script. To be honest, that’s something Hollywood has been doing for a long time now.
AVATAR is visually stunning and very pleasing to watch. The story takes place on a distant planet called Pandora which looks like a jungle-covered paradise. It’s forests are filled with fantastic creatures and intriguing plants. Vibrant colors dominate the jungle, even at night. Pandora’s predominant species is an intelligent life form who call themselves the Na’vi. Due to the low gravity the blue-skinned humanoids grow enormously huge: they’re roughly 11.5 feet tall. The Na’vi’s movements are fluid and their eyes can convey credible emotion. Well done!
While the film is great to look at, the story disappoints. This is even more true because of the stark contrast between the masterfully realized CGI effects and a lousy plot that goes like this: The Na’vi happily live in their Eden until some nasty humans arrive to mine a mineral known as unobtainium. The mining corporation comes protected by space marines and, of course, they need to get the Na’vi moved because under the tree this specific tribe lives in there is the biggest unobtainium resource within the area. At least, humans can’t breathe in the atmosphere without a breathing apparatus. Read more…
Being greatly interested in Greek mythology I find myself looking forward to Clash of the Titans. This is a remake of the 1981 film of the same name, which was a box office hit back then. The fantasy film is loosely based on the Greek myth of Perseus and features an impressive cast. Sam Worthington stars as Perseus, Liam Neeson as Zeus, Ralph Fiennes as Hades, and Gemma Arterton portrays Io. The film is directed by Louis Leterrier – who already did The Incredible Hulk – and the music will be composed by Craig Armstrong.
The teaser trailer looks good! It sure looks like an action movie rather than a fully-fledged adventure. The remake will hit the theaters on March 26th, 2010.
A movie adaptation of one of my most favorite games of all time – Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time – will come to a movie theater near you in 2010. The game evolves around an adventurous prince who teams up with a beautiful princess to stop an evil sorcerer from unleashing the Sands of Time. It features beautiful environments, clever puzzles, superb animations, really strong characterization, and a well thought-out story wonderfully narrated. An absolutely gorgeous masterpiece that has been praised many times for its stunning atmosphere.
The film will be theatrically released on May 28th, 2010. Jordan Mechner, the creator of the Prince of Persia franchise, lent a hand in writing the script. He re-conceived the storyline to shift the perspective to a non-interactive experience and in doing so he crafted a new story. Though the film still is based on the video game Mechner doesn’t expect possible sequels to be based on the subsequent games Warrior Within and The Two Thrones.
The prince is played by Jake Gyllenhaal and contrary to the game, in the movie he has a name: Dastan. Gemma Arterton portrays princess Tamina and Beng Kingsley stars as the film’s antagonist, Nizam. Alfred Molina plays a character named Sheik Amar, a mentor to the prince. Jerry Bruckheimer is producing for Walt Disney Pictures. Like Pirates of the CaribbeanThe Sands of Time has received a PG-13 rating due to intense sequences of violence and action.
SCIFI Wire talked to Paul Wernick who co-wrote the script for the Spider-Man spin-off Venom with Rhett Reese and it looks like Sony is going forward with the project. According to Wernick “the project is still moving forward and the writing team has turned the script in to the suits at Sony”. Apparently, the studio has two drafts of Venom to consider and is trying to figure out its next step. It seems unlikely that Venom will happen before Spider-Man 4, which the latest rumors have shooting in early 2010. Wernick was tight-lipped when asked about a possible relationship between the two movies.
I’d love to see a Venom movie, that’s for sure! And I know a bunch of people who’d sell their mothers to do so too. It will be interesting to see whether the film will ignore what’s happened in Spider-Man 3 or starts fresh if they decide to go through with the project. I still hate the fact that Venom didn’t get enough screen-time in the third installment of the Spidey franchise.