Anne Hathaway gets a role in ‘The Dark Knight Rises’
Warner Bros announced yesterday that Anne Hathaway has landed a role in the next Batman movie. She will be playing Selina Kyle and her better known alter ego, Catwoman.
The studio also announced that Tom Hardy, whom Nolan directed in Inception, will play one of Batman’s enemies, Bane.
Revenge of the Sith – a steaming pile?
In December of 2009 I posted an article about a rather unhappy Star Wars fan. This guy loved the original three films, and after waiting years for the pre-quels, was thoroughly disappointed. So disappointed in fact that he made a 70 minute video about how much “Star Wars – The Phantom Menance” sucked balls.
Well the disgruntled fan is back. He has just released his expose of “Star Wars – Revenge of the Sith”. This time around the review takes a whopping 110 minutes, which is only about half an hour shorter than the Star Wars film itself. You may not have the time to watch the entire thing, but I’d recommend at least watching the first few minutes… you’ll probably find yourself watching way more than you anticipated. Click here to watch it.
Neill Blomkamp brings Matt Damon, Jodie Foster and Sharlto Copley on board for new film
Mr Blomkamp has been busy indeed over the last few weeks. It seems he has another film up his proverbial sleeve, and has already managed to sign on some pretty heavy hitters. We all remember Sharlto Copley – a local boy who turned in an awesome performance as Wikus van de Merwe, the hero of District 9. He’ll be joined by both Matt Damon and Jodie Foster.
At this point the film hasn’t even been sold to the studios yet, so we have no idea what the storyline will be, or what roles each of the main actors will be taking on. We do know the films name Elysium, and we can be fairly certain that it will be another science-fiction extravaganza. We’ll post more when we’ve dug up a bit more dirt.
Quentin Tarantino’s top films of 2010
There are few people in the world that are as obsessed with, and as knowledgeable about general cinema lore as Quentin Tarantino. So when he picks a list of his favourite films of 2010 we should take note, and possibly spend some time making sure we’ve seen them. QT’s top 20:
- Toy Story 3
- The Social Network
- Animal Kingdom
- I Am Love
- Tangled
- True Grit
- The Town
- Greenberg
- Cyrus
- Enter The Void (“Hands down best credit scene of the year … Maybe best credit scene of the decade. One of the greatest in cinema history.” – QT)
- Kick Ass.
- Knight and Day
- Get Him To The Greek
- The Fighter
- The Kings Speech
- The Kids Are All Right
- How To Train Your Dragon
- Robin Hood
- Amer
- Jackass 3-D
District 10 on the horizon?
Neill Blomkap, director of the much acclaimed ‘District 9’ has released a mysterious video online which is quickly going viral. The video was first spotted in the latest iPad-app version of WiReD Magazine.
Is it a genetically modified animal? Or an alien species? Details about the video are sketchy but there is speculation that the video is a teaser for Blomkamp’s anticipated follow-up to the four-times Oscar-nominated District 9. Both Blomkamp and the films star, Sharlto Copley, have admitted that the sequel is something they’re actively working towards. The shaky hand-held camera style of the new one-minute spot is certainly reminiscent of the now-famous District 9 ‘documentary’. Check out the video below:
Avatar sequels are confirmed
If you loved Avatar so much that you painted yourself blue and started trying to plug into plants and animals, then you’d better sit down and start breathing into a paper bag. James Cameron has finalized a deal with 20th Century Fox for two sequels to last years Avatar.
The projects are currently right up there on Cameron’s to do list, and he’s telling folk that they’ll be his next projects. The first sequel, currently titled “Avatar 2” is aiming for a December 2014 release and the third, surprisingly named “Avatar 3”, for a December 2015 release. They will be produced by Cameron and his partner Jon Landau for Cameron’s Lightstorm Entertainment.
Cameron will begin working on the scripts early in 2011 and wants to begin the pre-production later in 2011. The decision on whether he will shoot the sequels back-to-back will be made when he finishes writing the films.
“Avatar” star Sigourney Weaver recently opened up about what she’d like to see in the sequels, whether or not she makes it back. “I think that the challenges to Pandora will continue,” she said. “I do think that humans will be back. I also think that maybe we’ll get more of a chance to live a Na’vi life. I think we want to be in that world… and I know that Jim will do everything he can to satisfy us and take it to even more parts of Pandora that we don’t even know exist yet.”
The Dark Knight Rises
Christopher Nolan and his brother Jonathan are currently working on a script for what they see as the final chapter in a Batman trilogy, set for release in July 2012.
Christopher has always been relatively shy when it comes to dealing with the press. But over the last few years he seems to have been willing to give interviews and drop some pretty important news to The Los Angeles Times. Yesterday, on their blog, they announced two pretty big pieces of news:
1) Batman 3 will be titled The Dark Knight Rises
2) The villain won’t be the Riddler
As one might expect, the film has been shrouded in much secrecy, leaving many speculating on who the final villain will be. Now that Nolan has ruled out both Riddler and Mr. Freeze the current crowd favourites are Catwoman or the lesser-known Hugo Strange. But with such an incredible selection of baddies to choose from, Nolan could well choose a character that is of the radar.
On the filming front Nolan confirmed that he has talked Warner Brothers out of filming in 3D for the third film. Shooting will start sometime next year and will continue with the use of IMAX cameras, which has had all the film nuts raving.
One way or another there is little doubt that it’s going to be a film well worth seeing. Who knows, I might end up renting a Batman costume and running around the cinema going ‘Swoosh’.
M. Night Shyamalan’s latests film – Devil Traps You In An Elevator
Apple has released the first trailer for ‘Devil’, which will be the first release from M. Nights ‘Night Chronicles’ label. The film is basically about five people trapped in an elevator. The twist comes in that one of the five is a devil in disguise. The trailer is pretty cool, and you get the feeling that the film will keep you on the edge of your seat. Perfect first date material for all you romantics out there. Check out the trailer here.
Jonathan Nolan to direct Superman reboot?
After checking my blog stats I can see that there have been a lot of people reading my article on the reboot of Superman which is being headed up by the great Christopher Nolan. The reason for all the interest is, no doubt, the abounding rumours that Jonathan Nolan has been earmarked to take the directors seat for the project.
There have been a couple of confirmations from reputable sources that the rumours are true. In fact pre-development for the film is supposedly underway and a few castings have been done including an audition by Zach Levi (from the show ‘Chuck’).
It won’t be the first time that the brothers have worked together, but this will be the first time that Jonathan has worked from behind the camera. Usually Jonathan writes and Chris directs. But regardless of what happens, with Chris in the mix it’ll be epic.
Jeremy Mansfield to voice character in Toy Story 3
In a South African first, radio personality Jeremy Mansfield announced live on his radio show on 94.7 Highveld Stereo that he is set to voice a character in Toy Story 3.
“It’s official and has just been finalised. This is really exciting news! I am a big fan of Disney.Pixar and this is indeed an honour,” said a thrilled Mansfield on Tuesday morning.
Mansfield will lend his voice to the character of Lifer, a Chatter telephone who has spent his life in the toy box at a children’s nursery school. Under the direction of Rick Dempsey, Senior Vice President, Creative – Disney Character Voices, Mansfield will record the voice for the South African theatrical and DVD release of the film. According to Dempsey there is lots of excitement surrounding the release of Toy Story 3 and Disney.Pixar is “especially excited to have Jeremy Mansfield provide the voice for one of the characters”.
A behind-the-scenes look at how the voice recording was done will be shown in an exclusive insert on M-NET’s All Access on the 21st of May at 19h30.
The film, set to release in South Africa on 3D screens on the 18th of June and across other screens nationally on the 25th of June, welcomes Woody (voice of Tom Hanks), Buzz (voice of Tim Allen) and the whole gang back to the big screen as Andy prepares to depart for college and his loyal toys find themselves in… daycare!
These untamed tots with their sticky little fingers do not play nice, so it’s all for one and one for all as plans for the Great Escape get underway.
A few new faces—some plastic, some plush—join the adventure, including iconic swinging bachelor and Barbie’s counterpart, Ken (voice of Michael Keaton), a lederhosen-wearing thespian hedgehog named Mr. Pricklepants (voice of Timothy Dalton), and a pink, strawberry-scented teddy bear called Lots-o’-Huggin’ Bear (voice of Ned Beatty) and of course Lifer, the Chatter telephone (voice of Jeremy Mansfield).
Directed by Lee Unkrich (co-director of “Toy Story 2” and “Finding Nemo”), produced by Pixar veteran Darla K. Anderson (“Cars,” “Monsters, Inc.”), and written by Academy Award®-winning screenwriter Michael Arndt (“Little Miss Sunshine”), “Toy Story 3” is a comical new adventure in Disney Digital 3D™.
Movie News with a South African Flavour 