Posted 5/26/09 5:00 pm EST by Adam Rosenberg in News
Here's an interesting bit of information revealed by "Terminator Salvation" director McG in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. The talk concerns an alternate ending to the movie, a decidedly dark one which sounds as though it was never filmed. The article even states that the studio signed off on it, and that Christian Bale -- who plays humanity's savior John Connor -- was its staunchest defender.
Needless to say, spoilers ahead. So don't say I didn't warn you. Read More...
Posted 5/26/09 4:00 pm EST by Adam Rosenberg in DVD, News
That headline is somewhat misleading. Whether you're a Trekkie or a Trekker, you know that the Blu-ray version of "Star Trek: The Original Series'" first season dropped in late April, a week before J.J. Abrams' silver screen reboot. If you're not any breed of "Trek" fan, then you may have missed the news. This series is the one featuring William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, George Takei and the rest of the Enterprise crew in a range of campy sci-fi scenarios. The vintage stuff doesn't necessarily hold up against newer TV, but old "Trek" remains a glorious thing to behold.
All 29 episodes from the series' first season (out of three) are spread across the Blu-ray collection's seven discs. Note that these episodes are from the recently remastered catalog; in addition to a general cleaning up of the audio/video presentation, the remastered episodes also feature subtle, surprisingly effective digital enhancements and a 7.1 DTS-HD audio mix. I've checked out a few of the remasters thanks to the Netflix "Watch Instantly" option, and have walked away impressed with the changes each time. Read More...
Posted 5/26/09 3:30 pm EST by Adam Rosenberg in DVD, News
It is no secret that we're head over heels in love with The Asylum's direct-to-video release, "Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus," starring Deborah Gibson and Lorenzo Lamas. No one here has actually seen it, but that doesn't really matter when you're talking about a movie in which a giant octopus dukes it out with... well... a mega shark. The title alone is enough to send our morning editorial meetings into a chorus of snickers.
Well this is it. The fight of the century begins today, with the highly anticipated arrival of "Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus" on DVD. Can you handle it? I'm entirely sure that I can, but I'm looking forward to finding out. Just because it's amazing, here's yet another look at the movie's completely implausible, over the top trailer. Isn't it great when the shark eats that plane?
To borrow liberally from another movie's tagline: no matter who wins, we lose. Can't you just taste the awesome?
Posted 5/26/09 2:30 pm EST by Brian Warmoth in News
Film and music video director Michel Gondry premiered a new project, a documentary, last week at Cannes. "The Thorn in the Heart," as it is called, nabbed enough critical endorsement to find a new home at Oscilloscope Pictures, a company co-founded by Beastie Boys member Adam "MCA" Yauch. The Beasties are also making headlines this week with the newly revealed title of their forthcoming album: "Hot Sauce Committee."
Yauch called Gondry's film "a sincere doc on a subject that is so close to [the director's] heart," according to an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. Read More...
Posted 5/26/09 2:00 pm EST by Adam Rosenberg in News
Director Quentin Tarantino's latest, "Inglourious Basterds," premiered at Cannes last week. It received a pretty lukewarm reception from the gathered critics, but hey, what do they know? Enough to support the Tarantino's planned edits when he gets home from France with the "still-dripping print" in-hand, according to an interview with the director at The Daily Beast.
Anne Thompson spoke to the Tarantino in a post-op interview following the Cannes premiere. She rightly references his past Cannes offerings -- "Reservoir Dogs," "Pulp Fiction," "Kill Bill," and "Death Proof" -- as creating an unreasonable set of expectations for "Basterds." I would argue that such an observation has applied since "Pulp Fiction's" 1994 Palme d'Or win. Read More...
Posted 5/26/09 1:00 pm EST by Jocelyn Vena in Interviews, News
FROM MTV.COM: Back in February, when the cast of "New Moon" was very much in flux, there were reports that "90210" star AnnaLynne McCord might be joining the cast. And at the time she was both very eager to join Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart, and also deep in negotiations.
"We are in negotiations," she said of her talks with "New Moon" filmmaker Chris Weitz and his team. "It's definitely something I would love to do; as most people know, I am obsessed with vampires. I'm a true-blood 'Twilight' fan all the way. ... There's some scheduling conflicts, and we're trying to work that out now," she explained. "We'll see what happens with it, but hopefully — fingers crossed — it'll smooth over and we'll be able to work it out."
Continue reading '90210' Star AnnaLynne McCord Explains Why She Passed On 'New Moon'
Posted 5/26/09 12:00 pm EST by Adam Rosenberg in Commentary
I decided to brave the New York City holiday weekend crowds on Sunday morning so I could check out "Terminator Salvation," the latest in that much-loved series from my childhood. "Terminator" and "T2: Judgment Day" have long been personal favorites; not so much with "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines," though I think it's better than the sizable group of haters would like people to believe. As for the TV series, I've already discussed my disappointment at the cancellation of "The Sarah Connor Chronicles" here on the blog.
Okay. Back to "Salvation." Needless to say, spoilers are to come. If you want a proper review, I encourage you to check out Kurt Loder's more detailed assessment on MTV.com. It's an interesting beast, "Terminator Salvation." All previous incarnations of the franchise have dealt with protecting the Connor family and preventing mankind's fall at the "hands" of a global artificial intelligence gone rogue. Always, there was this possibility that the nuclear holocaust might be diverted, that Skynet might be made to lose before its winning was ever a possibility. Then the bombs fall at the end of "Rise," and destiny becomes reality. Read More...
Posted 5/26/09 11:00 am EST by Larry Carroll in Interviews
Editor's note: Last week, we asked you blog readers to submit questions for McG and the cast of "Terminator Salvation" to address. Well those queries have been received, processed, asked and answered. Here are your responses.
FROM MTV.COM: Whether you're a casual viewer or someone so hard-core that you've got an Arnold catchphrase tattooed across your "I'll Be" back, the "Terminator" franchise can get pretty confusing. With millions of soon-to-be-harvested humans having now seen "Salvation," we took some of their burning (and spoiler-heavy!) questions straight to the stars.
Q: In "Salvation," was John Connor aware that time travel would someday exist? Was he just waiting around for it?
Continue reading "Terminator Salvation" Stars Answer Your Burning Questions
Posted 5/26/09 10:00 am EST by Adam Rosenberg in News
Are any of you readers actually old enough to remember seeing Disney's "Flight of the Navigator" (1985) in theaters? I am, and I did. It was one of those childhood sci-fi classics for me, like "SpaceCamp" or "Explorers." I can't really imagine a remake, but AI 'navigator' Max (voiced by Paul Reubens in the original) certainly gives the warbling Wall-E a run for his money in the lovable robot department.
The Hollywood Reporter revealed this morning that Disney is returning once again to the story of a boy and his pet alien spacecraft. In the original, young David Freeman (Joey Cramer) disappears for eight years. He is found near the site of a crashed alien spaceship, having not aged a day and with no memory of the intervening years. A series of events subsequently leads David to board the ship, where he learns from the robot navigator Max that his time away was spent there. Read More...
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2009 MTV Movie Awards: Another Look At The Best Villain And Best WTF Moment Categories
Posted 5/26/09 3:00 pm EST by Adam Rosenberg in Commentary
Since we try to dish out something a little more personalized and special for you Movies Blog readers, I'm going to share my own thoughts on the previewed categories each day. No, that's not the treat. This is: you all get to vehemently disagree with me. I encourage everyone to hop in and -- respectfully please -- drag my opinions through the mud in the comments section below. More than that, give us your most heartfelt appeal for why one nominee or another should win. Try to keep it in these categories though; don't worry... we'll get to the others in the coming days. Read More...
Tags 2009 mtv movie awards, heath ledger, the dark knight, tropic thunder, wanted