Freeze Dried Movies

I haven't been too kind towards Terminator: Salvation so far, but I think that will change after seeing the panel at Comic Con this past weekend. Everything I saw looked great, and as far from a McG type movie I could imagine. Also, Mr. G said that the PG-13 stuff is not set in stone - he is simply making the movie the way he wants, and if it happens to be R, then it will be R. He is shooting a movie, not a rating. Also, Moon Bloodgood is incredibly hot and thus it could be rated G and the movie would at least be watchable.

Anyway, here's the poster from Con. It's not exactly the most original image ever, but it's still exciting to know there's another Terminator movie on the way already - it took 12 years between 2 and 3, but 4 will be out less than 6 years after Rise of the Machines. Plus with the TV show, Terminator fans can't complain about the lack of new material to enjoy (or not enjoy, as the case may be, but hey, at least the franchise is going strong).

T4 hits theaters in May of 2009, right around when Watchmen will probably begin to lose steam. You might want to buy stock in Warner Bros ASAP.

No one really expected The Dark Knight to make any less than 100 mil on its opening weekend. The first film was that rarest of summer hits, in that it opened well and continued to perform well, with its opening weekend making up less than 25% of its total gross (as opposed to most films, which make around half their money in that all important first couple days). But even Warner's gotta be surprised/ecstatic that the film has not only taken over most of the records it possibly could have (most of them previously held by Spider-Man 3), but SMASHED them in the process, without any other film threatening to take its place anytime soon (maybe the final Harry Potter, but that'll be Warner too so I guess they won't mind). Especially since this movie is almost an R, I can't imagine 5 and 6 year olds making up a lot of the audience like the other 2-3 films that had the records did.

Read on for a complete list of all the, well, lists of box office records for which The Dark Knight now comfortably holds the top spot.

We all love pictures. Even non-nude ones. So a big thanks to Warner Bros for sending us those five Watchmen images from the new issue of Entertainment Weekly (which I didn't get today and am PISSED - I got last week's lame-ass Twilight issue on Friday, why not this one???). Of course, if the trailer hadn't hit, seeing everyone in action (and full costume) would be even more exciting, but hey, the images are way more exciting than the ones from Harry Potter. And it's legal to ogle the women in these, which is even better!

Plus, this means I have the option of not using the smiley face thing everytime I post a Watchmen story. I WILL, but like I said, now it's a choice to do so.

March 9th.

Eventually you can just form a flipbook and watch Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince in its entirety. Anyone remember those movie cards you'd get for big blockbusters like Batman or Rocketeer or whatever? There'd usually be 88 cards and the back would tell what was going on. And you'd have to put em in order for it to make any sense. Kind of like these images. I haven't read the book, but from these pics, it looks like the movie concerns Draco going solo and staring at people, and so its up to Harry and his new wand, Ron in his goofy outfit, and Hermione in her new class to stop him. They are helped by Jim Broadbent and Maggie Smith, while Dumbledore watches in silent repose. And Luna does something wacky. I guess Snape and Hagrid are off boozing or something.

Look below for the newest batch of images! As this is an even numbered Harry Potter film, it hits theaters this holiday season.

Well except for the images in the trailer. But those don't count. They were all, I dunno, streaming video-y and shit. This is pure uncut JPEG action!

SPOILER - Bale will apparently kill a robot in Terminator: Salvation. I forget - as long as it's against robots, violence has no limit for PG-13, right? They can totally annihilate those things and be OK, just as long as they don't call one a mother fucker or show any skin while they do it? I would hate for McG to have to compromise his vision to make sure the film retains the all important PG-13 rating.

Look below for the image, and look forward to SDCC for more info on this admittedly interesting but still suspect project.

Fuck teasers, Zack Snyder knows we've waited long enough without giving us 30 seconds of narration and swirling graphics a la The Dark Knight teaser from last Comic Con. This is pretty much a full blown trailer, and my god does it look good. Head on over to Apple to watch it in all its HD glory. Also, that shot of Silk Spectre II just shy of the halfway mark? Yeah, Malin Akerman just jumped at least 6 slots on my you-know-what list.

March 9th.

Head on over to the official website for the San Diego Comic Con to discover all the great panels you will miss while trying to buy a pretzel or get something signed from someone who was in a previous panel. Con is a very hectic and draining, but awesome experience, and I hope lots of you fine folks can check it out. For those of you who can't make it, I will hopefully be keeping FDM updated frequently during the 4 day festival (Watchmen news, wooo!).

Why they only have the schedules for Thursday and Sunday posted, but not Friday and Saturday, I have no idea. Closing in on the con's busiest days I guess. Thursday is definitely a highlight though, as that is when REPO! will have its panel. Also, our own Brad Miska (aka Mr Disgusting) will be part of the Masters of Web panel. Definitely check that out - last year he fucking fell asleep during it.

As always, the 9th of the month has come with a present from Zack Snyder and the Watchmen crew - a behind the scenes look at the upcoming, much awaited, much scrutinized film adaptation of Alan Moore's legendary graphic novel. This one is hosted by UGO.com, keeping with the tradition of giving another movie site their own exclusive. By the time the film drops, there will be well over an hour of these things combined, and I wouldn't be surprised if they were included on the Blu-Ray, given Snyder's impressive track record for extensive extras on his films. Snyder says:

"With Comic Con right around the corner, it seemed like a good time to reflect on Watchmen's roots in the comic world. Who better to do that than Dave Gibbons himself. For me, Watchmen has been an incredible experience on many so levels, but having the opportunity to get to know Dave and to spend time on set just talking about all things Watchmen has been great. Dave it has been a pleasure. Thanks!"

Hopefully I will get a chance to talk more to Snyder about the film at the Con. In the meantime, head over to UGO for the video or watch a downgraded copy below courtesy of whoever uploaded it to Youtube. Watchmen hits theaters on March 9th.

One of the best documentaries about filmmaking, EVER, is Heart Of Darkness, which chronicles the almost surreal amount of problems faced during the Guinness Record-breaking shoot of Apocalypse Now. It's never been released on DVD, which means the target audience for Tropic Thunder probably has never seen it. But that's not stopping Paramount from putting together Rain Of Madness, a parody documentary about the making of the film that in some ways parodies Apocalypse. Hey, whatever works. Tropic looks hilarious, and the mockumentary is a damn fine way to whet our appetite until the film is released. And hey, maybe if enough folks are interested, Heart of Darkness will finally see a DVD release (the VHS is long out of print, obviously). Look below or check out the official site for the "trailer" (I assume this is all there will ever be) and some other info. Tropic Thunder hits theaters this August.

It's been well over a decade since Martin Scorsese and Robert Deniro worked together as director and actor* (in Casino, a film that doesn't get as much recognition as it deserves IMO). I believe that is the longest stretch since their first film together (Mean Streets), but it looks like that is finally going to change. Unfortunately, I can't even provide a Bold Faced And Italicized Title for the film, because DeNiro won't talk about it. Look below for his non-comments about this hopefully real movie.

(NOTE - The actor's strike is sort of putting a dent in a lot of movie news - so this is actually sort of exciting. Incidentally, it was buried at the bottom of a story about DeNiro's thoughts on the strike).