Seriously, though – how GOOD does this look?
“I, Frankenstein” has sounded a bit like a joke since it was announced, but I’ve got to say the trailer has style to spare – it looks like the exact sort of “bad” movie I often like right away, then everyone else likes “ironically” about five years later. Plus, it seems like an interesting use of Aaron Eckhart, who has that weird thing going on where he looks extremely handsome but also somehow unplaceably “strange” at the same time.
Well! I’ve certainly had a busy weekend so far. Belatedly, here’s the GRAVITY review.
Hey folks. Escape to The Movies should be up in the regular place and time later today, though I’ll be otherwise engaged to post it here on the blog(s). Either way, here’s the live-stream of the main panel theater from The Escapist Expo.
My appearance schedule as of now looks like this (all times EST):
3pm Friday – Q&A
9am Saturday – “I’M MAD ABOUT X”
10:30am Saturday – PS4/WiiU/XBox speculation/debate
12pm Saturday – BIG PICTURE QUIZ SHOW
3pm Saturday – Q&A
4:30pm Saturday – NO RIGHT ANSWER Escapists Debate
6:30pm Saturday – COSPLAY CONTEST (I’m a judge)
1:30pm Sunday – Top 5 Geek Movies of 2013
3pm Sunday – Q&A
We basically didn’t hear a damn thing about this most recent reboot of the Jack Ryan franchise ever since they locked the cast and started shooting. That’s not a great sign, but there also wasn’t any word of anything going “wrong” with the production – so it’s likely that the film is simply just as milquetoast, generic and middling as it looks in this first trailer, which was only just now released. Did they figure that Tom Clancy’s death at 66 was the last and only chance they were going to get at people being somewhat interested in this project?
http://movies.yahoo.com/video/jack-ryan-shadow-recruit-trailer-210023496.html?format=embed&player_autoplay=false
This one was directed by Kenneth Brannagh (now, amusingly, billed as “THE DIRECTOR OF THOR!”), who will next helm the live-action “Cinderella” for Disney. Looks like somebody liked that taste of studio-blockbuster honey when they finally got it. I’d like to know who told Chris Pine this was a good career bet, though – “Sexy Young Replacement Reboot Guy” isn’t something you’d want to be typecast as, lest your name turn into a punchline about movie reboots (“They’re doin’ King Kong again. Chris Pine will be the monkey.”)
To be honest, it could look A LOT worse… but am I the only one who can’t summon up anything beyond a giant bucket of WHO CARES? What about this is supposed to look like anything other than a weaksauce copy of stuff we’ve already seen in “Bourne,” the recent Bonds, etc? It doesn’t even look as novel a variation on Clancy-esque right-wing paranoia-porn as “24” was over a decade ago.
Yes, I’m still onboard. How thrilled does Orlando Bloom look to be back in this? “Good news, guys! Apparently I still exist!”
Fun Fact: In the actual movie business, shorts like this (re: semi-narrative ‘demo-reels’ for treatments of an existing property) get produced all the time as a way for a filmmaker to pitch their project (or why they’d be good for a specific project.) It’s called “Proof Of Concept.”
This isn’t that – this is a “Proof We Can Do Big FX/Action On a Budget” from Rainfall Films (that’s Rileah Vanderbilt, wife of “Frozen” and “Hatchet” helmer Adam Green as Diana). But if it were… I can certainly imagine WORSE ways to try and get Warner Bros. to pull the trigger on this franchise. “Girl Thor by way of ‘300” might be a bit on the literal side – or maybe “make it look like how Zack Snyder might do it…” was the goal – and it feels one dramatic can-opening away from being a Mountain Dew SuperBowl ad, granted; but if I’m Warner Bros. this is a movie I’d want on my schedule.
MOVIEBOB CENTRAL 