Er ma gerd! It’s another kooky week of film news! What the Hell are we gonna find out about now!? Let’s see!
Hey, actor Tom Hiddleston is hinting at some things about Thor: Ragnarok, in which he’ll return as that mischievous Loki. We know that Marc Ruffalo is in it as The Hulk, and Tom implies that there will be some shenanigans involving the two.
Hiddlestson says: “Let’s not forget that it’s no secret that the Hulk shows up in ‘Ragnarok,’ and the last time Loki and Hulk were in the same room, it didn’t go very well for Loki,” Hiddleston said. “So he’s got a few chips on his shoulder, but it’s fun you’ll see.”
Bring on the fun!
In this week’s “Bullet dodged” story, it turns out that Jude Law was up for the role of Superman in Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns. Law turned it down because the costume didn’t “float his boat”. Hey, either way, Jude, you made the right choice. Well done!
In this week’s “Ocean’s Whatever” story, looks like both Mindy Kaling and Helena Bonham Carter have joined Cate Blanchett and Sandra Bullock in Warner Bros. all-female Ocean’s 11 reboot thing directed by Gary Ross. Certainly is quite a cast, it’s just too bad they won’t be starring in a film that’s fresh and new instead of this rehashed idea.
In this week’s “Weird horror” story, IFC Midnight has acquired the rights to writer/director Danny Perez’s body horror film Antibirth. “Starring Natasha Lyonne, Chloë Sevigny, Meg Tilly, and Mark Webber, the story follows trailer dweller Lou (Lyonne) and her best friend Sadie (Sevigny). Spending their nights in pot and booze-fueled marathon TV binges, they leave only to party with a desolate community of drug-addled ex-marines and other outcasts. Following one such night, Lou experiences symptoms of a bizarre illness and psychosomatic visions she can’t shake. Unable to remember anything from the night before, she struggles to get a grip on her situation as her symptoms grow at a rapid pace and something otherworldly has infected her body that refuses to be ignored.”
No release date yet, but I’m in.
In this week’s “Wait, didn’t we already do this?” story, Universal is all up into making a Battlestar Galactica movie! It’s going to be written by Lisa Joy, who scripted and exec-produced the upcoming Westworld HBO series. Francis Lawrence (The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2) is hovering around the project to direct. Produced by Bluegrass Films and Michael Da Luca Productions, the film won’t get to shooting until after Lawrence finishes with Red Sparrow, a spy thriller starring Jennifer Lawrence. So, keep your pants on if you are a big Galactica fan and need yet another version of it to satisfy your insatiable Battlestar appetite. As if the 2003 reimagined show wasn’t enough for ya.
In this week’s “At least it’s good source material” story, Fox is doing another remake of Agatha Christie’s novel, Murder On The Orient Express. Angelina Jolie has apparently just joined the cast, along with Kenneth Branaugh, who is also starring as detective Hercule Poirot. Michael Green (Blade Runner 2) is writing, and Ridley Scott is one of the producers. That sure is keeping it in the family. It’s at least a great story, someone is murdered on the famous train, and Poirot must solve the mystery.
In this week’s “Wait, what is Mel Gibson doing now?” story, Mel Gibson is now focusing his attention on making Passion of the Christ 2. Yep, now he wants to make a film that focuses on Christ’s resurrection. Or maybe it’s Mel’s way of trying to resurrect his own career. …You know I had to say it. You were ALL thinking it. Ok, it will be written by Randall Wallace, Gibson’s long time collaborator. He wrote Braveheart and We Were Soldiers, but also movies like Heaven Is For Real, and Risen. Well, now it all makes sense. :I
In this week’s “Glowing endorsement” story, Bill Murray has turned down numerous pitches to appear in another Ghostbusters film, but he said ‘yes’ to the one coming out this year because, “It was only because I knew these girls were funny,” he told late-night host Jimmy Kimmel as he sat among the four new leads, Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon, and Leslie Jones.
Well, now if it sucks, we can blame Bill Murray. But then, how could we stay mad at Bill for any real length of time? Yeah, we couldn’t.
In this week’s “How will he screw this novel up?” story, Ron Howard is on board to direct the sci-fi epic Seveneves, a 900 page book by author Neal Stephenson. The story begins when the moon explodes without explanation, forcing humanity to scramble before lunar fragments decimate the planet. Five thousand years later, seven bloodlines of genetically altered humans dwelling in space look to return to their ancestral home.
Well, Howard managed to screw up the amazing book, In The Heart of The Sea, so I don’t have a lot of faith here. But then, I haven’t had a lot of faith in Ron Howard for quite a while, so no big loss.
~ Neil T. Weakley, your average movie-goer, just waiting for Johnny Depp to do something else characteristically loony.