Super sequels coming up

I am just so thankful for the proliferation of superhero films in the 2000s. God knows which films I really like and I just feel blessed to be around at such a time as this to see such super flicks. He’s awesome that way!

I got this piece of news from filmforce.ign.com and it’s music to my ears…

—–

Warner
Bros. is gearing up for follow-ups to Batman Begins and Superman
Returns. According to today’s Variety, directors Christopher Nolan and
Bryan Singer are currently working out the details of their new deals
with the studio.

Legendary Pictures is expected to co-finance both projects 50/50 with Warner Bros.

The
Bats and Supe sequels could hit the big screen in 2008 and 2009,
respectively — that is if Singer moves on to the next Superman movie
immediately after he’s done with his next flick, Logan’s Run.
Christopher Nolan is thought to be returning to the Batman franchise
after filming The Prestige, but he may lens The Exec next.

—–

Keep ‘em coming guys!

Aeon Flux

Rating: 4 out of 5
Directed by Karyn Kusama
Starring: Charlize Theron, Marton Csokas, Frances McDormand, Sophie Okonedo, Jonny Lee Miller, Amelia Warner, Pete Postlethwaite
Viewed on the big screen

Been
waiting months for this to come to Philippine cinemas and weeks for it
to get to Cebu. Watched it last Thursday (Feb. 23) before I went to
another theater across the hall of the multiplex to watch Memoirs of a Geisha.

I liked Aeon Flux
for pretty much the same reasons I liked Memoirs of a Geisha–visual
artistry, interesting plot lines, fluid progression of the entire film.
And never mind what the critics say. They only get it right half the
time.

Like Memoirs, Flux is a film also abundant with
beauty–the stylish architecture of the futuristic Bregna (the last
safe, walled city on earth); the flashy, trendy costumes; the exquisite
and amazing Charlize Theron and her palpable chemistry with the dashingly handsome Marton Csokas.
This one eye candy of an action film that, although not totally
cerebral, managed to entertain and pique my movie buff sensibilities.

The
story takes place some 400 years into the future and our heroine, Aeon
(Theron), is a sort-of rebel assassin tasked to kill Trevor Goodchild
(Csokas), one of the rulers of Bregna, for certain questionable action
and decisions–like killing people mistaken as rebels without due
process (and probably some "warantless arrests" too, which the movie
didn’t dig much deeper on. hehehe). So, Aeon goes into her mission
wholeheartedly, ready to kill Goodchild, but once she sees him face to
face–and he sees her face to face–something happens to both of them
and that’s where the plot thickens.

Although the story isn’t
Oscar material, it was still interesting, coherent and easy enough to
follow. I felt intrigued enough to want to see the whole thing through
and felt that it was probably better, story-wise, than the source
material–a cartoon series on MTV. I also think that casting Charlize
Theron was a good choice because she looks great and has the acting
chops to make the character more believable. She did well, for me. She
looked great in the action sequences. She managed to make Aeon both
tough and vulnerable at different times. Convincingly.

There are
also some nice special effects in this film (the data storage system in
their futuristic blimp looked cool) and stylish stunts (the acrobatics
Aeon does is fun to watch).

And I also need to point out that
this is one of my favorite Marton Csokas roles to date, followed
closely by his portrayal of Yorgi in XXX.

After watching
Aeon Flux, I got to thinking about how the depiction of female action
heroes in movies have really been improving over the years and that
they’re becoming more three-dimensional and untraditional. This film
has just brought a live-action Wonder Woman movie one step closer to
the big-screen!

Memoirs of a Geisha

Rating: 5 out of 5
Directed by Rob Marshall
Starring:  Ziyi Zhang, Ken Watanabe, Michelle Yeoh, Gong Li, Youki Kudoh, Koji Yakusho, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Tsai Chin
Viewed on the big screen

Let me just begin by saying that Rob Marshall is such an elegant filmmaker! He’s proven it with Chicago,
which got him nominated for a directing Oscar. It shows in the way his
stories move fluidly. It is evident in the way he incorporates artistry
in his work. Memoirs of a Geisha showcases that!

From
start to finish, I was charmed by the film’s abundant art–the
costumes, the sets, the dances, the makeup. Everything in this film
looks beautiful and it’s good because you can’t sustain a two hour
(plus) film on uninteresting stuff. That would just be (to borrow Simon
Cowel’s word, and accent) appalling. Thankfully, that isn’t the case
with Geisha.

The movie explains well the life of a geisha–how
they are taught, what rules they live by–and how living in that world
can be confining. It also has a lot of good character development and
dynamic, specifically with Chiyo/Sayuri (Ziyi Zhang, or Zhang Ziyi as she was previously billed).

I
liked this movie because it didn’t disappoint me and my expectation of
it being an artistic film. And I was really pleased that the story
played out so effortlessly, the progression didn’t feel forced and,
overall, didn’t make me yawn in the theater. I was really engrossed and
so into what was going on in the film.

The cast was good. The
producers got some of the finest (and most recognizable) Asian actors
to star in it. I liked watching them. From Ziyi Zhang to Michelle Yeoh to Oscar nominee Ken Watanabe, they all delivered the goods. But most effective for me was Gong Li as the has-been geisha Hatsumomo.

And, man! That John Williams!
The musical score he did for Geisha is fast becoming one of my
favorites. He just captures the whole emotion of the film and
translates it to very appropriate notes and melodies for the movie.
He’s always come up with different types of music for different films,
but this one is just really fresh coming from him.

This movie is
great! Haven’t read the book (no plans of doing so) and I don’t want to
compare. I just had a wonderful time at the theater watching this!

American Idol: First four to go

Becky O’Donohue. Bobby Bennett. Stevie Scott. Not surprised that they were voted off.

But Patrick Hall deserved another shot. He really had a great voice. And, yes, it was a matter of song choice.

People who are voted out shouldn’t be asked to sing again. That just isn’t right or fair.

Oh well. The show must go on. My top ten is still intact!

Spidey hype starts!

It’s a year away yet but I know there are others like me who love the
anticipation part of a superhero film production. This one’s for all of
us.

Spider-Man 3 is set for release May 4, 2007 and the hype for t began a
couple months back. But this official photo for the film "officially"
starts the hype for me! Go Spidey! Go!

The Strength

I’ve been meditating on this passage
of scripture this week and I don’t think I’m done yet. There is so much
in here that’s sooo good for the soul!

Psalm 73

Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.
But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold.
For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong.
They are free from the burdens common to man; they are not plagued by human ills.
Therefore pride is their necklace; they clothe themselves with violence.
From their callous hearts comes iniquity; the evil conceits of their minds know no limits.
They scoff, and speak with malice; in their arrogance they threaten oppression.
Their mouths lay claim to heaven, and their tongues take possession of the earth.
Therefore their people turn to them and drink up waters in abundance.
They say, "How can God know? Does the Most High have knowledge?"
This is what the wicked are like—always carefree, they increase in wealth.
Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure; in vain have I washed my hands in innocence.
All day long I have been plagued; I have been punished every morning.
If I had said, "I will speak thus," I would have betrayed your children.
When I tried to understand all this, it was oppressive to me till I
entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny.
Surely you place them on slippery ground; you cast them down to ruin.
How suddenly are they destroyed, completely swept away by terrors!
As a dream when one awakes, so when you arise, O Lord, you will despise them as fantasies.
When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered,
I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before you.
Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand.
You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory.
Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,  but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
Those who are far from you will perish; you destroy all who are unfaithful to you.
But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds.

X-plosive!

SuperHeroHype
posted a six-part article on their visit to the set of X-Men: The Last
Stand and–WOW (wow is not even enough)–there’s so much going on in
this film. This article should quiet the fears and the naysayers! Us
X-fans are now looking forward to what seems to be the best X-film yet.
I get more excited by the day.

Here are parts of the story that I really liked…

–X–

The scene they were filming that day was one where Juggernaut and Kitty
Pryde are racing against each other to find a certain mutant within the
labs (who I later discovered was Leech). Kitty Pryde phases through the
walls while Juggernaut takes the more direct approach. The camera was
set up for an overhead shot to see the two characters running through
the walls. David Gorder began giving us the tour:

Gorder: Basically it’s a shot where we’re going this way, and you see
the holes in the walls. So, anyone want to venture a guess who put
those holes in the wall?

Q: Juggernaut?

Gorder: Yes, something that must remain inert unless he builds momentum
he’s unstoppable, that would be Juggernaut. That’s Worthington Labs,
and the reason Juggernaut is going through the wall is he’s chasing
Kitty, who’s phasing. They are both after a certain character, a
certain mutant, which I will not reveal. Obviously Kitty’s after him
for a different reason than Juggernaut’s after him. So that’s what
they’re going to be filming. They’ve shot elements of it already where
the walls, with the special effects, have exploded and then Juggernaut
then runs through. So you can see basically that’s what’s going on
there. They’re just setting up right now, and they’re going to be
shooting later with Juggernaut’s stunt double.

[this should be a very dynamic scene]

–X–

Q: Bryan took a number of his X-Men crew with him to Superman and you had to get new blood here.

Gorder: Yeah, as many of them as he could, but ironically we have a lot
of the same crew as we had on X-Men 2, and we’re shooting at the same
stages, so we’re happy about having a lot of that crew. Bryan really
likes the Vancouver film crews and we got most of them. Bryan took a
lot of technical people from LA because they weren’t available, those
types of people on that level weren’t available in Sydney. So, and
that’s the same case here, when you’re doing certain stunts and visual
effects the infrastructure here, in the film community, isn’t big
enough to have these ground breaking effects and things. So you do have
to bring up crew from LA and experts in certain areas, particularly
prosthetic makeup and visual effects. So he took what he could over
there, and obviously we’ve brought a lot of prosthetic makeup artists
up here to do the characters. Just because they just don’t have those
types of people up here like in the quantities that we need for this
movie, or the caliber, or credits we need for this movie. This is the
biggest production ever filmed in Canada. Used to be X2, now it’s X3,
maybe X4 will be even bigger.

Q: Are you planting seeds for an X-Men 4 in this film?

Gorder: Sort of, yeah, you know, as much as we did in X2, many people
missed the fact that there was a sort of an outline of a Phoenix in the
water. We do sort of the same thing in this one. You could go there if
you wanted to. But it doesn’t rule out anything, it doesn’t set up
anything specifically like saying well you’re going to tell this story
in X-Men 4. It just sets it up like they could come back, or they could
be….certain characters could come back and continue their story arcs.


[yes! there's hope after all! ]

–X–

Q: Will we get to see him (Iceman) fully ice up this time?

Gorder: Right now I think yes (laughs), but I don’t want to give that away.

…then later…

That concluded the formal Q&A, but we chatted a little with John
Bruno informally afterwards. In that time he mentioned that we’ll see
Bobby Drake ice-up into Iceman. "That’ll all be CG. You’ll see through
him actually."

–X–

Q: Is there any truth that a major character might be killed off?

Gorder: Well, right now we don’t want to comment of characters being
killed off, but let’s just say that in the comic book world, anything
is possible as far as being killed off or resurrected (laughs). So
yeah, I think that the fans will be pleased with the way that the
characters are handled and the way that their story arcs are told. They
will be very pleased.

–X–

Q: Brett, should this film be looked at as the third part in a trilogy, or just another story in a continuing series of stories?

Ratner: Because I feel so reverential to the first two, I’m not
reinventing anything that’s already been done, but I am informing some
back story that maybe you hadn’t seen but makes total sense to the
first two. And we are paying off some of the arcs of the characters and
resolving some of the arcs somehow-I don’t think it’s the final arc. I
think there’s a lot of opportunity to go further with it. But I think
because I’m referring to the first two movies and I’m making sure that
we’re consistent with the first two movies as far as the characters are
concerned, as far as what they went. Bryan and these actors have
created kind of the universe and there are rules that come with that
universe. And I’m not going outside of those rules, but I am looking to
show the audience something that kind of pieces it all together. Like,
‘Oh, that’s why in the first movie they were in this location here.’
That sort of all pays off. So in that sense maybe it is a trilogy, I’m
not saying that Fox wouldn’t make a fourth or fifth X-Men…

–X–

He also spoke about that new technology that has never been used in a
film before: "The opening scene of the movie takes place in 1985 with
Xavier and Magneto as Dr. Lensherr and Charles Xavier and they’re going
to meet Jean Grey. So they have to be 20 years younger. So we just
filmed them normally and we have a company that has sort of come up
with this technique, and we’ve already seen the first scene, we
actually took them back 5 years, 10 years, to 30 years. It’s really
creepy. And all the references as far as Xavier’s is Star Trek: The
Next Generation. So we studied a lot of what he looked like 20 years
ago. And Ian McKellen gave us some photographs of him as an actor 20
years ago. And what we’ve gotten back is absolutely spectacular. It
hasn’t been seen in a film previous to this." Bruno mentioned that the
actors had seen the footage and that another actress played Jean Grey
at age 9 in the scene.

[this particularly interests me. how is it gonna look like?]

American Idol: Three guys

It wasn’t a very spectacular night for the guys on American Idol. Not as great as the girls did. But I’m just glad that one of the two guys I had expected to do well did well–Taylor Hicks! This guy’s got something really different about him–good different.

The first few performances for the night didn’t quite get me excited. It wasn’t until Will Makar took the stage to sing "I Want You Back" that I felt the show really start. He was likable enough and sung well enough but he’s not in my top three for the night.

Sway Penala did a spectacular job with Reasons
and hit the really high notes. I wanna see him go further into the
competition. But he’s not in my top three either.

I so wanted Kevin Covais
to come out with an awesome performance but that just wasn’t the case.
He’s not in my three as well. Still, I think Kev’s gonna be back next week and hopefully he’ll be
better.

My top three… I was impressed with Elliot Yamin’s performance. He did a good job and it was one of the best for the evening. Same with Ace Young, who I think pulled a "Constantine" tonight with a smoldering rendition of George Michael’s Father Figure. And he finished the song with a Maroulis-type stare into the camera.

But I believe they saved the best of the best for last. Taylor Hicks! Wow! This guy can sing, perform and bring it on! He’s great! He’s going all the way to the top.

So for the guys, that’s Elliott Yamin, Ace Young and Taylor Hicks.

I want a guy to win this year. hehehe

[Tomorrow night's gonna be the first
bye-bye night and I don't think there will be any surprises (for me, at
least) as to who's gonna be sent packing. Looking forward to that.]

The cousin also to return

Found this really interesting article from the Post Chronicle website  and, man, the possibility of this happening is just so welcomed…

—–

In recent news, the lovely Mischa Barton’s career is looking to the heights,
as she is apparently at the top of a list of candidates to bring
Supergirl back to the big screen.

"If Superman Returns does as well as expected this summer then
Supergirl will be pushed into the schedule," reveals one movie
insider.  "There are a few actresses in the reckoning and Mischa is at the top of that list." 

—–

Wow! I hope they keep these superhero films coming!

American Idol: Three ladies

Just saw tonight’s American Idol show where the ladies sang their hearts out
and there are a few really great performers that shone tonight.

Of all the 12 girls, the ones that really stood out for me were Mandisa, Paris Bennett and Katharine McPhee.

Mandisa opened the show with a really impressive number, singing "Never" by Heart and wowed the audiences. She brought it on and I think she’s gonna make it to the top 12.

Paris was lively as well and was quite a showman herself. Like I said, "little lady, big voice"!

Katharine’s rendition of Barbara Streisand’s "Since I Fell for You" was the night’s best ballad. A really sultry delivery.

Can’t wait to see what these ladies will do next week!

[Looking forward to the guys' performances tomorrow night]