Film Guide

Could The Dark Knight overtake Titanic to become the largest grossing domestic movie of all time? In just 12 days, The Dark Knight has taken in over $333.9 million domestically, and another $128.3 million internationally. The film is already in the top 15 films of all time, and is adding millions more each day. But will Batman be able to top Titanic’s $600.7 million record? Box office analysts admit that it isn’t out of the question. Most people expect the film to take in at least another $80 million, but who knows how much more.

Titanic was the number one movie at the box office for almost three-and-a-half months, but The Dark Knight got the head start that Titanic never had. Titanic took eight weeks to do what The Dark Knight did in less than two. A mid-summer release date means that The Dark Knight will have to contend with a lot more competition than James Cameron’s film, which bowed during Oscar season. No one knows if The Dark Knight have the legs to take the Titanic record. Fans are seeing the movie two or three times, and a lot of moviegoers have yet to see the film due to ticket sellouts and packed theaters. [/film]

New trailer for Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince.

Don’t believe those Ghostbuster rumors… A new live-action Ghostbusters film is not in the works. A rumor has been circulating the interwebs that Dan Akroyd, Bill Murray, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson had signed on to return for a third film where they would hand off the Ghostbusting duties to the Judd Apatow crew of Seth Rogen, Steve Carell, Paul Rudd, and Romany Malco. I’ll admit, that it doesnt sound like a bad idea, at least in best case scenario terms, but it’s completely untrue.

The Ghostbuster 3 rumors began at WonderCon 2008, where an advertisement in the program promised a big Ghostbusters related announcement in San Diego. The announcement never happened, but was expected to be the Ghostbusters video game. But even that is on hiatus now as part of the recently announced Activision cuts. The planned announcement, combined with a Ghostbusters fan contest fueled the current rumor. [/film]

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Sony are jealous of Heath Ledger’s villainous Joker drawing attention and boxoffice dollars and is planning a potential “Spider-Man” spinoff based on a bad guy Venom.

The studio is developing the project, based on the gooey nemesis who appeared in “Spider-Man 3″ and is hoping the character could serve as an antidote to the aging “Spider-Man” franchise in the way that Fox has used Wolverine to add longevity to its “X-Men” franchise.

Of course, apart from fan boys flocking to see the bright red spider, the Spider Man franchise has little to offer in the way the Joker did and Wolverine will and as such this seems like a desperate ploy for Sony to try and squeeze as much money of of Marvel as they can.

Next year sees the release of X-Men Origins: Wolverine and we already know that X-Men Origins: Magneto is in the works too. But is Fox also looking to reboot that X-Men franchise with a new movie that will introduce the first-ever students at Professor Xavier’s School For Gifted Children?

A couple of clues seem to be pointing in that direction.According to trade paper Production Weekly, 20th Century Fox is working on a movie called X-Men: First Class, and has registered the domain x-menfirstclass.com (which currently redirects back to Fox’s own site).

X-Men: First Class is currently the name of a flashback series of comics based on the original X-Men team, all of whom made it into the movie series in various guises (Cyclops and Jean Grey as part of the team from the start, with the Beast, Iceman and the Angel showing up in later episodes).

Does this mean that Fox plans on rolling back the years to give us the movie version of the awkward school years of our favorite mutants? [i09]

Not so much movie related, but every one loves Bert and Ernie, and you can’t go wrong with zombies…

Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie is reportedly being lined up to star as Catwoman – a character butchered by Halle Berry in a 2004 performance – in a new movie.

The 33-year-old star – who gave birth to twins, the fifth and sixth children she raises with partner Brad Pitt, earlier this month – is said to be in final negotiations with studio bosses to play the feline villain who first appeared in the Batman comics.

Angelina has already been approved for the role by Julie Newmar, who played Catwoman in the Batman TV series from 1966 to 1968.

Julie, now 74, said: “Angelina would own the part. My industry friends tell me she has already made enquiries about the role. I can understand how it would pique her interest. Catwoman is Batman’s one true love.

“She is tremendously popular with women because she’s both a heroine and a villainess.”

Since the TV series, other actresses to take on the role of Catwoman include Michelle Pfeiffer in 1992 movie Batman Returns, while Halle Berry’s portrayal of the villain in 2004 film Catwoman was panned by critics worldwide.

Angelina was recently tipped to be starring in The Thomas Crown Affair 2 alongside Pierce Brosnan, but has been ordered by bosses to put on 10 kilograms for the role. [stuff]

Contains Spoilers

Never watching the series and being oblivious to the X Files-I still had great anticipation for the film. What followed was an illogical dud the left me quite disappointed!

Scully is working for a catholic hospital while Mulder is keeping his distance from the FBI. Unexplainable circumstances arise and the FBI believes that Fox Mulder has something to offer, but the only way to do so is through Dana Scully.

Regaining the partnership Scully (Gillian Anderson) and Mulder (David Duchovny) find the chemistry that attracted so many X-File fans from the series. Although the onscreen chemistry works-the plot of the film is so terribly written and executed that even an oscar performance could not have saved it.

Mulder is working with a pedophile convicted priest who now sees visions of missing women and to find that they would soon face death. FBI agents are clueless and the mysterious Father Joseph Crissman may be their only hope. Finding clues (body parts) of the murders could have possibly been no less than a psychic endeavor that only Mulder believes in.

Mulder is indeed the lead of the FBI investigation for the film, but there is a parallel story with Scully. Scully is wrestling gut instinct and morals and she faces the determination to take a stand and make a difference. One of her patients is a young boy that she has become quite fond of and he is facing a terminal illness-that only Scully thinks can be cured.

Scully decides to move forward regardless of other professional opinions and determines that stem cell research is the key to saving the boys life.

Back to the chase we find the psychic connection of Father Joseph to the murders. One of the Russian murderous madmen was a victim of Father Joseph as a young altar boy serving in the church. Growing up to become a menace with his homosexual lover, the men capture women to utilize healthy organs and body parts for a Frankenstein experiment to replace the body of one of the men-to morph him into a woman. Illogically thought out and left me scratching my head by this point-it leads to the end scene of a total body transplant by swapping one head for the other (well, why not do that in the first place?).

Scully finds a connection of evidence in her stem cell research and ultimately saves the day.

No real “jump” factors through the film that X-Files is legendary for looking over your shoulder while watching your TV in your lounge. Plot was so dodgy that it was a disappointment. Analyzing from even a far out perspective still does not make any sense at all. Very poor portrayal of the church-while they do reasonably depict faith.

Do not spend your money on X-Files I want to believe and if a friend offers to shout you to the movies-suggest staying in and watch the series on DVD.

Reviewed by: Josh Bowlin.
Rating: M – Contains Violence.
Duration: 105 mins.
Genre: Science Fiction.
Director: Chris Carter.
Actors: Gillian Anderson, David Duchovny, Amanda Peet, Billy Connolly, Callum Keith Rennie, Xzibit.
Distributor: Fox.
Release Date: July 31, 2008.

According to FilmJunk, I Am Legend screenwriter Mark Protosevich was dropping hints about a possible sequel way before the movie hit theatres. With the movie making a ton of money there’s a very good chance this movie will be getting a sequel, the only dilemma is how to continue from where the first movie ended off. At the San Diego Comic Con last week, director Francis Lawrence confirmed that there have been discussions about it, and that it would use the ol’ prequel trick to get around any barriers to the story.

“Yes, yes, absolutely, we’re actually trying to crack that. We’re trying to figure out some ideas for it, but yes, it would be a prequel.”

Could a prequel without zombie/vampire mutants still be interesting? It would have to be more of an apocalypse movie, showing the outbreak of the virus, but one where we already know the ending?

I’m not totally sold on this one.

“Watchmen” is set in an alternate 1985 America in which costumed superheroes are part of the fabric of everyday society, and the “Doomsday Clock” – which charts the USA’s tension with the Soviet Union – is permanently set at five minutes to midnight. When one of his former colleagues is murdered, the washed up but no less determined masked vigilante Rorschach sets out to uncover a plot to kill and discredit all past and present superheroes. As he reconnects with his former crime-fighting legion – a ragtag group of retired superheroes, only one of whom has true powers – Rorschach glimpses a wide-ranging and disturbing conspiracy with links to their shared past and catastrophic consequences for the future. Their mission is to watch over humanity… but who is watching the Watchmen?” [imdb]