Indiana Jones, Revisited

I've realized it's actually been a while since I last saw an Indiana Jones movie. With Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull already out, I thought that it might be a good idea to watch the three previous Indy films before I watch the latest installment in the Indiana Jones series.

So I was able to round up the DVDs of the first three movies, and watched 'em all last week. Here's a quick review.

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

Note that the first time this movie came out, I was probably 7 or 8. No, I didn't know the entire film was actually set in the 1930s- hence the Nazi Germans and Indy's choice of handguns.

This movie set the tone for all the other Indiana Jones movies, painting us a picture of what Indy is all about- respected archeologist/professor and occasional adventurer. With the trademark fedora hat, bullwhip, leather jacket and WWI-era revolver.

In Raiders of The Lost Ark, the Nazis are scouring the world to recover the legendary Ark of the Covenant (yeah, the one in the bible), with the idea that it makes an army unstoppable. As such, we see Indy prevent them from doing so, and finding the Ark before the Nazis do.

We were also introduced to Rene Belloq, Indy's nemesis in the movie- an archeologist just like him, but in league with the Nazis. We also meet Marion Ravenwood, Indy's love interest, Sallah- an ally in Egypt, and the sinister Gestapo officer Toht.

For its time, the movie did very well: it cost US$20 million to make, but raked in US$384 million worldwide- making it one of the highest grossing films of all time. Raiders of the Lost Ark also bagged a whole lot of awards, including four of its eight nominated Academy Awards. Almost overnight, the Indiana Jones character became a pop culture icon.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)

No, I didn't know that it was a prequel- set before the first Indy movie. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was set about a year before, in 1935. This time, Indy has to deal with a bloodthirsty cult, and saves the day by rescuing children and the occasional sacred artifact.

Compared to the first movie, this one had more adventure elements and is more horror-oriented. In fact, we hardly see Indy at his day job as respected archeologist/professor. Rather much more of Indiana Jones the adventurer.

Here's something I didn't know: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom actually came up with the PG-13 classification. According to Wikipedia, because of the movie's particularly gruesome scenes,

Spielberg spoke to the MPAA about creating a new rating that would cover the middle ground between a clear PG and a clear R that his films often found themselves on. This led to the creation of a new rating category: PG-13 (which you can read more about here).

Though not as huge as the first, the film was nevertheless, a success. It cost US$28 million to make, and made more than US$333 million worldwide.

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)

For some reason, the producers decided to go back to the original Indiana Jones formula. Not only do we see the whole Indy character (as a professor and as a globetrotting adventurer), we also get flashbacks into Indiana Jones' childhood- and explains a lot of the trademark elements: why he's scared of snakes, what's up with the fedora hat and the bullwhip, etc.

Some characters from the first movie come back for this one, and once again, Indy is up against the Nazis, who are after the Holy Grail this time.

As we all know, River Phoenix plays the young Indiana Jones (during the backstory elements) and Sean Connery plays Indy's father.

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade had a production pricetag of about US$48 million. It turned out to be the biggest movie in 1989, and came back with US$474 million in worldwide box-office sales.


So there you have it. Without a doubt, Indiana Jones does have a reputation to live up to. And personally, I wonder if the latest movie, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull can hold up its own and achieve that sort of legendary status that the previous three films had managed to accomplish.

Cheers, everyone!

A Quick Review on 2008 Summer Movies

As the TV season has come to a close, what with all your favorites shows airing their finales already, and networks announcing the upcoming fall lineup, you know it's definitely summer.

For some, the summer started as early as mid-March. But even now, the kids are on holiday, the ladies' shorts are just getting shorter, and yeah- summer movies are still pretty much in full swing.

Let's take a quick review at Summer Movies 2008: what we've had so far, and what's headed our way these next several weeks.

May 2008

Definitely the biggest movie this month was Marvel Entertainment's Iron Man. The Jon Favreau-directed live action adaptation of one of the biggest names in the Marvel Universe has paid off very nicely for everyone involved in the project. Indeed, Iron Man has the distinction of having the 10th biggest opening weekend of all time, and has (as of this writing) already made almost half a billion dollars in worldwide box-office receipts.

Due to the generally lukewarm response to the first Narnia film, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian didn't open as well as the first (about US$10 million short of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe's opening weekend of US$65.6 million), but is doing rather well. In fact, reviews from both the public and critics have been generally favorable, with the sales to prove it. With worldwide box-office receipts at US$113 million (as of this writing), and still climbing, Disney does have a reason to be happy.

The buzz is, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull just might be another big summer cash cow. In its opening weekend, the latest movie in the Indiana Jones series of flicks had already made US$151 million, making it the second biggest Memorial Day weekend movie (right after Pirates of the Carribean: At World's End). As of this writing, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull had already made over US$311 million worldwide.

Coming up this week is the highly anticipated Sex and the City movie. Heck, you can probably already call it the chick flick of the year. Let's see how it turns out this week.

Also out this month were the romance comedy Made of Honor, starring Patrick Dempsey and Michelle Monaghan, the British comedy Son of Rambow, Frontier(s) - the After Dark HorrorFest movie that had to be shown separately because of its NC-17 rating, and the surprisingly disappointing Speed Racer.

June 2008

Coming out this month: Adam Sandler's latest comedy You Don't Mess With The Zohan and the DreamWorks animated feature Kung Fu Panda starring Jack Black both open on June 6. June 13 sees the re-imagining of the Marvel Universe's The Incredible Hulk, as well as M.Night Shyamalan's latest thriller- The Happening.

Then we also have Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway teaming up for Get Smart and the latest Mike Myers project The Guru, coming out on June 20. Finally we have the Pixar/Walt Disney animated feature Wall-E, and the action-packed Wanted starring Morgan Freeman, James McAvoy and Angelina Jolie coming out on the 27th.

Also interesting: the limited release foreign film Mongol by Sergei Bodrov. It's about a young Genghis Khan and his epic rise to power. Check out the trailer here.

July 2008

This month, we have the off-beat superhero movie Hancock starring Will Smith opening on the 4th of July, and then we have the Guillermo del Toro-directed Hellboy II: The Golden Army opening the week after that.

On July 18, we have Mamma Mia! (the Abba-themed movie starring Meryl Streep) and the Andy Samberg-created Space Chimps. But most importantly, out comes the highly anticipated sequel to Batman Begins, Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight- which I personally hope turns out to be one of the best Batman movies ever.

Check out the trailers here, if you haven't yet, and read about the accompanying animated anthology direct-to-DVD project, Batman: Gotham Knight here.

Wrapping up an impressive summer movie lineup we're going to see Will Ferrell and John C. O'Reilly team up again in Step Brothers, and something for fans of Mulder and Scully- The X-Files: I Want To Believe. Personally, I haven't seen much of the X-Files, but now I have a month to scrounge around for old X-Files episodes and catch the first movie before this one comes out.

We'll come back in a few weeks to see how all these movies have done. I'd say it's a great lineup. And 2008's definitely a great year for summer movies.

Theatrical posters from Wikipedia.

Cheers, everyone!

Gotta Have a Copy of Batman: Gotham Knight

You remember The Animatrix from 2003? When Warner Brothers and the same team that gave us The Matrix came up with a collection of nine animated short films set in The Matrix universe, and set in between the first 2 Matrix movies? That was totally kick-ass.

Now, what if you had the Animatrix all over again, but this time, it's all about Batman? Should be pretty awesome, I say.

Batman: Gotham Knight is due out on July 8 this year, just before The Dark Knight hits cinemas. It features six animated short stories set in between 2005's Batman Begins and this summer's highly-anticipated Batman movie.

Just like The Animatrix, the powers-that-be behind Batman Begins and The Dark Knight have collaborated once again with top anime directors and animators to come up with yet more Gotham City action and kickassery.

Kevin Conroy, the voice of Batman for "Batman: The Animated Series", "Justice League" and "Justice League Unlimited" comes back to reprise his role as the Dark Knight.

Check out this video posted by WarnerBrothersOnline on YouTube:

Now check out the trailer posted by Georgem2789, and a preview/sneak peek shared by Lowekinder, both also shared over YouTube.

Batman: Gotham Knight is the third animated direct-to-DVD project of Warner Premiere and Warner Brothers Animation, the first two releases being Superman: Doomsday and Justice League: The New Frontier. A fourth project, this one on Wonder Woman, is due out either later this year or early next- another DVD worth watching out for.

Picture of The Dark Knight courtesy of Wikipedia.

Cheers, everyone!

Renzie Reviews: Wicked Little Things

Recently-widowed Karen Tunny and her two daughters, Sarah and Emma, start a new life in a small Pennsylvania town up in the mountains, moving into an old house- which had been in the possession of her late husband's family for quite some time now.

What the Tunnys don't know is their new home is not so far away from the site of a horrible mining accident many years ago, where dozens of children were buried alive.

It doesn't take long for the family to realize that there's something strange going on- with their house, the surrounding forest, the townsfolk, and the town itself. Bit by bit, they discover the town's terrible secret- and the 'things' that wander the woods at night.

Wicked Little Things, in my opinion is definitely one of the better films in the After Dark HorrorFest lineup of movies. The rational part of me always tries to figure out the back stories and the motivation of what plagues the main characters- and this movie adequately satisfies my need for an explanation on what's going on.

It has a few 'I'm-at-the-edge-of-my-seat-holding-my-breath' moments, and has just enough gore to make certain scenes stand out, definitely not over-the-top. Well-executed, even more so knowing it was running on an indie film budget.

Final Word: You probably would have liked Wicked Little Things if you caught it at the After Dark Horrorfest from a year and a half ago. If you haven't, it might be worth your while to grab a copy of the DVD, and watch it on a dark night with some easy-to-scare friends for added fun.

Wicked Little Things theatrical poster from Wikipedia.

Cheers, everyone!

Not Excited to Catch Prince Caspian

I've read The Chronicles of Narnia when I was 11 or 12, I think, and J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord of The Rings trilogy soon after that. I enjoyed those books immensely- they gave me that appreciation for other medieval fantasy books, and Dungeons and Dragons and all that crap. Great geeky stuff I was soaking up on in high school and early college.

I gotta admit, I've been disappointed with Walden Media's 2005 big-screen adaptation of C.S. Lewis' The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. Terribly disappointed. Pretty much for watering down everything to get that G-rating. The battles were neither epic nor gritty enough. And for the most part, I didn't care much for our four main characters- The Pevensies- when I totally loved them reading the book as a kid.

I get it that they cast relative unknowns for our main characters. Sure, Skandar Keynes (Edmund) and Georgie Henley (Lucy) were alright, but I found the performances of William Moseley (who played Peter) and Anna Popplewell (who played Susan) totally uninspired and completely forgettable.

So here they are again this summer with the second installment of The Chronicle of Narnia series: Prince Caspian. Again, great story. I've just re-read it several months back, and if you haven't had a chance to grab your own copy, perhaps it's about time you get your own.

Plot: It's been a year since the Pevensies came back from their first adventure. But they find themselves sucked back in to Narnia, and discover to their dismay that 1) over 1,000 years have passed since their last visit, and 2) Narnia is in ruins- the old ways have all been forgotten, and the Telmarines threaten everything that remains of the old, glorious kingdom the children left behind.

Prince Caspian is the last remaining descendant of the Narnian line, but is held in check by his ruthless despot of an uncle, Miraz. Only with the help of the Pevensies can he even hope to restore Narnia to its former glory.

You can check out this trailer we found on YouTube, posted by Luisfalvez:

Trailer looks alright, but given how the previous Chronicles of Narnia movie failed to engage me, I'm just lukewarm about the whole Prince Caspian affair. I'm sure it couldn't be as bad as Speed Racer (can it?), and I still hope this one turns out to be much better than its predecessor, but I ain't holdin' my breath.

Cheers, everyone.

Wanna Watch: Kung Fu Panda

Prepare for awesomeness! Jack Black is back, and this time he's kicking animated ass- in Dreamworks' Kung Fu Panda.

We just caught the trailer a couple weeks back when we saw Iron Man. Yeah, we've been seeing the theatrical poster around, and being the Jack Black/Tenacious D fan that I am, I've heard about this project for a while. But after seeing the Kung Fu Panda trailer- my girlfriend and I decided that this was one movie we should not miss at all.

It's got Jack Black in it. What more do you need? Alright, here are a couple of trailers we found on YouTube. One was posted by Irmik44, and the other by Pinkdeathrose- both very funny. Check it:

Here's the plot as we know it: A great Shifu (Dustin Hoffman's character) has trained the five greatest warriors the world has ever known- the Furious Five.

Each one a martial arts master of a distinct style of kung-fu. We have the charming but deadly Master Viper (voiced by Lucy Liu), the level-headed Master Crane (voiced by David Cross of "Arrested Development"), the easygoing Master Monkey (voiced by Jacky Chan), the bold and strong Master Tiger (Angelina Jolie, in her second movie for the summer) and the quick yet hot-tempered Master Mantis (played by Seth Rogen, of Knocked Up and Superbad).

An evil warlord- Tai Lung (played by Ian McShane, from "Deadwood" and The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising), a vengeful snow leopard who has escaped from his imprisonment. An old prophecy has revealed the Chosen One: Po (voiced by Jack Black), a lazy apprentice noodle-maker who's a huge fan of kung-fu, but has absolutely nothing to offer in terms of actual hand-to-hand combat.

Can Shifu and the Furious Five whip up Po into top fighting form in time to save ancient China from Tai Lung? I'm sure they can, but HOW they get there is a story definitely worth watching. That's the reason you'd want to hustle to cinemas on 06 June this year when it opens.

Dreamworks' Kung Fu Panda is distributed by Paramount Pictures. It is directed by Mark Osborne (who's done a lot of work with Spongebob Squarepants and Weird Al) and John Stevenson (who's done storyboard work on Shrek 2 and Madagascar).

Pictures from AllMoviePhoto.com- they got great stuff: pics, stills and even wallpapers for your desktop. Also check out the official Kung Fu Panda website here for more fun stuff.

Cheers, everyone!

Marvel Announces Lineup Til 2011

With the huge success of Iron Man, Marvel Entertainment has officially announced four other Marvel films after 2009, and had even gone so far as to spill a little bit on each one.

As you all know, we have two other Marvel films coming out this year: The Incredible Hulk in a few months and another Punisher movie much later this year- Punisher: War Zone, which has no connection with the last Punisher flick that came out in 2004.

And then in the summer of 2009, we shall have X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and then nothing after that until now.

Here are the other Marvel Entertainment projects in the works after the summer of 2009:

Iron Man 2. Set for release on 30 April 2010. The first Iron Man made an impressive US$200 million on its opening weekend worldwide. Marvel naturally OK'd its sequel, as soon as the official sales figures came in.

We already know that we'll be seeing more of Gen. Nick Fury and Rhodey (probably as War Machine this time) in the sequel, and that Tony Stark/Iron Man is rumored to be making a cameo in the upcoming Hulk movie. I just wonder how it's all going to play out and tie in with everything else.

The Mighty Thor. Set for release on 04 June 2010. FirstShowing.net actually has an article on Brad Pitt being in the running for the Norse God of Thunder. Nothing official yet, just some online buzz, really.

According to Wikipedia, screenwriter Mark Protosevich (of I am Legend and Poseidon) has been hired to write a script for the live-action Thor film and stated that "It's going to be like a superhero origin story, but not one about a human gaining super powers, but of a god realizing his true potential."

Marvel got Matthew Vaughn (of Stardust, Snatch, and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels) to direct the project. Currently, he's trying to whittle down the budget to a more manageable amount.

We do know this though: Marvel Studio's David Maisel said that Thor will actually be introduced in Iron Man 2, just before his own movie. Again, it's a great tip guaranteed to fire up the message boards on how it's all going to work out.

The First Avenger: Captain America. Set for release on 06 May 2011. We've seen some really horrendous Captain America movies in the past, so we hope this one turns out to be so much better.

However, there are rumors going around that Matthew McConaughey is being considered for the title role. Oh say it ain't so!

Regardless, here's what we know so far: the Captain America movie will lead directly into The Avengers. According to FirstShowing.net, whoever is cast as Steve Rogers/ Captain America will actually be making two movies at once - since the character will be introduced in the first movie and head straight into The Avengers.

Also, according to Wikipedia, in The Incredible Hulk (coming out in a couple of months), General Ross mentions a World War II program that created a super soldier formula to Emil Blonsky, who leaps at this chance to defeat the Hulk. Viewers see this as a nod to Captain America.

Has anyone confirmed this? Rumor has it that Captain America's shield can be seen in this last Iron Man movie during the scene in which Jarvis is attempting to remove Tony's suit. No idea what the adamantium shield is doing in Stark's workshop, but there's another reason to watch Iron Man all over again.

Finally, The Avengers. Set for release on July 2011, just a couple of months after the Captain America movie. We've been talking about how Marvel would like to tie in all these superheroes for a big-ass movie, given their current direction. With all the right pieces in place, they finally have it. Word is, Jon Favreau, who directed Iron Man, wants in on the project.

Now here's more from FirstShowing.net:

Regarding more Hulk movies, Maisel's response was "we definitely plan on continuing." But we all know that depends on how well Edward Norton's reimagining does this June. In addition, Maisel gave this last update, "I can't give any other updates other than to say it's in development and everybody's excited about Spider-Man 4."

So as far as we can tell, we might actually have more Marvel movies coming up, depending on the success of The Incredible Hulk. So mark your calendars, true believers, and troop to the cinemas to support the next few Marvel movies. If the execution on Iron Man was any indication on how Marvel makes their flicks now, then we can all expect more than our money's worth when they hit the box offices.

Pictures from Wikipedia. Care for a trip? Check out the opening themes from the old 60's Marvel Superhero cartoons here on my other blog, "Too Much TV: Renzie on TV".

Cheers, everyone!

Renzie Reviews: The Hamiltons

I recently had the chance to watch the indie horror movie The Hamiltons. The movie came out in 2006, directed by The Butcher Brothers (Mitchell Altieri and Phil Flores), and was part of the "8 Films To Die For" line-up of the very first After Dark HorrorFest in November that year.

If every family has its secrets, The Hamiltons sure takes the cake. The film, in essence, is a family drama, and revolves around the lives of the Hamilton siblings.

Our main character, Francis, has his trusty video camera, sets off to shoot a "school project" about his family. Bit by bit, we are introduced to the other characters. There's eldest brother David, normally reserved and subdued, who assumes the responsibility of caring for his siblings upon the accidental death of their parents.

Then we have the volatile Wendell and goth-chick Darlene; fraternal twins who seem to share a bond that keeps them apart from everybody else.

Everything seems to be normal within the Hamilton household, as the siblings deal with everyday life- school, work, family- but through Francis' camera, we slowly see what the Hamiltons are really all about.

Here's what I think about the movie. First off: I think it's great that an indie movie can deliver a captivating enough story, with minimal budget, virtually unknown actors, and not much in the way of special effects.

That being said, the movie didn't scare me at all, or disturb me to some extent. True, it is dark, but I was expecting a horror movie that would play with my fears somewhat, and not a family drama disguised as a horror flick.

Overall, I would say The Hamiltons is alright. Maybe a 3.5 out of 5. Worth watching, but manage your expectations somewhat. Probably worth getting the DVD, but only because it's part of a collection of a whole set of horror movies.

Despite my opinion, the movie is not only a fan favorite, it is also highly-acclaimed. After all, The Hamiltons is the winner of the Santa Barbara International Film Festival and the Malibu International Film Festival.

Grab a copy of The Hamiltons and tell me what you think about it.

Whatever Happened To Michael Biehn?

Just a few days ago, I saw the first Terminator movie and then Aliens for the umpteenth time. Aliens just happens to be one of my favorite flicks of all time, incidentally.

I noticed that Michael Biehn played supporting roles in both movies: as father-of-John Connor, freedom-fighter-from-the-future Kyle Reese in 1984's The Terminator, and as the last Marine standing in Aliens (1986). Wow, it seems James Cameron likes this guy enough to cast him in two movies.

Turns out he was cast in yet another Cameron movie: 1989's The Abyss. Besides those projects he also had several others. He played the role of a Navy SEAL in two other movies (first being The Abyss): in 1990's Navy SEALs, and The Rock from 1996.

Other memorable movies he appeared in were The Seventh Sign (1988) as husband to Demi Moore's character, as Bob Hargrove in the David Caruso/Linda Fiorentino suspense thriller Jade (1995), and as Johnny Ringo in the 1993 Western, Tombstone.

I was just wondering: the dude starred in two of the biggest sci-fi flicks of all time. In fact, 20th Century Fox even lobbied hard to get Biehn nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor (for his performance in The Abyss), but that didn't work out.

In the 80's up to the mid-90's, he might have been able to land more lead roles in action films. But he didn't. At the time, it seemed that you had to be a Sylvester Stallone or an Arnold Schwarzenegger, or maybe even a Bruce Willis to bag the big projects.

I couldn't help but feel that he might have been able to squeeze a little more from his accomplishments- though he managed to star in a few other memorable projects lately. He was in 2002's Clockstoppers, and in the Robert Rodriguez project Grindhouse/Planet Terror (from 2007).

Word is, he's being considered for a role in the upcoming James Cameron project, Avatar. This new sci-fi epic movie is due out on December 2009, and stars (among others) Sigourney Weaver, Michelle Rodriguez and Giovanni Ribisi. Supposedly, Michael Biehn entered talks with James Cameron for a possible role in the film, but his involvement is not confirmed.

Guess we'll have to wait and see.

First Look: Pics from G.I. Joe The Movie!

In case you haven't heard just yet, Paramount Pictures is coming up with the live-action adaptation of the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero Hasbro action-figure toy franchise.

G.I. Joe: The Movie is due out on August 2009. The film is directed by Stephen Sommers (the dude who gave us The Mummy series of flicks and Van Helsing), and written by Stuart Beattie (who was involved in 30 Days of Night, The Messengers and Pirates of the Carribean: Curse of the Black Pearl).

Just last week, several movie blogs have posted pictures of G.I. Joe: The Movie's ensemble cast. Without further ado, let's get on with it.

Dennis Quaid is General Hawk. General Clayton Abernathy, or Hawk, is G.I. Joe's team leader. Quaid described Hawk as "a cross between Chuck Yeager and Sgt. Rock and maybe a naïve Hugh Hefner". News is, not only has he filmed all his scenes within the first two months of production, but Quaid is signed on for two sequels.

Collider.com has a larger picture of Hawk, which you can check out here.

Channing Tatum is Duke. First Sergeant Conrad Hauser, or Duke, is the team's field commander and second-in-command of the G.I. Joe Team after Hawk.

Duke was usually regarded as the G.I. Joe poster boy; he was at the top of his class at Fort Benning, has undergone Special Forces training and worked with South Vietnamese Tribesmen. He was also an instructor in four different Special Forces schools. Despite his accomplishments, he has repeatedly turned down any officer commissions offered to him. He believes a commander's place is with his troops, not behind the battle lines.

Trivia: the role of Duke was originally offered to Mark Wahlberg. Check out the high resolution picture of Duke on the MTV Movies Blog.

Rachel Nichols plays the role of Master Sergeant Shana O'Hara, or Scarlett, G.I. Joe's resident Counter-Intelligence Specialist. You probably best remember her playing the role of C.I.A. Special Agent Rachel Gibson on the later seasons of the ABC Television series Alias, as Sydney Bristow's (played by Jennifer Garner) protege.

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje plays Heavy Ordnance Expert Lamont A. Morris, or Heavy Duty. You probably best remember him as Ecko on the ABC Television series Lost.

Heavy Duty's G.I. Joe file card says he also has a passion for classical guitars and Bach. He is described as being unafraid of any situation despite heavy enemy fire.

Check out the high resolution Heavy Duty pic here on ComingSoon.net.

Marlon Wayans is Wallace W. Weems, or Ripcord.

Marlon doesn't appear with brother Shawn on this movie. Some of his past projects included White Chicks, Little Man, and the first two Scary Movie flicks.

A fan of the franchise, Wayans was cast on the strength of his performance in Requiem for a Dream, according to Wikipedia.

Check out the exclusive high-res image of Ripcord on Chud.com.

Ray Park is the bad-ass G.I. Joe Commando, Snake Eyes. The mysterious Snake Eyes has always been a fan favorite. He's not only an expert in hand-to-hand combat and martial arts, according to the Marvel comic book, Snake Eyes is also a ninja master. His face was disfigured in a helicopter accident, which also left him completely mute.

Snake Eyes will be brought to life by Ray Park, who you probably best remember as the Sith Lord Darth Maul in Star Wars Episode I, and as Toad in the first X-Men movie. Ray Park has a second degree black belt in Northern Shaolin Kung Fu, and is also well-versed in wushu and gymnastics.

Saïd Taghmaoui is Alvin R. Kibbey, codenamed Breaker, the team's communications specialist. Breaker is supposedly familiar with practically every bit of communication gear on the planet, and has a habit of chewing gum in any situation.

You can probably remember Saïd from his previous projects Vantage Point, Hidalgo, and The Kite Runner.

Check out the exclusive high-res photo of Breaker on Dark Horizons.

Our main villain in the movie is weapons dealer and warmonger Destro, played by English stage, television and film actor, Christopher Eccleston, well-known for his roles in Shallow Grave, 28 Days Later, and the ninth incarnation of the Doctor in the most recent Doctor Who.

Yes, he still gets to wear the familiar Destro mask. This time, he is the man behind the Military Armaments Research System, or M.A.R.S., a global manufacturer of hi-tech weaponry.

Check out the write-up on Destro, as well as the high-resolution pic, here on IESB.net.

Siena Miller plays the European aristocrat Anastasia DeCobray, more notoriously known as The Baroness, Cobra's Intelligence Officer and supposedly, Destro's partner.

As the story goes, Siena Miller prepared with four months of weight training, boxing sessions and learned to fire live ammunition, in the end, gaining five pounds of muscle. Check out the high-resolution pic of The Baroness on IGN.com Movies.

Lastly, we have a shot of Snake-Eyes' arch-nemesis, the equally bad-ass ninja bodyguard Storm Shadow. Played by South Korean actor Lee Byung-hun.

Storm Shadow is supposedly Cobra Commander's yojimbo and assassin. In the comic book storyline, he and Snake-Eyes come from the same ninja clan.

You can see the full picture on LatinoReview.com.

G.I. Joe: The Movie also stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt (formerly of the TV comedy, Third Rock From The Sun) as Cobra Commander, supermodel Karolína Kurková as Cover Girl, Hawk's aide-de-camp, and the Mummy himself, Arnold Vosloo as the mercenary Zartan. Brendan Fraser supposedly makes a cameo in the movie, with a still un-named role.

Hope you enjoyed this post. Cheers, everyone!

Speed Racer: Crash and Burn

Speed Racer may very well be this summer's biggest box-office disappointment.

According to Nikki Finke of Deadline Hollywood Daily late last Friday, the Wachowski Brothers' project had only made a dismal US$6.1 million on its opening day, with film experts predicting an overall weekend take of US$20-25 million as kids bump the movie attendance up in matinee screenings.

Speed Racer debuted at #3 at the box office, with the Ashton Kutcher/Cameron Diaz romantic comedy What Happens in Vegas opening at #2, and Marvel Entertainment's Iron Man holding strong at #1 on its second week.

What Happens In Vegas opened last Friday with US$6.8 million, and is expected to make about US$20 million for the entire weekend. Iron Man has made US$15 million on Friday night alone, bringing the total movie earnings to almost US$180 million in the US alone.

Figures tracked from overseas also show disappointing figures; for all the hype, Speed Racer only debuted at #6 in the United Kingdom, and #9 in Germany. The film was expected to do better overseas, but there are no official figures from Warner Brothers just yet.

Reports say that Speed Racer had cost about US$180 million to make, and another estimated US$100 million to market. Meanwhile, What Happens in Vegas only cost some US$30 million to make.

Speed Racer stars Emile Hirsch (of Lords of Dogtown and The Girl Next Door), Matthew Fox (Jack Shepard of "Lost") and Cristina Ricci (of Monster, and more recently, Black Snake Moan), and is directed by brothers Andy and Larry Wachowski, same guys who gave us V for Vendetta and the Matrix trilogy.

Why Iron Man Works For Me

I'm a little bit concerned as far as comic book-to-movie adaptations go. I've read my fair share of comics when I was a kid, and even know enough to make me a borderline comic book geek.

While it's great to see my favorite comic book heroes get a big-screen treatment, it usually ends up disappointing for me to some extent, because the movie studios almost never get it completely right.

For example: in the X-Men trilogy- weren't Iceman and Angel supposed to be part of the original team, and therefore, shouldn't be kids but rather contemporaries of Cyclops, Jean Grey and The Beast? Wasn't Gwen Stacey supposed to be killed off in Spider-man? With the earlier Batman movies: why was Bane a mere henchman for Poison Ivy while he's a criminal mastermind in his own right (who broke Batman's back, btw), or why was the Bat-Jet equipped with guns? Don't get me started with Superman Returns.

So you can understand me when I tell you that while watching Iron Man, I was waiting for a disappointment to happen. I was genuinely surprised that I wasn't disappointed at all. In fact, Iron Man is probably one of the best-made superhero movies in a long while. I'll tell you why.

1. Iron Man stuck to the original comic book origins. Sure it was made contemporary (versus the Vietnam setting in the 60's), but the modern-day treatment totally worked, and is therefore easy to swallow. It's the concept that remains intact: inventor/industrialist Tony Stark gets caught up in a war, gets kidnapped, forced to make weapons but builds the Mark I Iron Man armor to escape. I'm glad they didn't screw that one up.

2. Robert Downey, Jr. is the perfect Tony Stark. You just gotta give props for Robert Downey, Jr.- the man is a fine actor, and he definitely did a good job bringing Tony Stark to life. True to comic character: arrogant, spoiled, just the right amount of smarminess and snark, but also intelligent and in control. The result: a truly entertaining portrayal, probably making Tony Stark more likeable than, say, Christian Bale's Bruce Wayne.

To think I've moderately enjoyed Batman Begins. Robert Downey, Jr. totally raised the bar, as far as superhero alter-egos are concerned.

Does anybody remember the rumors several years ago that Tom Cruise was slated to play Tony Stark? Now, you can't even imagine him being played by anyone else. Bravo, Robert Downey, Jr. Bravo.

3. Well-paced Iron Man action. When you watch a movie about a superhero, you definitely want to see a lot of your title character, and how he totally kicks ass.

Wasn't the formula fairly simple? Give the audience some action every 20 minutes, or lose 'em. That was the problem of movies like Ang Lee's Incredible Hulk, or that Ghost Rider movie with Nicholas Cage in it.

Here, you see a good serving of Iron Man: how Tony Stark uses him to break free from his captors, and how we see the Mark III armor go vigilante over the Middle East. Even the whole process of Stark designing and testing the armor was a real treat.

And it's pretty clear too. You have a clear picture of what weapons he's using, or how he's beating up (or getting creamed by) Stane's Iron Monger. No shaky, unnecessary fast-paced editing needed here. That's some good action captured on screen.

4. No forced romance angle. This is usually where Hollywood movies fail miserably: writing in the romance elements. The X-Men Trilogy came up short with the Scott Summers-Jean Grey-Wolverine love triangle. Katie Holmes was totally unnecessary as Rachel Dawes in Batman Begins. As for the Fantastic Four, was there ever a Sue Storm-Doctor Doom relationship to begin with?

You don't have that forced romance written in the Iron Man script. Gwyneth Paltrow makes an amazing Pepper Potts. Heck, I never gave Ms. Potts a second glance until the movie. Just like Robert Downey, Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow had taken the character to a completely different level.

In fact, I was cringing when there were signs of the whole romance element setting in, midway into the movie. And then, it all plays out alright- no cheesy dialogs, no terrible after-taste, and most importantly, everybody sticks to their roles in the end.

For that, you have to give the writers credit. The execution of a well-written script totally shows in Iron Man.

5. Great Supporting Actors. Specifically for me? A bald, bearded Jeff Bridges- he makes an amazing Obadiah Stane. I love the way he's father-like yet schmoozy when it comes to the Stark-Stane dynamic. Sure, he was more ruthless and menacing in the comic book, but Stane was re-written well to suit the movie's plot: he comes at you with smiles and pats on the back, when he's actually pursuing his own agenda- now that's menacing of a different sort.

I'm sure we'll see Terence Howard's character as Rhodey shine some more in the next Iron Man movie. And then you have a surprise appearance by Samuel L. Jackson? Something's cooking, and you know it's gonna be good.

6. Easter Eggs for all the Fanboys. I love it when these movie adaptations intentionally hide little messages and hints. Particularly when they hint at something in coming sequels, or make reference to odd bits of trivia and information.

Iron Movie has a good amount of it: use of the theme from the old 60's cartoon, a cameo by Stan Lee- like he usually does in every Marvel movie, and a hint of what the next Iron Man movie holds for us.

The Bottom Line:

Iron Man has accomplished what no superhero movie has done in a while: set the standards for a truly entertaining piece of film. All the elements have come together so well: plot, storyline, characters, actors- everything was brilliant and memorable. Jon Favreau did an excellent job running the show.

I can only hope that Marvel keeps this up: the re-imagined Incredible Hulk will be out in a few months, and Wolverine will be out next summer. Can The Dark Knight outdo itself this time, and at least come up to par with Iron Man? I truly hope so.

Photos from ScreenRant.com and Wikipedia. Read "Everything You Need To Know About Iron Man", a special feature also on Renzie on Movies. You can read Part 1 here, and Part 2 here.

Cheers, everyone.

The Latest Dark Knight Trailer

Just thought you'd like to check out the new Dark Knight trailer here, which came out just this week, and shared by Xxjalaldevilxx on YouTube. Enjoy.

I've also put the other two trailers here, this one was played right before the I Am Legend screenings. Shared by wmdeez on YouTube.

And here's the very first teaser that came out, shared by aprupp, also on YouTube.

Looking forward to catching The Dark Knight on the big screen this summer. The sequel to Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins (2005) comes out in late July, this one based on the storyline of Batman: The Long Halloween- which you should grab a copy of, if you haven't yet.

Cheers, everyone!

Renzie Reviews: The Messengers

I've had the chance to watch The Messengers on Star Movies the other day.

I have to admit: I had high expectations for the movie- after all, it's a project from The Pang Brothers. These are the same guys who gave us the Asian Horror favorite The Eye (and its sequels) and action-packed Bangkok Dangerous. Plus one of the brothers (Danny) had also worked on Infernal Affairs (and its sequel and prequel)- a great movie from which Martin Scorsese drew inspiration from for The Departed.

The Messengers is a thriller directed by The Pang Brothers, and produced by Sam Raimi. I initially thought there was an original Asian version of the film, but later found out that it was Hollywood-backed from the very beginning.

Weird things start happening in the Solomon household after the entire family makes the move from the city to start a sunflower farm. But only the kids- teenager Jess and younger brother Ben- get to see the worst of it all. Naturally, all this tension threatens to tear the family apart- until they find out what's really going on- which is what the whole film is all about.

Like I mentioned, I had high hopes for the film. But it didn't really settle well with me. I'd say it would probably be because the movie didn't offer anything new to me in terms of scares and horror. Even the ghosts in the movie- with all the writhing and scuttling about on the ceiling and everything- almost seems so common now.

I had at least hoped for a brilliant twist in the end, but unfortunately it was rather predictable through-and-through.

My gauge for a good thriller, or a good horror movie, is that it screws you up after you've watched it- it makes you avoid all the usual everyday things. The Ring (Ringu- the original Japanese version) fucked me up so bad that I'd hate to put in a VHS tape into a player, answer an unknown number on my phone or even look at a static TV screen. Nightmare on Elm Street made me afraid of sleeping when I was a kid. Stir of Echoes would make me think twice about going under hypnosis or whatever harmless party prank.

With The Messengers? Don't move into a run-down farm in the middle of nowhere. You know shit's gonna happen when you find yourself in the middle of a crow infestation. And for Bob's sake, listen to the kids sometimes.

Final Word: probably worth watching once, but I wouldn't get me a copy on DVD.

Cheers, everyone!

Wanna Watch: The Happening

M. Night Shyamalan is at it again with another thriller to blow your minds. This one's called The Happening- a movie he wrote, co-produced and directed.

I don't know much beyond the trailer- which I got from iTunes. Supposedly, the world is hit by some global environment crisis. Exactly what kind, we don't know just yet- only that there's some strange things going on.

The movie mentions "honeybees disappearing". Honeybees disappearing is a phenomenon called Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD)- you can read about it here on Wikipedia. Supposedly, two reasons that could be causing CCD is electromagnetic radiation, and climate change.

How this all ties in with the movie, I have no idea- if it does tie in at all. In any case, you can see it here for yourself. Here's the trailer if you haven't seen it yet.



The Happening is due out on June 13 this year- and yes, that's a Friday the 13th. The Happening stars Mark Wahlberg, Zooey Deschanel and John Leguizamo.

Check out the official movie website here.

Cheers, everyone!

Iron Man: Everything You Need To Know, Part 2.

This is the second part of our continuing series on "Everything You Need To Know About Iron Man". If you haven't read Part 1 yet, you can check it out here.

More About Iron Man in the Comics

In September 1963, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby thought it might be a good idea to feature multiple Marvel heroes in one comic- so they put together The Mighty Thor, The Incredible Hulk, Ant Man, The Wasp together with Iron Man in what is now known as the very first publication of The Avengers.

As a founding member of The Avengers, Iron Man is involved with dealing with foes no single superhero can withstand. But in his own comic series, he has to deal with anything from Communist threats (with villains like The Black Widow, Crimson Dynamo and Titanium Man), threats to his company, Stark Industries (with villains like Obadiah Stane/Iron Monger and Justin Hammer), and more recently, threats to National Security.

In the comics, Stark has been portrayed as an arrogant billionaire playboy more than a level-headed businessman. He's also had to deal with issues like alcoholism on top of his deteriorating health.

He seems to be managing well, however- Stark Enterprises (which had gone through several name changes in the comic book series- Stark Industries, Stark International, Stark Innovations, Stark Solutions and just before this one, Stark/Fujikawa) has always been the leader in cutting-edge technologies, not just weapon systems- in fact, Stark constantly supplies governments and organizations like S.H.I.E.L.D., the Avengers and even the X-Men with the latest in armaments and gear.

For the longest time, however, and only until recently, the cover for Iron Man was that he was Tony Stark's bodyguard and corporate mascot. Occasionally, James Rhodes would don the Iron Man armor when both Stark and Iron Man would have to make an appearance together.

In a storyline from the 90's, Rhodes would see more time as Iron Man, and later wear a more heavily-armed version of the armor known as War Machine. He'd even go as far as running Stark's company while Tony takes time out due to his deteriorating health.

After some drama between him and Stark, Rhodey eventually goes solo, taking the power suit with him. In time, he and Stark would reconcile, and their friendship continues- with Stark as Iron Man, and Rhodey doing his own thing as War Machine.

When the Marvel Universe did a darker, grittier, modernized re-imagining of The Avengers in a totally separate comic book title, The Ultimates, Tony Stark was re-written as having a brain tumor, instead of having bits of shrapnel threatening to tear his heart apart.

Also, his identity as Iron Man is publicly known- one of the reasons why General Nick Fury asked him to join The Ultimates (or the re-written Avengers) in the first place: to give the superhero team some much-needed publicity and likability.

What Now For Iron Man?

I walked out of the cinema extremely satisfied. Not only was Iron Man a kick-ass movie, the clip they showed right after the credits looks very promising- not only are we expecting to see Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, but the producers let it slip that for the sequel, we might see The Avengers as well.

According to FirstShowing.net,

The buzz and performance of Iron Man so far has convinced Marvel to already start work on the sequel.

It seems that we might actually see the second Iron Man movie by April or May 2010. You can read the rest of the article here.

Cheers, everyone!

Iron Man: Everything You Need To Know, Part 1.

No doubt about it, it's one of the most highly anticipated movies of the year. Iron Man is Marvel Entertainment's latest blockbuster offering. The movie has enjoyed a stupendous amount of buzz, and fans only hope that Iron Man lives up to the hype.

I've seen the Iron Man earlier today. And it was awesome. Oh, and don't forget to stick around until after the end credits- a lot of people left the theater without seeing the kick-ass Samuel L. Jackson epilogue.

In any case, just like any good motion picture, it had spurred a lot of post-movie discussions. So I've been asked several questions about it- usually along the lines of: "Was that how it really happened in the comics?"

I must confess, I am no comic book geek, but I do know enough about Iron Man (I am a RPG geek though, and we did play a lot of Marvel Superheroes back in high school and college). So for everyone who needs a little brushing up on Marvel's Golden Avenger, here we go:

Iron Man the Marvel Comic

The idea of Iron Man first came about in 1963, and it was the brainchild of Stan Lee, together with Jack Kirby, along with writers Larry Leiber and Don Heck. It was Stan Lee who fleshed out the Tony Stark character, apparently drawing inspiration from Howard Hughes- a real-life multi-billionaire, inventor, adventurer and ladies' man.

Iron Man didn't have his own comic at first; his first appearance was on Tales of Suspense #39- a sci-fi and supernatural anthology title.

Interestingly enough, he started out with the clunky dull grey armor. By the next issue, his armor was now golden, and then another redesign happened by issue #48- this time with the more familiar red-and-gold body armor.

He finally had his own comic in May 1968 with The Invincible Iron Man #1.

Origins of Iron Man

Unlike many of the superheroes at the time, Tony Stark wasn't bombarded with radiation. Instead, he's a natural when it comes to machines, supposedly a boy genius of sorts. Plus he's independently wealthy, having inherited his father's multi-billion dollar company, upon his parents' untimely and accidental death (they died in a car crash).

The circumstances regarding the creation of Iron Man has been generally the same: Stark, as head of Stark Industries, goes off to check out the American war effort (in Vietnam in the original 1963 story, and then in Afghanistan in the 90's, and finally in the Middle East in the 2008 movie). He gets injured in an explosion, and the enemy captures him, ordering him to design weapons for them.

His injuries are pretty bad though, with shrapnel bits threatening to tear up his heart. A fellow prisoner (Yin Sen) constructs a magnetic chest plate to keep the shrapnel from moving, thereby saving Stark's life. They then design a suit of powered armor in an effort to escape their captors. Stark uses the armor to escape, but Yin Sen dies in the attempt. So Stark uses the Mark I armor to blow up the enemy encampment, and flies off to rejoin the US forces, where he meets pilot James "Rhodey" Rhodes along the way.

The Iron Man Armor

Tony Stark has a workshop full of power suits, variants of the original Iron Man Armor as he constantly upgrades them, or creates one to fulfill a particular mission.

By default though, the Iron Man Armor gives Tony Stark protection against physical attack (i.e. most small arms fire) and energy attacks (via a force field), enhanced strength, the power of flight, life support, and an array of sensors and high-tech weaponry.

His main weapons are his repulsor rays (coming from his gloves), and the chestplate-mounted unibeam (which was originally just a spotlight, but in time has become a light-based weapon).

If you want more information on all the Iron Man armors, you can read up on Wikipedia here.

We continue our discussions on our favorite armored superhero with "Everything You Need To Know About Iron Man, Part 2", which you can read all about right here.

Cheers, everyone!