Rama's Screen

Disney has released a full new trailer for the English version of PONYO from the legendary animator Hayao Miyazaki. He showed up at the Comic-Con ‘09 and was greeted with standing ovation, everybody in Hall H recognized his amazing contributions to the world of animation. Some of the Q&A session didn’t run smoothly because, well, let’s just say that things got lost in translation but nobody complained. Miyazaki was in the house and that itself was an honor.

From the Academy Award®-winning director and world-renowned Japanese animation legend Hayao Miyazaki comes PONYO, a story inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale The Little Mermaid. Already a box-office success in Japan, the story of a young and overeager goldfish named Ponyo (voiced by NOAH CYRUS) and her quest to become human features an outstanding roster of voice talent, including CATE BLANCHETT, MATT DAMON, TINA FEY, CLORIS LEACHMAN, LIAM NEESON, LILY TOMLIN, BETTY WHITE and FRANKIE JONAS as Sosuke, a young boy who befriends Ponyo.

PONYO opens August 14th, 2009

Holy crap! Late last year, I thought to myself, ya now what.. it wouldn’t be so bad to remake the 1973 musical JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR, because frankly, the movie put me to sleep halfway through the end. Well, whatdya know.. according to Riskybizblog, Universal wants to do a remake. Man, I should be careful of what I wish for. Ok, let’s see,.. I want a tune melt sandwich delivered to me by 2 hot girls in bikinis who are already waiting outside front door right now…. Damn, these things don’t always work.

The report says that the studio is compelled to develop this project after Mamma Mia! the movie earned $600 Million worldwide last year. Producer Marc Platt and Universal want 500 Days of Summer director Marc Webb to direct.
I don’t have any objection to this. 500 Days of Summer is one of the my favorites comedy this year and Webb was once a music video director so he’s not the wrong man for the job.
But I kinda wish, the great Norman Jewison would return to take on this job again. If Ridley Scott could come back to his ALIEN roots, then why can’t Jewison?! The man got nominated for 7 Oscars and hasn’t won a single statuette.
Either that or have Bill Condon (Dreamgirls) do this one instead.

The original version was based on the rock opera by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber, highlighting the last weeks before Jesus’ crucifixion.

Bring me that horizon! Johnny Depp’s plan was to have PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN 4 before THE LONE RANGER gets made. It got interrupted a bit when the director of the trilogy, Gore Verbinski chose not to return so that he can focus on BIOSHOCK movie but then that project also got interrupted by budget problem and now I wonder if Verbinski had any regret leaving Jack Sparrow’s ocean too soon.

Super producer Jerry Bruckheimer and Disney have been scouting for directors but I doubt they’re looking for Caribbean filmmaker. According to Variety, one of the names considered is Rob Marshall who brought us the Oscar winning musical, Chicago. He also helmed Memoirs of a Geisha, that movie would’ve been great if the lead cast were actually Japanese and the upcoming musical Nine starring Daniel Day-Lewis.

Disney wants production for PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN 4 to start in 2010 and has started the plan to cast new characters for this fourth installment. Marshall’s deal is not locked in yet but if all goes well, we should be hearing an official confirmation in a few days from now.

This has got to be the most entertaining Dark Castle films I’ve ever seen but probably because it’s more of a suspense than horror. ORPHAN is shocking, intense, and… Read the rest of this entry »

This is yet another romantic comedy that’s interesting only in the first half and then goes down hill from there. UGLY TRUTH has its funny moments but is… Read the rest of this entry »

Late last year, WB hired scribe John Brownlow (Sylvia) to pen the script for CAPTAIN BLOOD The remake which will be directed by Philip Noyce (Patriot Games). Some significant changes have happened. According to Variety, Noyce is nowhere near this project,.. it now belongs to Michael and Peter Spierig and they got the job because.. Producer Bill Gerber loved their innovative, animatic idea of having the pirates fight.. in space.

O boy… I’ve always wanted to see some swashbuckling action in a place where oxygen level is close to none.. not really. I would’ve tolerated this remake, but now that the characters are going to literally go out of this world, now it just seems like a cheap desperate gimmick.

Producer Gerber said that eventhough the time and place have been drastically changed, the film will be fairly faithful to the plot of the original movie. His defense is “There are some things you don’t mess with”
O, which part? Where Peter Blood rescues the woman he loves.. or when they both wear rocket packs and fly to Mars? Unfreakin’believable!

Here’s the 1935 original Movie plot:

Adapted from the novel by Rafael Sabatini (who also penned The Sea Hawk), this rousing adventure chronicles the travails of Peter Blood (Flynn), a righteous doctor unjustly sold into slavery for treating the wounds of rebels. Sent to a Jamaican plantation where he toils under the brutal whip of Lionel Atwill and seethes with passion for his fair niece (the astonishingly beautiful Olivia de Havilland), Blood escapes from bondage with his fellow prisoners and becomes a gentleman rogue pirate of the Caribbean.

Dr. Peter Blood is arrested and sentenced to hang for treating a wounded rebel. Instead of death, he is sent to Barbados as a slave. When the Spanish attack the port city of Bridgetown, Blood and his fellow slaves capture the Spaniard’s ship and set out to sea, where he becomes the notorious pirate, Captain Blood. Blood’s foe, Captain Levasseur, captures the son and daughter of the Governor of Tortuga, and takes them to the Island of the Virgin Magra (off screen known as Three Arch Bay) but Blood and Levasseur leave their buccaneer mark upon the island.

UPDATE: Variety says Spielberg will only produce MATT HELM, he won’t be helming the project. Paramount will start the search for director.

You would think it’d be easy by now to just minie minie miny mo your way into the next gig if your name was Steven Spielberg but that’s not the case according to Variety. The most influential filmmaker of all time got so many choices he doesn’t where to start. And I thought there were only Lincoln, Oldboy remake, Indiana Jones 5 but it’s more serious than that because the article says the economic fate of Dreamworks lies in his hands of whatever project he picks.

One of the subjects brought to the table is one from the past. MATT HELM, a fictional character from 27 Novel series by author Donald Hamilton, about a U.S. government counter-agent whose primary job is to kill or nullify enemy agents in the post WWII-Cold War era. Some considered it American answer to James Bond. I thought it was comedy. Dean Martin played the character in 4 movies back in the 60s. Martin could sing alright, but he definitely did not have the Sean Connery charm.

Spielberg isn’t locked in for this yet. This is not a confirmation info in any form. Basically the report says it’s one of the things beings considered, he’s actually looking into 3 or 4 other scripts as well. Dreamsworks has developed MATT HELM for years before leaving it at Paramount but it’s not even 100% owned by Paramount, a studio which even might hire another filmmaker instead of Spielberg, to save money, that if it’s serious about moving forward with production. It’s not even sure if Spielberg wants to direct or just produce the movie.
Once again, you would think it’d be easy by now if your name was Steven Spielberg.

Maybe super-producer Jerry Bruckheimer figured.. if his old time partner director Michael Bay (Bad Boys, Armageddon) chose Steven Spielberg instead to be the ultimate godfather of Transformers movies, hell he’s just going to have to go out and have his own robot movies.
And if there’s one thing Bruckheimer loves is franchise. He’s got Pirates of the Caribbean empire in his pocket, of course he’s going to make many more Prince of Persia movies after the first one arrives next year and now according to Variety, he’s bought the screen rights to the graphic novel WORLD WAR ROBOTS, written by Ashley Wood, from IDW Publishing. And guess what guys?! WORLD WAR ROBOT 2 graphic novel comes out this year. So all Bruckheimer would have to do is find the right screenwriter and director for the job

Here’s the official synopsis for World War Robot…
“Award-winning designer/artist Ashley Wood (Popbot, Zombies Vs. Robots) has handled his share of robots over the years. And now, he presents total robot war! In World War Robot, a dwindling band of humans and robots face off in a battle that will likely end humanity as we know it – on Earth, on the Moon, and on Mars, too! Badass battles, really intense human/robot drama, and even a little black humor and political intrigue are the order of the day in this oversize, standalone epic courtesy of Wood.”

And it’s settled! If you remember from previous info, there was a disagreement in ALIEN prequel camp. Ridley Scott and his brother Tony Scott wanted to give the directing chance to Carl Rinsch but Fox studio won’t move forward unless Ridley himself does the job instead. Seems like Scotts-Free gave in to Fox’s demands because according to Variety, the original helmer of the 1979 classic Alien, the great Ridley Scott will return to direct ALIEN Prequel. It’s official!

Along with that, a screenwriter is hired and his name is Jon Spaihts. Apparently the studio and the Scott brothers were highly impressed with his work on Keanu Reeves‘ upcoming sci-fi movies, Passangers and Shadow 19.
The plot to this prequel is not known yet but it will precede Alien and Sigourney Weaver already made clear that she won’t be reprising her role because she said Ripley “didn’t have access to the creature until the first movie”
No word yet on when ALIEN prequel will start production but I’m sure every sci-fi geek out there is keeping a close eye on this one. It’d be rad if we some teasers for this movie at next year’s Comic-Con.

Check out this new poster for THE INFORMANT via Yahoo. Funny little artwork, huh? Kinda like something you’d see in newspaper comic section. Judging form the trailer and the previous naive happy poster of Matt Damon, I betcha THE INFORMANT will get nominated for Golden Globes for Best Picture comedy this year, you’ll see..Tattle-Tale!

SYNOPSIS:
What was Mark Whitacre thinking? A rising star at agri-industry giant Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), Whitacre suddenly turns whistleblower. Even as he exposes his company’s multi-national price-fixing conspiracy to the FBI, Whitacre envisions himself being hailed as a hero of the common man and handed a promotion. But before all that can happen, the FBI needs evidence, so Whitacre eagerly agrees to wear a wire and carry a hidden tape recorder in his briefcase, imagining himself as a kind of de facto secret agent. Unfortunately for the FBI, their lead witness hasn’t been quite so forthcoming about helping himself to the corporate coffers. Whitacre’s ever-changing account frustrates the agents and threatens the case against ADM as it becomes almost impossible to decipher what is real and what is the product of Whitacre’s rambling imagination. Based on the true story of the highest-ranking corporate whistleblower in U.S. history.

THE INFORMANT opens October 9th, 2009