Verbinski Passes On Pirates 4 To Helm BioShock

After spending the better part of the last six years directing the "Pirates of the Caribbean" trilogy, which grossed $2.6 billion worldwide, Gore Verbinski has informed Disney and producer Jerry Bruckheimer that he will not helm a fourth installment that's expected to set sail in 2010 with Johnny Depp back as Captain Jack Sparrow.

Sequel is in development but not yet greenlit. It's unknown how Verbinski's ankling will affect the pic's schedule.

Verbinski will instead focus on other projects that include "Bioshock," a Universal Pictures adaptation of the bestselling videogame that has a John Logan script and is likely to be Verbinski's next film as a director.

"I had a fantastic time bringing 'Pirates' to life, and I am eternally grateful to Jerry, Johnny and the rest of the creative and production team," Verbinski said. "I'm looking forward to all of us crossing paths again in the future."

Verbinski's U-based Blind Wink Prods. is developing several other potential directing vehicles, including "Clue," a live-action murder mystery based on the Hasbro board game, and a drama based on a Wall Street Journal article about the online fantasy role-playing world and its debilitating impact on the real lives of players. Steven Knight (Eastern Promises) is penning the latter.

Thoughts:

I think this is a good thing because I don't think we need another Pirates film. At World's End left a bitter taste in my mouth and many others too. I don't see how much further they can go with another Pirates film. I'm glad Verbinski chose to go with Bioshock instead of spending another go with another Pirates film. Personally, I'm more excited about Bioshock. I played the game for the Xbox 360 and it was simply amazing. It has everything that would make an awesome blockbuster film. Engrossing story, scary water setting and some creepy looking creatures. Plus, its going to be nice to see Verbinski expanding beyond the Pirates film and doing something new. As for the fourth Pirates film, I'm sure the folks at Disney will find someone else to helm the picture. Its going to be exciting to see another director take on Pirates 4 and see what he does with the franchise even though its really not needed.

New Where The Wild Things Are Poster

Yahoo! Movies has revealed this second poster for Spike Jonze's adaptation of Maurice Sendak's classic book Where the Wild Things Are. Opening in theaters on October 16, the Warner Bros. adventure film features Catherine Keener, Max Records, Mark Ruffalo, Lauren Ambrose, James Gandolfini, Catherine O'Hara and Forest Whitaker.

Thoughts:

Simply amazing. My anticipation for this film grows more and more every time I think about it.

New Line Finds Its Freddy Krueger!

Jackie Earle Haley is moving to Elm Street, signing to star as iconic killer Freddy Krueger in New Line and Platinum Dunes’ relaunch of “A Nightmare on Elm Street.”

Platinum Dunes partners Michael Bay, Brad Fuller and Andrew Form are producing with John Ricard co-producing. Samuel Bayer will direct from Wesley Strick’s script, with lensing set to begin next month in Chicago.

New Line decided last year to relaunch the movie series centered on the iconic killer, who haunts the dreams of teenagers and kills them in their sleep. Krueger was played by Robert Englund in the 1984 original, spawning nine films and two TV series in what was New Line’s most lucrative franchise until “The Lord of the Rings.”

The relaunch comes on the heels of New Line and Platinum Dunes’ rebirth of another horror franchise, “Friday the 13th,” which has grossed $65 million domestically since its launch on Friday, Feb. 13.

Haley starred in “Watchmen” as Rorshach and will next be seen alongside Leonardo DiCaprio in Phoenix Pictures’ “Shutter Island,” directed by Martin Scorsese.

Thoughts:

Honestly, I still think Robert Englund will always be Freddy to me. The man was just simply perfect for the part and has played the character in 9 films. He knows what makes Freddy tick and loves to play this character. I do agree that hes getting alot older and replacing him is probably not that bad of an idea. Whats surprising is that his replacement is the actor who played Rorshach in Watchmen. While I don't think Jackie Earle Haley is the best actor in the world, he definitely looks like he could handle an evil being such as Freddy. I just pray and hope that New Line doesn't fuck this up. I didn't like the new Friday the 13th film, but it was a decent re-imagining of Jason. Freddy has always been my favorite horror icon and I hope they really stay true to the original Freddy films while bringing some fresh ideas to keep the horror franchise on a course to success.

Paul Weitz In Talks To Direct Little Fockers?

Paul Weitz (American Pie, In Good Company) is in talks to direct "Little Fockers," the third installment of the Universal Pictures and Tribeca Prods. franchise.

Jane Rosenthal and Jay Roach are producing, and the studio will begin production in July. John Hamburg is rewriting a script originated by Larry Stuckey.

Robert De Niro, Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Teri Polo and Blythe Danner are so far set to reprise.

Studio has been looking hard for the right director to replace Roach, who helmed "Meet the Parents" and "Meet the Fockers," films that turned in a combined worldwide gross just north of $820 million. It briefly appeared that Pete Segal would get the job (Daily Variety, March 20).

Dealmaking is about to begin with Weitz, whose plan is to move directly from "Fockers" into directing "Another Bullshit Night in Suck City," an adaptation of the Nick Flynn book that Weitz scripted. Focus Features has picked up the project, which will star De Niro and Casey Affleck. The pic has been a passion project for Weitz.

Thoughts:

God, I hope this is true and a deal is made. I think Paul Weitz is a good director and in my opinion, better than Pete Segal. He directed some films such as American Pie, About a Boy and In Good Company. All of which I enjoyed to some extent. He has a good relationship with Universal Pictures which is distributing the third installment in the Meet the Parents series.

REVIEW: X-Men Origins: Wolverine

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Year: 2009
Director: Gavin Hood
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, Danny Huston, Ryan Reynolds, Taylor Kitsch
Distributor: Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation
MPAA: Rated PG-13

This is a review for the film footage that was leaked earlier this week. The footage I saw was essentially done expect for a few special effects being finalized. I will update this review once the film hits theaters. X3 wasn't as bad as some say. Sure it wasn't as great and coherent as X-Men and X-Men 2, but it was still entertaining. Fast forward to X-Men Origins: Wolverine, a film that's essentially a spin-off of the Marvel X-Men character, Wolverine. Twentieth Century-Fox had just finished the X-Men trilogy off with the third film and wanted to continue the series more further simply because it made them a boat load of money at the box office. This wasn't easy to do because alot of the characters from X3 had been killed off so Fox had to find another way to cash in on the X-Men property. They thought they can focus on Wolverine simply because the Marvel character had such an interesting and somewhat long back story. Not only that, but Hugh Jackman who played the famous character in the previous X-Men installments, was interested in reprising the role that made him famous.

Plot Outline:
Leading up to the events of X-Men, X-Men Origins: Wolverine tells the story of Wolverine’s (Hugh Jackman) epically violent and romantic past, his complex relationship with Victor Creed (Liev Schreiber), and the ominous Weapon X program run by William Stryker (Danny Huston). Along the way, Wolverine encounters many mutants, both familiar and new, including surprise appearances by several legends of the X-Men universe.

Plot:
X-Men Origins: Wolverine is a prequel to the first X-Men film and focuses more on the character of Wolverine. While we do get to see what Wolverine's past was like, these sequences don't last long. Most if not all of Wolverine's back story is mostly told in the beginning as part of the intro credits. Honestly, X-Men Origins: Wolverine feels like a bad edited film. The film never seems to stay coherent with its story and just simply feels like a bunch of ideas smashed together. Sure we get some awesome action scenes here and their that really shows us Wolverine's true aggressive nature, but even these scenes cant help a bad movie from not being bad. On top of that, the dialogue in the film seems really off by X-Men standards. They are really cheesy and simply just don't go well with Wolverine's aggressive look. Ill admit that character development here is better than it was in X-Men 3, but the characters we have in this film just aren't worth giving a damn. Yes, we get the awesome Marvel character Deadpool, but even he isn't worth caring about. His character in this film doesn't resemble his comic book counter part and also has one of the worst build ups I have seen in some time. It reminded me of the awful build up for Phoenix in X-Men 3 which didn't live up to expectations. Yes we do get more mutants such as the long awaited Gambit along with a younger Scott Summers/Cyclops, but they aren't worth caring about. Not only that, but most of them seem awfully weak compared to everyone else in the film. The ending is also a mixed bag and honestly, takes the easy Hollywood way out. I do like that we get a surprise cameo by a special mutant at the end, but even that feels as if it never happened since this is a prequel to the first X-Men film.

Cast:
Hugh Jackman reprises the role that made him famous, Logan/Wolverine. He gives a solid performance as the character, but since his lines are mostly cheesy, they don't come off good. I once read that Jackman was going for a more violent and darker Wolverine for this film, but what we have here is hardly anything I would call dark. We have Liev Schreiber playing as Victor Creed/Sabretooth. Tyler Mane who played the character in the first X-Men movie wanted to come back for this film, but the director felt he needed a more younger and creepy looking Sabretooth. Schreiber does the best he can, but with bad dialogue, his character feels rather one dimensional and hardly as cool as he was in the comics. Danny Huston plays as William Stryker and he does a fairly good job at it. Brian Cox played the character in X2 and wanted to return using CGI to make him look younger the same way it helped Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen in the opening flashback of X-Men 3, but that didn't work out. I kind of liked Huston's performance as Stryker and enjoyed the edgy tone he brought to the character. Ryan Reynolds steps in the shoes of Wade Wilson/Deadpool. Reynolds does tend to talk alot and annoy the rest of the cast like Deadpool would, but his later scenes as Deadpool are so unfufilling and nothing like the Marvel character we all know and love. We also have Taylor Kitsch playing as Remy LeBeau/Gambit. Kitsch played this character to whatever the script required for him to do, but his impersonation of Gambit is really lame. I don't remember Gambit being so bad at fighting and hardly using his techniques the right way.

Picture:
I will update this section when the film hits theaters because the footage I saw was still in final stages of production. The special effects weren't as nearly done as they could have been, but the rest of the film was basically completed. The visual look of X-Men Origins: Wolverine is probably the films only advantage over the previous X-Men films. Being the newest one released compared to the previous three X-Men films, Origins: Wolverine benefits from a cleaner film source. I didn't notice any film grain and everything seemed as smooth as it can be. Colors seemed natural and didn't get in the way of my experience. The film doesn't come off as eye popping or colorful as other superhero movies, but I thought the colors were in the right place. Black levels were also pretty strong and held up pretty well in some of the darker scenes. Flesh tones seemed more natural and slightly muted. Detail was definitely on the strong side which shouldn't come off as a surprise considering its a new release. Close up shots looked really good with alot of detail exhibiting on the screen.

Sound:
I will also update this section when the film hits theaters because the footage I saw was still in final stages of production. The films score wasn't in place and other stock music was used instead. The films bass on the other was in tact and it simply blew me away. Considering that the film is an action movie at heart, it shouldn't come off as a surprise that the film does have some aggressive bass usage. Every gun shot and explosion was loud and clear as it could possibly be. Dynamics were spread out pretty evenly and it didn't seem like most of the work was coming only from the front. While I'm sure the film will rock even harder in theaters, what I saw was still pretty damn fantastic. X-Men Origins: Wolverine definitely kicks it a up notch in the bass department and It should sound even more better on Blu Ray once it streets later this year.

Conclusion:
X-Men Origins: Wolverine could have learned a thing or two from the previous X-Men films and become something special. Instead, the film focuses somewhat on Wolverine's interesting past, but also makes him an action hero. The story is a mixed bag and really ends in a lame Hollywood way. The dialogue is bad and never seems to take these characters seriously. Deadpool fans will be severely disappointed with what the film has made him into. While the film can be fun at times simply because you get to see Wolverine kick alot of ass, these moments cant save the film from all these issues. The cast seems to work for the most part and I enjoyed most of their work, but the dialogue really makes it hard for you to care about their acting. The visual look of the movie is great and features a really good amount of detail. The film also has a very strong amount of bass and packs quite a punch. I cant really recommend this film because it has alot of problems. Even if your a fan of the series, I would probably wait for the DVD/Blu Ray release so you can give it a rent. Compared to the other X-Men films, in my opinion I would rank X-Men Origins: Wolverine as the worst in the series.

Grade: D+

Men in Black 3 in Development

At the Sony Pictures presentation of their upcoming summer line-up, Sony President of Worldwide Distribution Rory Bruer mentioned in passing the previously announced Spider-Man 4 from Sam Raimi and the long-rumored Ghostbusters 3, but the biggest surprise was that Sony plans to go back and make a third "Men in Black" movie as well.

This was the first announcement that Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones might be back together again, although no further details were given in terms of how far along they are in development, whether there's a script in the works or whether indeed, it will be joining Spider-Man 4 in Sony's summer of 2011.

Thoughts:

This is good news for fans of the series, but I personally don't think we need another one. I mean the first one was pretty good and made for a good action/comedy flick. The second one was pretty disappointing and lacked the same punch as the first one did. I'm not sure how a third Men in Black film is going to get any better. I mean if it were up to me, Id go with another Bad Boys film instead. At least those had some substance for sequels.

Two More Join Clash Of The Titans Remake

Mads Mikkelsen and Alexa Davalos are boarding Clash of the Titans, the Greek-god epic being directed by Louis Leterrier at Warner Bros. Pictures.

Sam Worthington is toplining as Perseus, who is put on a quest to save a princess and defeat Hades, the god of hell. Gemma Arterton is Io, who is instrumental in bringing the winged horse Pegasus to Perseus.

Mikkelsen is playing Draco, a skilled fighter and leader of the Praetorian Guard that accompanies Perseus. Davalos is Andromeda, the captured princess.

Legendary is co-producing and co-financing the film, which is set to begin shooting in the U.K. at the end of April. Matt Manfredi and Phil Hay wrote the script.

Thoughts:

Cant speak for the woman, but I thought Mikkelsen was great in Casino Royale. Good to see this film starting to come alive. Still too early to tell what its going to look like, but its definitely going to be epic.