What a couple of weeks for the Terminator series! Two weeks ago Arnold Schwarzenegger revealed that he would be starring in a new Terminator movie, and then the rumors started flying! Included in the mix of rumors are such things as Arnold portraying a human character — and an ally of the Connor’s family, the movie would take place in the way past before even Sarah Connor is born, and the biggest rumor of all is that we’d be seeing Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (aka the franchise savior) as a new Terminator that would be facing off head to head with Arnold Schwarzenegger in the new sci-fi action movie. We did not get confirmation of any of the wild rumors today, but we definitely got a bit more information of the new Terminator film… ah, make that films!

Paramount Pictures has announced that they are teaming up with Skydance Productions and Annapurna Pictures on a rebooted and stand-alone Terminator trilogy, the first of which will be released on June 26, 2015. Joining the team of the new film are producers Megan Ellison (Lawless, Zero Dark Thirty, Killing Them Softly), and David Ellison (Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol, Jack Reacher, World War Z), and screenwriters Laeta Kalorgridis (Avatar, Shutter Island) and Patrick Lussier (D.rive Angry). There is no word yet on Arnold or The Rock’s involvement, but with how fast Paramount is moving forward with the project I wouldn’t be surprised to hear a director announcement followed by some casting news. Could we get some information as early as the San Diego Comic Con?

Check out these Arnold products…

Earlier this week Phasekitty and I were invited to the SmodCastle to preview Kevin Smith’s upcoming EPIX comedy special Too Fat for 40 and to sit down for a Q&A with the man himself. According to Smith, when EPIX approached him with the idea of a comedy special, he jumped at the chance to be like George Carlin for a day and put on his own comedy special. Here is a short clip from special:

If you have seen any of the Evening with Kevin Smith DVDs, than you know the basic drill, Kevin Smith gets up in front of a large live audience to answer their questions and shoot the shit. One thing that sets apart this special from those DVDs is the fact that he spends the whole special answering the first audience member’s question. That is a two hour response to a basic Q&A question with as many tangents and side stories as humanly possible.

Smith knows how to talk to an audience and he isn’t afraid to split very personal details about himself, his family, friends, and people he has worked with. One thing that really struck me about the 20 minute preview of the special is how much new content was apart of it. I’ve seen Smith talk more times that I can count, trekking out to his appearances at Wonder Con and Comic Con over the years and I own all of his Evening With DVDs. He usually repeats his stories pretty often. It has been two years since his last DVD (Kevin Smith: Sold Out – A Threevening with Kevin Smith) and he has a lot of new stories that have been building, including a lot of nuggets about the production of Cop Out with Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan.

Too Fat for 40 premieres on EPIX this coming Saturday, October 23rd. Before the comedy special, EPIX is holding a free hour long live interactive Q&A with Kevin Smith. Visitors to the site can submit questions to Smith in real time. For a free two week trial membership of EPIX, head on over here. In addition to the special, on EPIX you can check out hundreds of movies online, included in the mix are Star Trek, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Madea Goes to Jail, and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra to name a few.

The need for speed is back. After twenty four years and a lot of rumors, Top Gun 2 is apparently one step closer to a reality. The latest news is that the head honchos at Paramount have made an offer to producer Jerry Bruckheimer, director Tony Scott and star Tom Cruise to make a sequel to what is arguably the film that made their careers and defined a generation. An offer has also been made to The Usual Suspects and Valkyrie screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie to pen the film which would have Cruises character Maverick in a smaller role.

Now lets rewind back twenty four years. Don Simpson and his producing partner Bruckheimer hot off their success with Fame were looking for a new project and Bruckheimer read an article in 1983 in California Magazine called “Top Guns”. His immediate thoughts were that this could be Star Wars on earth and set about purchasing the article. Simpson and Bruckheimer then hired newbie director Tony Scott to helm the film because he had actually worked with and filmed a jet for a commercial for the Saab car company. The three were all agreed on the one most crucial detail of them all: This film could not be done without the full co-operation of the U.S. Navy.

At the time relations between the Hollywood community and the U.S. Navy were not good. The Navy were very hesitant at getting involved in Top Gun as their last film collaboration on An Officer and A Gentlemen did not go very well to say the least. It was Bruckheimer and Simpson who personally met with Naval officers and officials that persuaded them to make it happen and they did. They set real life Top Gun Flight Instructor Pete Pettigrew to work with Jim Cash and Jack Epps on the screenplay and act as technical adviser on the production. That’s where the film started to become the hit it was.

Pettigrew made significant changes to the screenplay. The opening was changed to a Night “trap” which is known to be a pilot’s worst nightmare, but I doubt any pilot would admit that. Maverick’s love interest was changed from a fellow pilot to a civilian because relations between male and female officers are not allowed. The Top Gun trophy was invented for the film. The film took on its more real aspects under this trio’s writing. The decision to cast Cruise, a relative unknown at the time, was viewed by many skeptics as a risk, but the Producer and Director fought for it and won.

In fact most of the casting done at the time included a lot of up and comers. Val Kilmer and Tim Robbins are two that have made their careers a success, but there was the casting of a pivotal but small role in the film that stood out more than the others. That was the young Meg Ryan as Goose’s wife. In her limited screen time she showed why she deserved to make it to the big time.

Top Gun was released in theaters on May 16th , 1986 and took in a worldwide box office of $353,816,701. It was generally viewed among moviegoers as a film where you couldn’t help but like it. The quote “I feel the need….The need for speed” quickly became a hit. It was backed a hit soundtrack as well which included an academy award for best song with Berlin’s “Take My Breath Away” and provided another hit for Kenny Loggins of Footloose fame with “Danger Zone”, but the most impressive thing that it did was still to come.

When Top Gun was released in theaters the Navy and Air Force reported they had received a significant boost in its recruitment numbers so much so that the Navy set up recruitment booths in some theaters to capitalize on it’s success. Something that had never happened before. I think Top Gun was one of best films that came out of the 80’s. It was pure Americana. It made stars of its lead actors and redefined the action/war films.

If a sequel is to happen I would love to see Cruise’s character in a more mentor role to whoever they cast as the new lead. Top Gun 2 if handled right could be another great hit for cinema, but to me one thing they have to keep is the authenticity. No CGI. A film like this has to feel real and they should do everything in their power to keep it that way. Maybe Top Gun 2 could help the Navy and Air Force’s recruitment again especially in this date and time when they are needed. Only one thing is certain if this happens, the Summer of 2012 or 2013 will be one hell of a ride.

An all new teaser poster of Snake Eyes has been released for the upcoming G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. I actually like it. This film has a lot going against it, but this costume looks really good in this image.

Four other posters have been released for the film, Ain’t It Cool News has the scoop. Sadly, the others aren’t as cool as this one, they are pretty much just more of the same, which doesn’t work for the characters that aren’t as badass as Snake Eyes.

John Grisham’s new novel, The Associate, hits stores in late January (you can pre-order it by clicking the above picture), but you can read the first two chapters now. EW has posted the first two chapters (click here for chapter 1 and here for chapter 2), and will be posting two more chapters over the next two weeks before the novel comes out.

The novel, which is Grisham’s 22nd novel, is already being adapted into a film by Paramount Pictures with Shia LaBeouf attached to star. Continue reading for the novel’s official plot description.

Read the rest of this entry »

No actually, you might not want to know more. The new “Grease” is one of six films that Paramount Pictures is giving the “direct-to-video” treatment to through their newly set up Paramount Famous Prods. So, that means that we most likely will not see either Danny Zuko or Sandy Olsson, even thought I could totally picture them trying to make the new film about one of their kids (aiming things at the High School Musical crowd of course). Or not, since that would take the film 15 years in the future and out of the “Grease” time period. No matter what, the new film will be leaps and bounds better than the motorcycle racing “Grease 2” (although Michelle Pfeiffer could never do anything wrong in my eyes). Hey, if we’re lucky, maybe they will get Stockard Channing or Jeff Conaway to make an appearance.

The other 5 films going straight to DVD are three that I can careless about; “Mean Girls”, “Road Trip”, “Without a Paddle”, one that I’m iffy on; “Bad News Bears”, and one that deserves to get the theater treatment with a director and lead actor who have always expressed interest to make a 4th film in the series; “Naked Gun”.  I will be making a future post/rant about that last one.