Upcoming 2009 Movies: "Fame"

The original was better than it had any right to be; I might catch this on DVD, if only to see Dick Van Dyke again. He was absolutely great in the original; charmed everyone else off the screen without half trying.

 

I'm probably gonna wait for the dvd to watch this one. The first movie was cool, but i'm not sold on this second one from what i've seen.

 

I actually think this one looks better than the first. And plus, Darth Vader's in it!

 

There is that, of course.

 

I was thinking dvd rent until I saw Chris Lee's name.


Vader AND Dooku?!


*faints*

 

The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3

(from wiki)

[image=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/fe/The_Taking_of_Pelham_1_2_3.JPG/200px-The_Taking_of_Pelham_1_2_3.JPG]

The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 is an upcoming American action film written by Brian Helgeland and directed by Tony Scott. The film is a remake of the original 1974 film of the same name, which is based on the thriller novel by Morton Freedgood. Production of the remake began in March 2008, and the film is slated for release on June 12, 2009.

Columbia Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (which owns the original film) are co-distributing the film, this being a result of Columbia parent Sony owning a stake in MGM since 2005.

Premise

A group of hijackers, led by Ryder (John Travolta), take a New York City subway train and its passengers, threatening to kill them if their ransom of one million dollars per hostage is not paid in one hour. Walter Garber (Denzel Washington) tries to negotiate with the hijackers in delivering the ransom money while saving the hostages. When Garber realizes that time is running out, he voluntarily offers his surrender to Ryder and the hijackers in exchange for freeing the hostages aboard the train.

Cast

* Denzel Washington portrays Walter Garber, the New York City subway dispatcher who is negotiating with the hijackers and is also the Transit Authority lieutenant. The role had been portrayed by Walter Matthau in the 1974 film and Edward James Olmos in the 1998 television movie.
* John Travolta portrays Bernard Ryder (a.k.a. "Mr. Blue"), the leader of the hijackers and a former mercenary. The role was originally portrayed by Robert Shaw in the 1974 film. Tony Scott courted Travolta heavily for the actor's first action role in years.
* James Gandolfini portrays the mayor of New York City, who is under heavy pressure to address the hostage crisis. The character was originally portrayed by Lee Wallace in the 1974 film.
* Ramon Rodriguez portrays an MTA train dispatcher.
* Victor Gojcaj portrays Bashkim (a.k.a. "Mr. Grey"), the most aggresive of the hijackers. The character, originally named "Joe Welcome", was portrayed by Hector Elizondo in the 1974 film.
* Jason Butler Harner
* Gbenga Akinnagbe as Wallace
* Luis Guzmán portrays Ramos (a.k.a. "Mr. Green"), one of the hijackers. The role, originally named "Harold Longman", had been portrayed by Martin Balsam in the 1974 film.
* John Turturro
* Michael Rispoli

Production

In September 2007, actor Denzel Washington teamed up with director Tony Scott, with whom he had frequently collaborated, to remake The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, an original thriller novel which had seen film adaptations in 1974 and 1998. David Koepp, who first adapted the novel for Scott's film, faced the challenge of updating the novel with contemporary technology, including cell phones, GPS, laptops, and thermo-imaging. The screenwriter also had to carefully consider the premise of a terrorist situation in New York in a post-9/11 world. Later, Brian Helgeland was brought in to write some new revisions of the script. Production began in March 2008. Filming took place on the lower level of the Manhattan Bridge, Tudor City including the 1st Ave tunnel under 42nd Street, Manhattan's Upper East Side, The Times Square area, and Turtle Bay.

Release and Marketing

The film was originally scheduled to release on July 31, 2009 but it was later moved forward to June 12. The first theatrical poster was released on February 10, 2009 while the first trailer for the film debuted at the screenings of The International on February 13, 2009.

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Discuss.

 

The idea of remaking this movie actually isn't bad. Good concept, not too iconic an original that they can't get out from under its shadow. Denzel Washington is a good sign. Travolta...not so much. Could go either way, so I'll be interested to see the reviews.

 

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs

(from wiki)

[image=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/6d/IceAge_DawnoftheDinosaurs_TeaserPoster.jpg/200px-IceAge_DawnoftheDinosaurs_TeaserPoster.jpg]

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs also known as Ice Age 3 is an upcoming computer animated film that will be the third of the Ice Age film series. It was announced and approved by Fox president Hutch Parker on January 30, 2007. It will be released in RealD where available. It was initially slated for a December 12, 2008 release, but the scheduled release date has since been moved to July 1, 2009. The film is being produced by Blue Sky Studios, the film features Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Queen Latifah, Seann William Scott, Soulja Boy Tell 'Em, Josh Peck and Simon Pegg and will be distributed by 20th Century Fox.

Plot

Manny (Ray Romano), Sid (John Leguizamo), Diego (Denis Leary), Ellie (Queen Latifah), Eddie (Josh Peck), Crash (Seann William Scott) and Scrat (Chris Wedge) encounter a dinosaur population which survived extinction in its tropical paradise, which existed below the thick layers... until now. Meanwhile, Crash and Eddie are up to their usual crazy selves. Manny and Ellie are going to have their first baby, and Manny wants everything to be perfect when his baby arrives. Diego is tired of being treated like a Housecat and ponders the notion that he's being too laid back. Sid is jealous of Manny and Ellie and he starts to wish for a family of his own, so he steals some dinosaurs eggs. But Sid gets captured by a crazed dinosaur, which leads his herd to try and rescue him. While dodging danger and dinos left and right, the herd meets up with a relentless, one-eyed dino-hunting weasel named Buck (Simon Pegg). Scrat also meets a feisty female squirrel named Scratte.

Voice cast

* Manny - Ray Romano
* Sid - John Leguizamo
* Diego - Denis Leary
* Ellie - Queen Latifah
* Crash and Eddie - Seann William Scott and Josh Peck
* Scrat - Chris Wedge
* Buck the Weasel - Simon Pegg
* Peaches the Baby Mammoth - Actress Unkown

Marketing

The film's original trailer debuted with "Horton Hears a Who!" on March 14, 2008. There are three others that have been released, with the third and fourth (which shows Buck) mostly closely resembling each other.

Video game

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, based on the movie, will release on the XBOX 360 & Wii, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, Windows, (released as a demo of upcoming fullgame) and Nintendo DS. It was announced that the game will be released on June 30, 2009.

Trivia

* 20th Century Fox refused to fund 3-D glasses for the film, which resulted in Regal Entertainment Group refusing to show it in 3-D.
* The MPAA gave the movie a PG rating.

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Discuss.

 

I had trouble sitting through Ice Age: The Meltdown, yet the kids loved it. It was the third most successful movie of 2006 worldwide. It made nearly $300 million more worldwide than the first one.

Numbers like that don't encourage any kind of effort to improve on the formula, so I'm not expecting much.

 

The Time Traveler's Wife.

(from wiki)

The Time Traveler's Wife is an upcoming 2009 film based on Audrey Niffenegger's 2003 novel The Time Traveler's Wife. The film is directed by Robert Schwentke and stars Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams.

Filming began in September 2007, originally in anticipation of a fall 2008 release. The film's release was postponed with no official explanation from the studio, and is scheduled to open on August 14, 2009.

Premise

Based on the premise of The Time Traveler's Wife, a Chicago librarian (Eric Bana) has a genetic disorder that causes him to time travel when he is stressed. Though he disappears often for long periods of time, he tries to build a romantic relationship with Clare Abshire, an artist (Rachel McAdams).

Cast

* Eric Bana as Henry DeTamble, a Chicago librarian.
* Rachel McAdams as Clare Abshire, an artist.
* Ron Livingston as Gomez, Charisse's boyfriend and a liberal attorney who works for nonprofit organizations.

Production

The film rights for Audrey Niffenegger's 2003 novel The Time Traveler's Wife were optioned by Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt's production company Plan B Entertainment, in association with New Line Cinema, before her work was even published. Niffenegger stated in an interview that she had thoughts of how a film version of the book would appear, as she was writing the book. When asked about the prospect of her novel being turned into a film, Niffenegger said, "I've got my little movie that runs in my head. And I'm kind of afraid that will be changed or wiped out by what somebody else might do with it. And it is sort of thrilling and creepy, because now the characters have an existence apart from me."

In September 2003, the studio hired screenwriter Jeremy Leven to write an adapted screenplay of the novel. Directors Steven Spielberg and David Fincher briefly expressed interest in the project, though no negotiations took place. In March 2005, director Gus Van Sant entered negotiations with the studio to helm the project. The negotiations did not hold, and in November 2006, director Robert Schwentke was instead hired to take over the project.

In January 2007, New Line hired screenwriter Bruce Joel Rubin to rewrite Leven's script. Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams were cast in April 2007. Filming began in Toronto on September 10, 2007. It was also shot in Hamilton, Ontario. The film was originally planned for a fall 2008 release, but it was postponed with no official explanation from the studio. When asked about the delay, McAdams said, "We wound up doing a reshoot, and Eric was the holdup. ...He had to shave his head for a different role, for Star Trek, I think. ...We did an additional scene in the meadow, so we were also waiting on the meadow to look the way it did [the first time we shot]. So we were waiting on the seasons. Basically we were waiting on nature and Eric's hair." The film is scheduled to be released by Warner Brothers on August 14, 2009.

Music

The score to The Time Traveler's Wife was composed by Mychael Danna, who recorded his score with the Hollywood Studio Symphony at the Ocean Way Studios during the fall of 2008.

Reception

The trailer for the film was released in early June 2009, and Jeremy Medina of Entertainment Weekly referred to it as The Notebook crossed with Benjamin Button. Jarett Wieselman of the New York Post wrote that the trailer "all but guarantees I'll be crying come Aug. 14." Writing for Cinema Blend, Josh Tyler compared the film to The Notebook, Back to the Future, and Ghost, and commented: "This could be really, really good. ... The Time Traveler?s Wife looks like the movie Benjamin Button should have been, and wasn?t." Charlie Jane Anders of io9 wrote that the trailer "shows the attractiveness, and horribleness, of a lover who can't stay. (Plus a nifty 'dematerialization' effect.)"

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Discuss.

 

It's one of the most romantic stories to have been written in the last decade or so. And as one who doesn't usually go for romance, it really gets to me. I love this book, and I've been waiting for this movie since the first couple of stills were released, almost 2 years ago.

It's a great story, and with these two actors, I can only hope for good things for the movie.

 

I loved this book and I have been looking forward to this movie but the preview kind of let me down. I will go see it at the theater so hopefully it will be good.

 

I never got around to reading this; everyone told me I needed too.

 

It's a fantastic story. Audrey Niffenegger is a wonderful writer. I think you'll enjoy it!

 

The Time Traveller's Wife sounds like a very interesting project. I'm glad you brought it to my attention. I'm now looking forward to it, I'll definitely see it. After a summer of explosions, it might be a nice change of pace.

 

9.

(from wiki)

[image=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/c9/9posterfinal.jpg/200px-9posterfinal.jpg]

9 is an upcoming animated action/alternate history/post-apocalyptic/fantasy film directed by Shane Acker and produced by Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov, director of Wanted. It is based on Acker's Academy Award-nominated short film of the same name. Although CGI, the movie will have a stylized look resembling stop motion which Tim Burton called "hauntingly beautiful". The screenplay was written by Shane Acker, Ben Gluck, and Pamela Pettler, co-writer of Tim Burton's Corpse Bride. Casting for this film was done by Mindy Main, production design by Robert St. Pierre and Fred Warter, and art direction by Christophe Vacher. The film has been rated PG-13 by the MPAA for violence and scary images.

Plot

9 takes place in an alternate version of our world, in which the very legacy of humanity is threatened by machines. The machines, built by a scientist to help the world recover from a previous war, rebelled and began to manufacture an army to wipe out humanity. So the same scientist creates a group of sentient rag dolls. These rag dolls, or "stitch punks" as Shane Acker calls them, live a post-apocalyptic existence and one day they find 9, one of their own.

This group of rag dolls includes 1 (Christopher Plummer) their gruff self-proclaimed leader; 2 (Martin Landau) a kindly old inventor; the silent hooded twins 3 and 4; 5 (John C. Reilly) 2's loyal apprentice; 6 (Crispin Glover) a wild, visionary artist; 7 (Jennifer Connelly) a brave female warrior; 8 (Fred Tatasciore), 1's tough but dim-witted bodyguard; and finally 9 (Elijah Wood) a brave and loyal friend who displays leadership qualities that can help them survive against the ruthless machine monsters that mercilessly hunt them down.

Characters

The characters 1 through 9 are officially known as stitch-punks, as named by Shane Acker.

* Elijah Wood as 9, the main character. Good-hearted, thoughtful, and sincere, he is always willing to risk his life to save others. Despite being a newcomer to the group, he displays leadership qualities that can help the others survive. He seeks truth in the history of the world and the dolls, and wishes to know the meaning of life.
* John C. Reilly as 5, a healer, tutor, and skilled mechanic. He is the journeyman of 2, the great engineer and inventor. He is a diligent worker, a meek spirit, and a devoted friend. He is missing his left eye, which he presumably lost in a previous monster attack.
* Jennifer Connelly as 7, a female warrior. A rebel and a loner, she is fearless and brave. She is impatient and can be reckless and stubborn, but makes up for it with mobility and grace, caution of her surroundings, and calmness in dangerous situations.
* Christopher Plummer as 1, the oldest of the dolls, and their self-proclaimed leader. He is clever and sly, but also domineering, irritable, quick-tempered, and slow, if not unwilling, to trust 9.
* Crispin Glover as 6, a wild and impulsive artist. He has visions of the past and future, channeling his visions through drawings to interpret them, which are accurate in predicting events and help solve mysteries that puzzle 9.
* Martin Landau as 2, a kind, delicate old inventor. He is fascinated by garbage, and loves to explore the wastelands and look for parts for his inventions. He is not in very good shape, always walking with a cane, and can only see with a lorgnette.
Animation director Joe Ksander and Elijah Wood, the voice of the title character, talk about the film at a panel discussion at WonderCon 2009.
* Fred Tatasciore as 8, a giant, cumbersome brute. He is 1's personal bodyguard and would die for him, though he is crude and mocking towards everyone else. He is strong and fierce, wielding two masterful weapons, but isn't very clever and is easily deceived.
* 3 and 4, curious but shy twin dolls. They are unable to speak, using flickering lights to communicate with each other, but

 

There sounds like a family resemblance to "Wall*E"...

 

Fame(2009).

(from wiki)

[image=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b1/Fameposter2009.jpg/200px-Fameposter2009.jpg]

Fame is an upcoming 2009 American musical film which is a loose remake of the 1980 film of the same title. It was directed by Kevin Tancharoen and written by Allison Burnett. It is scheduled to be released on September 25, 2009.

Plot

"A reinvention of the Oscar-winning hit film, Fame follows a group of actors, singers, dancers and artists over four years at the New York City High School of Performing Arts, a diverse, creative powerhouse where students from all walks of life are given a chance to live out their dreams and achieve real and lasting fame...the kind that only from talent, dedication and hard work.

"In an incredibly competitive atmosphere, plagued by self-doubt, each student's passion will be put to the test. In addition to their artistic goals, they have to deal with everything that goes along with high school, a tumultuous time full of schoolwork, deep friendships, budding romance and self-discovery.

"As each student strives for his or her moment in the spotlight, they'll discover who among them has the innate talent and necessary discipline to succeed. With the love and support of their friends and fellow artists, they'll find out who amongst them will achieve fame."

Cast

* Naturi Naughton as Denise
* Collins Pennie as Malik
* Kay Panabaker as Jenny
* Kherington Payne as Alice
* Walter Perez as Victor
* Anna Maria Perez de Taglé as Joy Moy
* Paul Iacono as Neil
* Kristy Flores as Rosie
* Paul McGill as Kevin
* Asher Book as Marco
* Debbie Allen as Angela
* Charles S. Dutton as Alvin
* Kelsey Grammer as Joel
* Megan Mullally as Fran
* Bebe Neuwirth as Lynn
* Jazz Tank Junior as Jason

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Discuss.

 

Neuwirth and Grammer? In the same movie?