Category: Adventure

The Music of THE KARATE KID

From YAHOO! Movies comes this video clip where director Harald Zwart and composer James Horner discuss the Asian influence on the movie’s symphonic score from THE KARATE KID.

I’m such a huge fan of James Horner and his film scores. I have ever since sitting in the theater and hearing those loud trumpets come blaring through the screen. Beginning with the music from BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS thru STAR TREK II: WRATH OF KHAN onto ALIENS and finally his Oscar-winning score TITANIC.

Synopsis:

In Columbia Pictures’ remake of the 1984 film, THE KARATE KID, 12-year-old Dre Parker (Jaden Smith) could’ve been the most popular kid in Detroit, but his mother’s (Taraji P. Henson) latest career move has landed him in China. Dre immediately falls for his classmate Mei Ying – and the feeling is mutual – but cultural differences make such a friendship impossible. Even worse, Dre’s feelings make an enemy of the class bully, Cheng. In the land of kung fu, Dre knows only a little karate, and Cheng puts “the karate kid” on the floor with ease. With no friends in a strange land, Dre has nowhere to turn but maintenance man Mr. Han (Jackie Chan), who is secretly a master of kung fu. As Han teaches Dre that kung fu is not about punches and parries, but maturity and calm, Dre realizes that facing down the bullies will be the fight of his life.

It pales by comparison to the original and Mr Miyagi’s infamous “Wax on….wax off.” Rated PG for bullying, martial arts action, violence, and some mild language, THE KARATE KID opens nationwide Friday, June 11th.

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GREEN HORNET Trailer To Fly In Monday, June 21st!

Finally…a trailer for THE GREEN HORNET! Next Monday night that is.

IGN Movies is exclusively reporting that the first trailer for Sony Pictures THE GREEN HORNET will debut on the TV program Jimmy Kimmel Live on Monday June 21. The Green Hornet himself, Seth Rogen, will be Kimmel’s guest that night and will introduce the trailer. THE GREEN HORNET will be in theatres in 3D on January 14, 2011.

Here’s the latest synopsis buzzzzzz:

Columbia Pictures’ feature film, The Green Hornet, stars Seth Rogen as the vigilante crime-fighter. The film will be directed by Michel Gondry (ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND) from a screenplay written by Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg (SUPERBAD, PINEAPPLE EXPRESS), based upon “The Green Hornet” radio series created by George W. Trendle, and produced by Neal H. Moritz (THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS).

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Source: IGN Movies

New THE SORCERER’S APPRENTICE Posters

Disney has announced that everyday this week they will release a new character poster for Jon Turteltaub’s (NATIONAL TREASURE) THE SORCERER’S APPRENTICE . May I present “The Wizard” Sun Lok.

Sun Lok “The Wizard” (Gregory Woo) is an ancient, but perpetually young, Chinese sorcerer and Morganian. When he’s unlocked from his Grimhold by Horvath, Sun Lok wreaks havoc in Chinatown during a lively festival by materializing a fearsome fire-breathing dragon. “Sun Lok has been in a little container for thousands and thousands of years, and when he’s let out, he’s really, really angry,” says Woo.

And #2. “The Villain:

Maxim Horvath (Alfred Molina) was, along with Balthazar Blake and Veronica, a disciple of Merlin and a force of good more than a thousand years ago. But their mutual love for Veronica split the colleagues apart and Horvath has instead become an ally of the wicked Morgana, who murdered Merlin and is seeking to conquer the world with her minions. He and Balthazar have battled through the ages, finally bringing their conflict to modern-day New York City.

In The SORCERER’S APPRENTICE, Horvath’s mission is world domination,” says Molina. “Balthazar and Horvath have a rivalry that’s gone on for millennia. Balthazar is maintaining the Merlinean standard of magic as a power that’s used for the benefit of mankind. Horvath is the leader of the Morganians, who take the very different view that magic should be used to subjugate humans. That’s the struggle between good as personified by Nic Cage’s character, and evil as personified by mine. Horvath is a rather smart, debonair, Edwardian villain in the classic tradition of suave bad guys, well dressed and charming, but deadly.

Synopsis:

Balthazar Blake (Nicolas Cage) is a master sorcerer in modern-day Manhattan trying to defend the city from his arch-nemesis, Maxim Horvath (Alfred Molina). Balthazar can’t do it alone, so he recruits Dave Stutler (Jay Baruchel), a seemingly average guy who demonstrates hidden potential, as his reluctant protege. The sorcerer gives his unwilling accomplice a crash course in the art and science of magic, and together, these unlikely partners work to stop the forces of darkness. It’ll take all the courage Dave can muster to survive his training, save the city and get the girl as he becomes THE SORCERER’S APPRENTICE. 

From Walt Disney Pictures and Jerry Bruckheimer Films, THE SORCERER’S APPRENTICE will be in theaters on July 14th. For more on the film, become a fan on Facebook and follow Disney Pictures on Twitter.

Source: StitchKingdom.com

Final THE EXPENDABLES Poster And Trailer

Is this bitchin’ or what? A final THE EXPENDABLES poster is here from JoBlo.com. Writer, director and star Sylvester Stallone brings together a powerhouse cast of action superstars – never before seen together in one film. The film stars Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Eric Roberts, Randy Couture, Steve Austin, Terry Crews and Mickey Rourke, with Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The folks over at IGN have rolled out this final, “film legends” trailer from Lionsgate.

The only life they’ve known is war. The only loyalty they have is to each other. They are THE EXPENDABLES! Leader and mastermind Barney Ross (Stallone), former SAS blade expert Lee Christmas (Statham), hand-to-hand combat specialist Yin Yang (Li), long barrel weapons specialist Hale Caesar (Crews), demolitions expert Toll Road (Couture), and precision sniper Gunnar Jensen (Lundgren).

Living life in the fringes of the law, these hardened mercenaries take on what appears to be a routine assignment: a covert, CIA-funded operation to infiltrate the South American country of Vilena and overthrow its ruthless dictator General Garza (David Zayas). But when their job is revealed to be a suicide mission, the men are faced with a deadly choice, one that might redeem their souls…or destroy their brotherhood forever.

Have a look at the film’s recently updated official site and become a fan on Facebook and follow it on Twitter. THE EXPENDABLES will be in theatres everywhere on August 13th.

Trailer courtesy of IGN. Poster courtesy of JoBlo.com.

Catch This New THE LAST AIRBENDER Japanese Trailer!

From LastAirbenderFilm comes this kick-ass Japanese trailer for M. Night Shyamalan’s THE LAST AIRBENDER.

Air, Water, Earth, Fire. Four nations tied by destiny when the Fire Nation launches a brutal war against the others. A century has passed with no hope in sight to change the path of this destruction. Caught between combat and courage, Aang (Noah Ringer) discovers he is the lone Avatar with the power to manipulate all four elements. Aang teams with Katara (Nicola Peltz), a Waterbender, and her brother, Sokka (Jackson Rathbone), to restore balance to their war-torn world. Based on the hugely successful Nickelodeon animated TV series, the live-action feature film THE LAST AIRBENDER is the opening chapter in Aang’s struggle to survive.

 From Paramount Pictures, THE LAST AIRBENDER will be in theatres in Real-D, Digital 3D, and 2D on July 2nd.

THE EXPENDABLES Sneak Peek!

Lionsgate has released this all new sneak peek of THE EXPENDABLES over on YouTube.

Writer, director and star Sylvester Stallone brings together a powerhouse cast of action superstars, never before seen together in one film, in the hard-hitting action thriller, THE EXPENDABLES.

Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone) is a man with nothing to lose. Fearless and void of emotion, he is the leader, the sage and the strategist of this tight-knit band of men who live on the fringe. His only attachment is to his pickup truck, his seaplane and his team of loyal modern-day warriors. His is a true cynic who describes what he does as removing those hard to get at stains. The team behind him is made up of Lee Christmas (Jason Statham), former SAS and a savant with anything that has a blade; Yin Yang (Jet Li), a master at close-quarter combat; Hale Caesar (Terry Crews), who has known Barney for ten years and is a long-barrel weapons specialist; Toll Road (Randy Couture), a skilled demolitions expert and considered the intellect of the group; and Gunnar Jensen (Dolph Lundgren), a combat veteran and an expert in precision sniping who struggles with his own demons.

When the mysterious Church offers Barney a job no one else would take, Barney and his team embark on what appears to be a routine mission: overthrow General Gaza (David Zayas), the murderous dictator of the small island country of Vilena and end the years of death and destruction inflicted on its people. On a reconnaissance mission to Vilena, Barney and Christmas meet their contact Sandra (Giselle Itie), a local freedom-fighter with a dark secret. They also come to learn who their true enemy is: rogue ex-CIA operative James Monroe (Eric Roberts) and his henchman Paine (Steve Austin). When things go terribly wrong, Barney and Christmas are forced to leave Sandra behind, essentially giving her a death sentence. Haunted by this failure, Barney convinces the team to return to Vilena to rescue the hostage and finish the job he started. And to perhaps save a soul: his own.

THE EXPENDABLES will be in theatres on August 13th. To join the fight, check out the film on Facebook.

A New Behind-The-Scenes Look At THE SORCERER’S APPRENTICE!

From Yahoo! Movies comes this featurette of Disney’s upcoming fantasy THE SORCERER’S APPRENTICE. The film reunites Nicolas Cage, Jerry Bruckheimer and Jon Turteltaub, respectively the star, producer and director of the blockbusters NATIONAL TREASURE and NATIONAL TREASURE: BOOK OF SECRETS.

Balthazar Blake (Nicolas Cage) is a master sorcerer in modern-day Manhattan trying to defend the city from his arch-nemesis, Maxim Horvath (Alfred Molina). Balthazar can’t do it alone, so he recruits Dave Stutler (Jay Baruchel), a seemingly average guy who demonstrates hidden potential, as his reluctant protege. The sorcerer gives his unwilling accomplice a crash course in the art and science of magic, and together, these unlikely partners work to stop the forces of darkness. It’ll take all the courage Dave can muster to survive his training, save the city and get the girl as he becomes THE SORCERER’S APPRENTICE.

The screenplay is by Matt Lopez and Doug Miro & Carlo Bernard from a screen story by Matt Lopez and Larry Konner & Mark Rosenthal. THE SORCERER’S APPRENTICE marks Nicolas Cage’s seventh collaboration with Jerry Bruckheimer, following THE ROCK, CON AIR, GONE IN 60 SECONDS, NATIONAL TREASURE, NATIONAL TREASURE: BOOK OF SECRETS and G-FORCE.

Rated PG, THE SORCERER’S APPRENTICE will be in theaters (and go up against Christopher Nolan’s INCEPTION – yikes!) on July 16th. For more on the film, become a fan on Facebook and follow Disney Pictures on Twitter.

Two New Posters For THE LAST AIRBENDER

Lots of recent news on M. Night Shyamalan’s THE LAST AIRBENDER:

Paramount Pictures has posted the above picture of Dev Patel as “Zuko” over on the film’s Facebook page. Fans of Nickelodeon’s animated tv series…..what do you think of the live-action still of “Zuko”? Bad-ass or just bad?

Below are the newly released, eye-popping posters for the film and once again Shyamalan’s name is featured prominently at the top. While his last film, THE HAPPENING, didn’t do so well at the box office, or with (sigh) some critics, the studios still know who the real star of his films are.

Lastly, the film’s website has received an extreme home makeover with all sorts of bells and whistles. Click here to see all the updates and have an early listen to long time Shyamalan collaborator, composer James Newton Howard’s stirring score.

Here’s another look at the trailer for THE LAST AIRBENDER in theaters in 3D and 2D on July 2nd, 2010.

THE LAST AIRBENDER Trailer and Shyamalan Goes 3-D

From Apple (via Trailer Addict) comes this exciting new feature trailer for M. Night Shyamalan’s upcoming fantasy THE LAST AIRBENDER.

Air, Water, Earth, Fire. Four nations tied by destiny when the Fire Nation launches a brutal war against the others. A century has passed with no hope in sight to change the path of this destruction. Caught between combat and courage, Aang (Noah Ringer) discovers he is the lone Avatar with the power to manipulate all four elements. Aang teams with Katara (Nicola Peltz), a Waterbender, and her brother, Sokka (Jackson Rathbone), to restore balance to their war-torn world.

Last week The Hollywood Reporter posted the story that Paramount and Shyamalan would be converting the film to 3-D with the help from a company called Stereo D, the same company that worked on the conversion of James Cameron’s AVATAR. According to Variety, Paramount is expecting a huge payday and once Shyamalan saw some of the conversion work done on his film and gave the go-ahead, the studio shelled out the extra $5 to $10 million. After the news broke, AIRBENDER’s producer, Frank Marshall, confirmed the 3-D upgrade on Twitter (http://twitter.com/LeDoctor):

We have been looking at the 3-D for months. The movie was designed to take advantage of the conversion and the filmmakers will supervise.

Good. I’m all for it, especially seeing this will be the director’s first foray into the 3-D world. Look for THE LAST AIRBENDER and discover your element on July 2, 2010.

Courtesy: Trailer Addict

ROBIN HOOD: Early Review

On Wednesday night, Universal Pictures held an early‚ secret screening of ROBIN HOOD at The Landmark in Los Angeles and friends of WAMG were invited to attend. What they reported back wasn’t promising….at all.

When I first heard that yet another version of a Robin Hood movie was in the works, I have to admit I winced. Didn’t you? I mean, really, this story been done numerous times already, resulting in much better movies, most notably THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD (1938) with Errol Flynn; ROBIN AND MARIAN (1976) with Sean Connery and Audrey Hepburn; and ROBIN HOOD: PRINCE OF THIEVES (1991) with Kevin Costner. But when I heard the names Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe, I thought maybe there was hope. The GLADIATOR (2000) comparison was obvious. Russell Crowe in period costume engaging in epic battle scenes. We’d have to wait and see.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t worth the wait. What I saw was a movie that really didn’t need to be made. Instead of the traditional “steal from the rich, give to the poor” story of an outlaw and his band of merry men, we got a convoluted back-story of where the famous character came from. As a child he saw his father killed and then was “put amongst men when I was 6 years old.” He grew up and joined the crusades of King Richard the Lionheart (Danny Huston) as an archer and here’s where the movie starts. Most everything after this point seems to happen to him by accident and really don’t feel the need to root for him for any reason.

Scott attempts to get off to a wild start with a battle scene in the first 10 minutes. And Crowe is his usual tough guy self, easily dispatching enemy soldiers, barely breaking a sweat. There are a few battle scenes throughout the movie that are mildly entertaining, but everything in between tends to drag. Keep in mind, he’s not even been declared the “outlaw Robin Hood” yet, he’s just working up to it. And along the way we are introduced to many of the familiar characters – Marian (Cate Blanchett, in a totally lackluster performance, not to mention having absolutely no chemistry with Crowe), Little John, and Friar Tuck (Mark Addy in one of the few bright performances, but can someone tell me if the friar was a beekeeper making moonshine?). Mark Strong’s attempt at a villain (Godfrey) is awkward at best. It almost seems like he is in a totally different movie than everybody else and nobody bothered to tell him. The character of Prince John is almost laughable. He wants to be such a bad-ass, and yet for most of the movie he is throwing out one-liners as if he were in a comedy club.

 

The biggest problem I had with the movie is what I went in fearing the most: the rip-offs. I guess I expected more from Ridley Scott. I know it’s tough to make a movie that has already been made so many times and try to keep it original. But the rip-offs are unnecessary and unforgivable. There is shot in the very beginning of an arrow flying through the air, in slow motion, directly at the camera. This was lifted straight out of ROBIN HOOD: PRINCE OF THIEVES. Hell, it was probably stock footage. Second, there’s the part where the French are storming the beaches in a carbon-copy scene of the invasion of Normandy right out of SAVING PRIVATE RYAN. Spielberg’s gonna be pissed. Then the most egregious of all – a scene where after totally screwing over his subjects with taxes they can’t afford and burning their villages, King John asks the English farmers to help him fight against the invading French. They are all arguing – some for, some against, and up steps Robin to make a rousing speech to the men about fighting for liberty. I SAW THIS SCENE WHEN IT WAS CALLED SONS OF SCOTLAND!!!!! For godsakes, Scott really thought he could pass this off?? Unfortunately, this movie is gonna get clobbered when it is released on May 14th. IRON MAN 2 will most likely still be dominating the box office from the previous weekend and SHREK EVER AFTER will assuredly be #1 the following weekend. The evening, however, wasn’t a complete wash. We did see Harvey Weinstein in the lobby and Julia Louis-Dreyfus on the escalator. 

To think that Universal was really counting on this one…sounds like all the slams on the trailers were correct. For those who can’t wait to see the men of the Sherwood on May 14th, here’s a newly released clip from ROBIN HOOD….

Photos: Universal Pictures
Video Courtesy: Yahoo! Movies