Movie News: Welcome Back, Xander.

Immortals



Hot on the heels of Percy Jackson and Clash of the Times comes a third Greek mythology film called Immortals. It'll star Henry Cavill (The Tudors) as Theseus, who joins the Greek gods to fight the Titans. Kellan Lutz (Twilight) will play Poseidon, John Hurt is Zeus, Mickey Rourke will be King Hyperion, and Isabel Lucas (Transformers 2, Daybreakers) plays Athena. It'll be directed by Tarsem Singh (The Cell) who plans to shoot it "in Renaissance painting style." [/Film]

Three Musketeers director



There are a couple of Three Musketeers movies in the works. One by Paul WS Anderson (Resident Evil) and one by the guy who produced Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes. The second of those has a director now: Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity, Mr. and Mrs. Smith). [/Film]

National Treasure 3 writers



I suppose that one day I could tired of these, but not yet. In fact, they're about the only Nicholas Cage movies I trust anymore. This third one's being written by the guys who wrote the Prince of Persia film. [/Film]

Xander Cage, Black Widow, Alfred Hitchcock, Resident Evil, Buck Rogers, Godzilla, and the real Runaways after the break.

Adventurenews: Lost Symbols and Girls

The Lost Symbol



I've never read a Dan Brown book and have only been marginally entertained by the movies made from them (the second of them being far better than the first, but still very flawed) and yet I'm still a fan enough of the treasure-hunter genre that I get a bit excited to hear details about the third book in the series. Sounds like Brown is taking some ideas from National Treasure (which, of course, took ideas from him) and having this book deal with Free Masons and the secret history of America.

Burton's Alice is a sequel



Some more details have been released about Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland movie. Apparently it's not a new adaptation at all; it's a sequel. That explains the older Alice, a factor I'd noticed, but dismissed as one of the numerous creative decisions Burton often makes that I end up scratching my head over. I'm glad there's a story reason for it.

In fact, I'm pretty thrilled with the sequel angle altogether. I'm skeptical that Lewis Carroll's Alice books are actually adaptable to film, but this I can get behind.

According to /Film:

(The movie) follows Alice, now 17 years old, as she escapes from a snooty party and follows a white rabbit down a hole, back to Wonderland. The White Rabbit is convinced that he has the right girl, the one who had visited the magical land ten years prior. But Alice doesn’t remember her past visit to Wonderland. The creatures of Wonderland are ready to revolt and are hoping/waiting for Alice to help them, but will she? Can she?

More new pictures and details in the link.

Quick Reviews: National Treasure 2, I Am Legend, and Charlie Chan at Monte Carlo

National Treasure: Book of Secrets

National Treasure required a lot of suspension of disbelief. It was a fun movie, but you really had to let your brain go a bit to buy that the founding fathers went to that much trouble to hide the secret, Masonic treasure. All the clues leading to clues leading to more clues was fun, but a bit hard to believe.

Book of Secrets stretches credibility even further, starting with why Nick Cage gets involved in the first place. It's supposedly to clear the name of an ancestor who's recently been implicated in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, but I don't think you're supposed to think that hard about how finding a lost City of Gold is going to do that. Just like you're not supposed to think too hard about the even more ludicrous string of clues.

But if you're willing to ignore all that, it is a movie about a bunch of treasure hunters looking for a lost City of Gold. And, like National Treasure, it's got a great cast. All the original folks are back except Sean Bean, but he's replaced by Ed Harris, which is a fairly even trade. And it's got Helen Mirren as Nick's mom. I could've sworn the first movie said she was dead, but going back and rewatching that scene just now, it's really left open to interpretation, so no need to call the continuity cops.

Three out of five conspiratory presidents. (I give the original four out of five.)

I Am Legend

I let my hopes get raised by some friends who saw this before I did and loved it. Yes, Will Smith does a wonderful acting joy and it's worth seeing just for that.

Unfortunately, the ending is completely changed from the novella and not for the better. The novella actually makes you ask some interesting questions about what it means to be human. This is just a Hollywood, feel-good ending.

It's an okay Will Smith flick, but it's not I Am Legend. Also, the mutants are boring.

Two out of five boring mutants.

Charlie Chan at Monte Carlo

Charlie Chan movies are fairly formulaic, but I like the formula. They're usually about a bunch of rich people, at least one of whom has gotten him or herself into trouble with a murder and it's up to Charlie Chan to figure out what really happened and save the day. I can see why the average moviegoer in the '30s would've liked them. You get a glimpse at the glamorous, rich life, but you also see that rich folks have a lot of problems of their own. And it's nice to see a friendly, man of the people like Charlie be the one to fix everything.

Monte Carlo isn't any better or worse than the rest of Warner Oland's Chan films, but all that means is that it's a clever mystery and utterly charming.

Four out of five shifty-looking bartenders.

December Theatrical Releases

Last Week

The Golden Compass: Early reviews haven't been awesome, but I still want to see the talking polar bear fight the giant robot polar bear. Also: James Bond, Vesper, Sam Elliott, and Nicole Kidman.

Atonement: Ah, Keira. If only it also had giant polar bears.

Revolver: (limited release) Guy Ritchie returns to his roots with a new gangster film starring Jason Statham. Also, Ray Liotta. Unfortunately, it's taken two years to get it to the US from Britain, there's been absolutely zero publicity about it, and it's in limited release. That doesn't make it sound like a worthy successor to Snatch.

This Weekend

I Am Legend: I'm pretty much scared of how this is going to compare to the original story, but the trailers look good enough that I'm willing to give it a shot. At best though, I'm expecting my usual, enjoyable-but-forgettable experience with Will Smith movies.

Youth Without Youth: (LA/NY) Don't let the fancy mcschmancy roses on the poster fool you. It's really a story about Nazis trying to capture a scientist they think has discovered the secret to immortality. The movie's just going to look really, really pretty while it's telling it to you.

December 21st

National Treasure: Book of Secrets: The first one was everything that The Da Vinci Code should've been. I'm up for more.

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story: It's probably the Johnny Cash references, but I think the trailer for this is hilarious.

P.S. I Love You: I know, I know. I'm just a little in love with Hilary Swank right now.

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street: (limited release) And Johnny Depp.

Charlie Wilson's War: I'm lukewarm about Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts, but Philip Seymour Hoffman and Mike Nichols are always draws. And the trailer is funny and interesting.

December 25th

The Bucket List: It's telling that the poster realizes it doesn't have to say anything about what the movie's actually about. All it has to do is show Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman enjoying each other (and tell me that Rob Reiner's involved) and I know I want to see it.

Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem: I sorta liked this. I'm pretty sure I'm gonna like this too.

December 28th

The Orphanage: (limited release) Guillermo del Toro produced this horror movie and is bringing it to the US. And it's apparently wildly popular in Spain. That's enough for me.

Persepolis: (limited release) I've been hearing about how good the graphic novel for this is for a couple of years, so I'm interested in seeing what the fuss is about for myself. Especially since the animation is all done in the style of the graphic novel.

Links du Jour: Happy Detective Story Day, National Treasure 2, and the '80s Shazam! cartoon

Adventure

• As a superhero fan, I love Philip José Farmer's concept that all adventure heroes share a common universe. Other fans of the idea are willing to spend a lot more time on it than I am, but it's still a cool notion. One of those fans is Win Scott Eckert who's published a collection of his essays on the subject. Ron Fortier reviews the collection here.
• I hadn't heard that they're making a National Treasure 2, but I'm in favor of it. The first one was everything that The DaVinci Code should have been. What's especially cool is that I learned about it thanks to this story about the moviemakers' having to displace a prom from its traditional location and how they made up for it.

Mystery

• Today's the birthday of the mystery novel. Or at least the detective story. It's the day that Edgar Allen Poe's "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" was published back in 1841. Garrison Keillor has a short, but excellent article about it and the evolution of the genre it gave birth to: from Holmes to Poirot to Spade and Marlowe to Perry Mason and Easy Rawlins. Happy Birthday, Detective Stories!

Science Fiction

• Anyone read any of the Star Trek: New Frontier books? I gave up on trying to keep up with Star Trek novels a long time ago, but the idea of a continuing series that features characters from all the different Star Trek shows, but doesn't have to take TV continuity into account is really attractive to me. And I like the Peter David Star Trek novels that I've read in the past. Just wondering if they're as good in execution as they sound fun in concept.
• Luc Besson was apparently frustrated by the process of making The Fifth Element, but now that special effects have sufficiently advanced, he's going to do some more scifi.

Superheroes

• I was already done with Saturday morning cartoons when Hero High was on, but I'm still kind of interested in it's DVD release thanks to Captain Marvel and the Marvel Family's occasionally appearing on the show. Apparently, Hero High was partly live action and partly animated, and I don't know which part featured the Marvels. I hope it's the live action part, because I like cheesy superhero live action more than cheap superhero cartoons, but really either would be pretty cool. Even though there was a very cool live action Captain Marvel show when I was a kid, I'm betting that the Hero High Marvels are animated, since Hero High shared a time slot with a Shazam! cartoon as part of The Kid Superpower Hour with Shazam. Either way, I'm not buying this until I learn how much Marvel Family I'd be getting. I'd rather wait for a DVD set with just Shazam!.

Other Comics

• Dust to Dust co-writer Alex Ness has a contest at his website for some original Peter Bergting art from the fantasy series The Portent.

Writing is Hard

• I've found character questionnaires to be more fun than useful, but here are some if you like that kind of thing.

Stuff Nobody Cares About But Me

• I'm a sucker for reading lists. Especially ones compiled by librarians.