12.05.08: Hancock 2, 4 1/2 new trailers, National Board of Review winners, and more

HANCOCK 2.  REALLY!

Will Smith tells JoBlo that Hancock 2 is very likely to happen. I just caught up with the first flick a few days ago, expecting the worst after all of the abysmal reviews. But color me happily surprised to find that the film was mostly entertaining. The problem, if anything, is that it tries to be its own sequel and therefore comes across as two underdeveloped films – the "redemption" movie and the "origin" movie – rather than one fully realized film.  The whole (SPOILER ALERT) Charlize Theron superpower bit should have been teased at the very end and made the focus of Hancock 2, with Hancock 3 being the "Hancock in NY" film. As is, Hancock is a worthwhile rental, Will Smith is entertaining as usual, and there's every reason to expect that Peter Berg & Co. have learned a lesson or two and can turn the near miss that was the first film into a win the second time around.

FRIDAY TRAILERAMA

• So the trailer for Little Ashes goes very wrong in the back end when the music gets all dramatic and they try to stretch the footage to make the movie seem like some great epic when it's clearly a small scale affair. And much of the "drama" is heavy on the cheese ("Federico this is... my wife"). Still, this film about the lives and loves of three of Spain's most famous 20th century artists during the rise of Franco (with Twilight's Robert Pattinson as Salvador Dali) looks like it may be... passable.  As in, I'll pass right on by on my way to see something else.

• The reboot of Friday the 13th get postered and trailered. Based on what we've seen so far, there's no reason this shouldn't be a bloody good time.

• The trailer for writer/director Richard Curtis' The Boat That Rock credits the man with Notting Hill, Four Weddings and a Funeral, and Love Actually – but what of The Tall Guy?!?  You know, the one with Jeff Goldblum and (a topless) Emma Thompson, where Goldblum is an American stage actor cast as the lead in the West End production of Elephant!, the Elephant Man musical?  "Take a deep breath/prepare for the worst/the ugliest man in the universe"? Sure, Mel Smith directed it, but Curtis wrote the thing and it has his whimsical romantic stamp all over it. Just watch this and then rent the flick from the outlet of you choice. I promise it contains one of the weirdest/funniest sex scenes you'll ever see.  Oh, and The Boat That Rocked has a cast of awesome and looks like a lot of fun, too.

• If you don't want to know anything about Jim Carrey's I Love You Phillip Morris then don't click here and skip to the next story.  The extended promotional trailer gives away an awful lot of plot – Jim Carrey is a "normal" family guy who 1) gets in a car accident, 2) realizes he's gay, 3) moves to Miami (it appears), 4) becomes a high-level thief and con artist, 5) gets caught and goes to jail, where he 6) falls in love with Ewan McGregor before 7) being transferred to another prison, at which point 8) escape attempts ensue. (Via /Film, which has more info)

• Terminator Salvation trailer teased on E.T.  (Say it five times fast.)  Transformers much?

ODDS AND ENDS

• It's awards season, ladies and gents, and The National Board of Review has announced its 2008 winners.  Slumdog Millionaire, a.k.a. the movie most of us don't yet have the opportunity to see, won Best Film; David Fincher (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) won Best Director; and Anne Hathaway (Rachel Getting Married) and Clint Eastwood (Grand Torino) won Best Actress and Best Actor, respectively. The full rundown is here.

• Speaking of Slumdog, The Playlist has a trio of recent Danny Boyle tidbits, including the shocking/worrisome/fascinating news that he may team with Danish maverick Lars Von Trier on an unspecified project. If that name is unfamiliar to you, then you are missing out on a good 15 years or so of controversial, frustrating, and often stunningly beautiful filmmaking.  Rent Breaking the Waves or Dancer in the Dark, outstanding films that are shameless in their emotional manipulation of the audience. You'll hate them for how they make you feel, yet be stunned by the sheer talent of all involved.

• Alas, Speed 3 rumors, we hardly knew ye.  But hey – Bill And Ted's Gnarly Retirement, maybe?

• Underworld fellow Len Wisemen will adapt the comic Atlantis Rising, which "...kicks off when seismic disturbances at sea force world militaries to investigate the deepest part of the ocean, where an underground civilization emerges to engage in war with planet Earth." (Variety)

• A short while back it was announced that Mark Forster (Quantum of Solace) would be directing an adaptation of Max Brooks' novel World War Z.  The excellent (my wife tells me) story is told via a series of Studs Terkel-esque interviews done after the zombie war has mostly been won; it's a non-traditional narrative.  So how do you turn that into a film?  Over at MTV screenwriter J. Michael Straczynzski explains, "We follow this guy all over the world as he goes on these interviews... because it goes backward and forward in time, we can cherry-pick our favorite moments in the book... some of it is crazy in scale. It’s huge. It’s as political as the book was."

• Empire details two new Anna Faris comedy projects in their usual cross-cultural fashion. (Is it legal for them to use the phrases "folks" and "utter bobbins" in the same story?)  Short version: the films are comedies.  In one, Faris tries to find a husband.  In the other, Faris tries to find a husband.  But that one has lots of sex in it, apparently.

Comments

[EthenohorPino]

Your are Great. And so is your site! Awesome content. Good job guys! Interesting article, adding it to my favourites!

[TrikkeGalAlisa]

God love yahoo, very nice site.

Will browse around and hopefully have something I can add.

So long.
TrikkeGalAlisa