Jeff shows his deep disinterest in Megamind, we all love Heather, and Predators just get a “meh” from us all.  Also, New about the Hulk, Wicked coming to the big screen?, the Rock in Fast 5, The Wachowskis Gay Iraq Romance gets a title, and Jeff has an orgasm over Optimus Prime.

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News:

• Edward Norton Will Not Be Reprising His Role as The Hulk for The Avengers
• Edward Norton’s Agent Says Marvel’s Statement About Hulk Recasting is “Misleading, Inappropriate”
• Joaquin Phoenix in talks to play The Incredible Hulk in The Avengers?
• Edward Norton Releases Statement About Marvel’s Casting Decisions for The Avengers
• J.J. Abrams, James Mangold, Ryan Murphy and Rob Marshall in Talks for Wicked
• The Rock Signs Onto Fast and Furious 5
• The Wachowskis Gay Iraq Romance Begins Casting, Has a Title: CN9
• Loads of Transformer 3 photos from Chicago! Optimus has his Trailer! (Thanks Robert)

Feedback:

• Via blog: From Sean B: I had to listen to your bit on 3D conversions. I’ve never seen any, but I’ve been kind of fascinated by them because the process is so insane– they take the 2D video and meticulously reverse-engineer it into a CG scene where a second, displaced camera (for the other eye) can be added. It’s a highly manual process involving farms of artists and several million dollars (for the ‘good’ conversions anyway). I’m amazed that they do it at all– http://3dcinecast.blogspot.com/2010/04/in-three-on-workflow-behind-3d.html

The Past: Heathers

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Director: Michael Lehmann

Staring: Winona Ryder, Christian Slater, Shannen Doherty, Lisanne Falk, & Kim Walker

Trivia:

• Friends Veronica Sawyer and Betty Finn are named after other fictional friends Veronica and Betty from the comic strip “Archie”, and Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn.
• The high school is named “Westerburg High”. Winona Ryder’s favorite band at the time was “The Replacements”, whose lead singer is named Paul Westerberg.
• Westerburg High in reality is John Adams Middle School.
• The police officers are named Milner and McCord, after ‘Kent McCord’ and Martin Milner, who played police officers in “Adam-12” (1968).
• Originally, the book that suicidal students supposedly underline “meaningful” passages from was “The Catcher in the Rye”. The producers could not get clearance to use this book and it was changed to “Moby Dick” instead.
• When Heather Duke gathers signatures for the Big Fun petition, one of the students stamps his name: Dennis Di Novi. This is a reference to the film’s producer, Denise Di Novi.
• Filmed in 32 days
• The radio call-in show “Hot Probs” featured in the movie is a version of the now nationally famous KROQ radio show “Loveline”, and the radio DJ in the movie is James ‘Poorman’ Trenton, the creator and original host of “Loveline”.
• Veronica’s bedroom was built in the gym of the school they used in the film.
• Heather Duke’s kitchen in the dream sequence was also the kitchen used for Heather Chandler’s house. They just switched the colors and lit it differently.
• Lying on top of the glass table through which Heather Chandler fell were a copy of the Cliff’s Notes for “The Bell Jar” (which was written by Sylvia Plath, who committed suicide) and a magazine with a cover story “The Fall of the American Teenager.”
• The role of Heather McNamara, the cheerleader, was originally offered to 17 year old actress Heather Graham. Heather’s parents decided against letting her do the role because of the dark subject matter.
• The hotel imploded on TV in the movie is the Hotel King Cotton in Memphis, Tennessee which was destroyed 29 April 1984.
• The role of Veronica was intended for Jennifer Connelly who turned it down.
• Brad Pitt auditioned for the role of J.D., but was rejected because he was considered “too nice” for the part.
• Ranked at #5 on Entertainment Weekly’s 50 Best High School Movies (2006)
• At the beginning of the film Heather Chandler asks Heather Duke “did you have a brain tumor for breakfast?” The actress who played Heather Chandler, Kim Walker later died of a brain tumor.
• The first day of filming took place on Ash Wednesday and the first scene filmed was the croquet game that took place after J.D. fires his gun in the cafeteria.
• The film’s first scene was actually the last one to be shot. By that time, Lisanne Falk had cut her hair and had to wear a wig.
• Justine Bateman was considered for the lead.
• The name Heather is said 90 times throughout the film.
• The closeups of Veronica’s legs was filmed with a body double.
• Christian Slater has stated that his performance was heavily inspired by Jack Nicholson. He claims that he wrote a letter to Nicholson asking him to watch the film but did not receive an answer.
• Mid-1990’s-era ska/punk band Edna’s Goldfish named their song “Veronica Sawyer” after the main character in Heathers. The song’s theme of alienation among suburban teenagers reflects the themes of the movie. Reel Big Fish covered the song on their 2009 album “Fame, Fortune and Fornication.”
• Two stars of the movie died at an early age: Jeremy Applegate (Peter Dawson, whose character prays he will never commit suicide) committed suicide with a shotgun on March 23, 2000, and Kim Walker (Heather Chandler, who had the line “Did you have a brain tumor for breakfast?”) died of a brain tumor on March 6, 2001.
• The original screenplay had a different ending in which Veronica kills J.D. by shooting him and then straps the bomb (a much larger and more complicated piece of equipment, described as being “a cylinder as large as a television set”) to herself, blowing up as J.D. does in the final ending. What is placed in the final ending as JD’s boiler-room speech about “imagine I blew up the school, imagine I blew up all the schools” is contained in a suicide note found in Veronica’s locker by Heather McNamara and Betty Finn. The movie ends with an eerie prom sequence set in Heaven, tying into JD’s assertion that the only place everyone will truly get along is in Heaven. The prom begins with students dancing within their social cliques, then switching partners in odd pairings like metalheads dancing with Heathers and one of the murdered jocks getting his prom picture taken with a tipped cow; the punch being served is the drain cleaner used in the first murder scene, and “Dumptruck” is singing onstage as the entertainment for the evening. This was intended to be shot but the studio thought it was too dark for the target teenage crowd and opted for a lighter ending.
• J.D. tricks Veronica into killing the jocks by claiming to use “ich luge” bullets, which he claims only pierce the skin. “Ich lüge” is German for “I’m lying”.
• Daniel Waters wanted his screenplay to go to director Stanley Kubrick,[6] not only out of profound admiration for Kubrick but also from a perception that “Kubrick was the only person that could get away with a three-hour film”. (The cafeteria scene opening Heathers was written as an homage to the barracks scene opening Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket.) After a number of failed attempts to get the script to Kubrick made Waters realize the apparent futility of the enterprise, he decided to give the script to Michael Lehmann, who then took it on with Denise Di Novi.

Talking Points:

• Pretty Dark for a Teen movie… seen as an “anti” John Hughes film?
• What is this movie about, in your opinion?

What We’ve Learned:

• It’s so Very.
• When dying after drinking draino, you must say what the last thing you ate was.
• Gay people all drink Mineral Water.
• Damage is a problem
• When your ex-boyfriend is about to blow himself up, make sure you have a cigarette ready to be lit by the explosion.
• Teenage suicide – don’t do it!

Trailer:

Recommendations:

Jeff: What? You don’t have this yet?
Ray: Its Very
Steve: See it! Own it!!

The Present: Predators

Director: Nimrod Antal

Staring: Adrian Brody, Topher Grace, Alice Braga, Walton Goggins, Oleg Taktarov, Laurence Fishburne & Danny Trejo

Trivia:

• Robert Rodriguez was originally thought to be attached as director, however within days of this rumor coming out he confirmed he would only write and produce the film.
• Neil Marshall, Michael J. Bassett, Bill Duke, Marcus Nispel, Peter Berg and Darren Lynn Bousman were considered to direct the film. In the end, Nimród Antal was hired because Robert Rodriguez enjoyed Antal’s earlier films Control (2003) and Vacancy (2007).
• While often erroneously referred to as being a reboot or remake of the Predator series, the film is instead meant to be a sequel to Predator (1987) and Predator 2 (1990) while ignoring the events of the Alien vs Predator films.
• The film’s basic plot was conceived in 1994, when Robert Rodriguez was working on Desperado (1995). He presented a draft of the script to 20th Century Fox, but they turned it down because the budget required was too large. 15 years later, the studio decided to follow through with his script; in the end, an updated version of his script.
• Milo Ventimiglia, Freddy Rodríguez and Josh Brolin were considered for the role of Royce.
• The film was shot in 53 days.
• The original script contained cameo appearances by Dutch (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Michael Harrigan (Danny Glover), the protagonists of the previous Predator films. However, these appearances were ultimately cut out.
• Danny Trejo’s character is named Cuchillo. “Cuchillo” is Spanish for “knife”. Many of Trejo’s characters in Robert Rodriguez movies have been named after knives or sharp instruments: Machete in Spy Kids (2001), Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams (2002), and Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over (2003); Razor Charlie and Razor Eddie in From Dusk Till Dawn (1996), From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money (1999) (V), and From Dusk Till Dawn 3: The Hangman’s Daughter (1999) (V), Navajas (Spanish for “blades”) in Desperado (1995), and he also plays another character called Machete in Machete (2010), a feature length version based on a fake trailer featured in the Robert Rodriguez/Quentin Tarantino collaboration Grindhouse (2007).
• Nimród Antal specifically chose Adrien Brody for the main protagonist: “It was a challenge in finding a balance. When we cast Adrien, there were a lot of people going, What? But at the same time, if we cast a Vin Diesel in that role or anyone who is Arnold-esque, we would have been attacked for doing that. So we decided early on to go in a very different direction as far as the casting process, but it turned out fantastic.” He also felt the soldiers should be portrayed as wiry tough guys, not burly men like Arnold Schwarzenegger.
• Alice Braga continues the “Predator” tradition of casting a Latin actress in the film, following Elpidia Carrillo in Predator (1987), and Maria Conchita Alonso in Predator 2 (1990).
• Robert Rodriguez intends this film to be part of the “Predators” series and NOT the “Alien Vs Predator” series.
• According to Robert Rodriguez, the title of “Predators” serves as a double-entendre, describing the alien hunters as well as the ensemble human characters they target: “They could very well kill each other off even if there were no Predators!”
• The average height of the actors who play the Predator creatures in this film are around 6’6-7″, while the actors in the previous films, Kevin Peter Hall Ian Whyte, were 7’2½” and 7’1″ tall, respectively.
• When asked where he drew his inspiration for how to make a Predator film, Robert Rodriguez responded he was inspired what to do from the original Predator (1987), and what not to do by Predator 2 (1990), AVP: Alien vs. Predator (2004), and AVPR: Aliens vs Predator – Requiem (2007). Furthermore he added he drew no inspiration whatsoever from the Predator comics.
• The classic Predator from the original Predator (1987) will be seen for the first time in over 20 years.
• Alan Silvestri, who composed the score for the original film Predator (1987), was asked to write this score to this film. He could not due to scheduling conflicts with The A-Team (2010). John Debney, who Robert Rodriguez had worked with previously on Sin City (2005) and The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl 3-D (2005) received the assignment. Debney was quoted as saying that his score will be influenced by Silvestri’s original score for the 1987 film.

Talking Points:

• Did anyone else feel the soundtrack was odd? Seemed overly upbeat at times during tense scenes
• What did you think of Adrian Brody as the lead?
• Are the Predator movies even scary any more since we know what it looks like and what it’s capable of?

What We’ve Learned:

• Don’t be a predator, otherwise you might end up on a game preserve planet being hunted!
• Sniper rifles are apparently more efficient than Gatling guns when fighting Predators. Make sure you have one lying around.
• If you wake up finding yourself falling from the sky in a parachute, assume you’re on an alien planet and be ready to fight for your life!
• Conserve Ammo!

Trailer:

Recommendations:

Jeff: Buying potential. Not as actiony as I was hoping it would be but personally think good to see in the theaters.
Ray: Did you like the first one? Would you like to see the first movie all over again with more predators? Then go see it.
Steve: Good rental. Unnecessary to see in the theater.

The Future: Megamind

Starring: Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Will Ferrell, & Tina Fey

Trivia:

• The film was originally titled “Master Mind.” However, since the name had already been trademarked by the makers of the 1970s board game and TV show, the title was changed.
• The film was going to be titled “Oobermind”, which was a misspelling of the term “über-mind.” The word “über” refers to something that is large or great; in this case, the title character’s over-swollen skull/brain. But this was rejected because it didn’t sound right.
• Ben Stiller was originally cast as MegaMind, and later Robert Downey, Jr., but Will Ferrell was given the role, due to “scheduling conflicts” for Downey.

Talking Points:

• Will a cartoon with adult themes (see summary) make it in the same season of Toy Story?

Summary:
After super-villain Megamind (Ferrell) kills his good-guy nemesis, Metro Man (Pitt), he becomes bored since there is no one left to fight. He creates a new foe, Titan (Hill), who, instead of using his powers for good, sets out to destroy the world, positioning Megamind to save the day for the first time in his life.

Trailer:

Excitement:

Jeff: *blink, blink, blink blink* Pass
Ray: Farrell normally drives me up a wall, but i found the trailer funny.. lets hope theres more than just the trailer.
Steve: Looks cute! I’m looking forward to an adult cartoon! Only drawback for me is Ferrell.

Coming Attractions:

The Past: Mighty Morphing Power Rangers: The Movie
The Present: The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
The Future: Alpha & Omega

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