I’ll come right out and admit that I enjoyed Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. Do I think it was a great action flick, on par with the previous two installments in the franchise? Not at all, but there was enough good stuff in the sequel to entertain me. And I know I’m not alone in this opinion. Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear there’s much that’s good in Terminator Salvation, reviews for which are downright terrible. This deeply upsets me, because this was the blockbuster I looked forward to most this summer. Now I don’t feel there’s any reason to check it out.

Of course, I’m probably alone in that last statement. Wednesday night’s midnight shows were a hit and the movie is expected to be huge at the box office this weekend (the fact that it opened on a Thursday before Memorial Day should pad the gross very well). So, since many of you will be going to see this anyway, and hardly pay attention to scores at Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic, I might as well reach around the blogosphere and pull out as many favorable quotes as I can find, even those buried inside primarily negative reviews. And hopefully you will do me the favor of commenting with any other good stuff that makes it worth it for me to buy a ticket.

Thanks in advance for that, and here’s the positive spin, after the jump:
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Less Than Zero is obviously bad, and we don’t need to talk about why that didn’t work. And American Psycho—that is, I think, an impossible book to adapt. But whatever, it was the greatest hits from the book, more or less. Mary did a very good job of keeping that movie together, as did Christian Bale, and I think Roger did a terrific job. And with The Informers, I think there is really an outstanding movie floating out there somewhere, and I hope one day people might be able to see it. But it’s very interesting. I am not comparing The Informers to The Godfather on any level, but there’s that famous story where Paramount asked Coppola to cut like an hour out of the movie, because they didn’t want to release a three-hour movie. And Coppola did, and showed it to the executive, and it was terrible. It moved very slowly at two hours. And then when he put the other hour back in, it moved very quickly. And that’s all I want to say about The Informers.

Scott Tobias has a very interesting interview with Bret Easton Ellis at the A.V. Club, in which the author/screenwriter of this week’s The Informers admits to not liking the cut of that film that’s being released, and assesses the other filmic adaptations of his work, concluding that Roger Avary’s The Rules of Attraction is the only one that “fully works.” He also describes the upcoming American Psycho musical as “like a multimedia rave situation,” so take that for what you will…

In better news for the legacies of Andrew McCarthy and James Spader, there’s a new Pretty in Pink video game, and it’s apparently awesome. Or, at least, better than a Clueless video game made by the same people. It also allows complete lunatics with a thing against upward mobility to rewrite history by having Andie end up with Duckie instead of Blaine. Insert mid-80s version of “FAIL” here.

Everyone was talking today about how Mark Wahlberg’s long-delayed boxing movie The Fighter is finally back on track now that David O. Russell has been tapped to direct and Christian Bale is set to co-star. Some have obviously noted the potential for problems during the shoot, since both new players have had their share of outbursts on film sets, but otherwise most of us are excited about Bale reteaming with the producers of 3:10 to Yuma and Russell back together with Wahlberg for their third collaboration (following the terrific Three Kings and the disappointing I Heart Huckabees).

Anyway, because I’ve been looking at viral marketing gimmicks all day long, I have a crazy idea for Paramount Pictures’ promotion of the “Irish” Mickey Ward biopic: live reality series. Let us watch as the whole thing unfolds, unedited and raw, via webcams. Will Russell and/or Bale shout at a cast or crew member? Will the film be shut down due for financial reasons (even if Reality Media has enough money, it should pretend it doesn’t, just to create drama out of Russell)? We’ll all be tuning in. And then we’ll probably also show up to see the finished product when it hits theaters, too.

Other blogger reactions to the latest Fighter news after the jump:
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I have always tried to maintain low expectations for Hollywood product in general. But when it comes to highly anticipated movies, particularly blockbuster sequels to popular sci-fi action franchises, my excitement can get the best of me. Whenever I need to calm down my expectations, though, I simply recall all the disappointments of 1997 (Alien Resurrection, The Lost World, the Star Wars Special Edition), and I can get through the hype pretty safely. Considering I’m one of the few who actually loved both Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines and (yes, even) McG’s Charlie’s Angels movies, it’s hard for me to believe that I’m also one of the few who isn’t now expecting Terminator Salvation to be the second coming of Christ The Terminator after watching the new trailer (embedded below).

Sure, Christian Bale could very well be a lucky charm to franchise reboots (though does anyone believe this will be even a tenth as good as Batman Begins?) and T4 could easily be better than rival summer blockbuster Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (though “easily” is an understatement, because Transformer 2 will suck just as bad as Transformers 1). But with two and a half months left until the movie opens, it’s just too early for us to be going so ga-ga over one piece of marketing. The only thing left to happen now is a backlash, which I guess I’m sort of starting right now?

Here’s a sample of the most extreme gushing to hit the blogosphere since the trailer’s premiere last night:

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Are you one of the many sci-fi and comic book geeks who’d be more interested in Push were it not for Dakota Fanning? Sure, the precocious child star is now a teen actress (she’s about to turn 15), yet that probably makes you even more worried about her appearance in the movie. But what can you do? She’s literally everywhere this week – voicing the title character in the animated Coraline and starring in two new video releases, Hounddog and The Secret Life of Bees, both of which were released Tuesday. In the tradition of child actors continuing careers into adolescence, it’s only a matter of time before she ruins a movie that would have been better without her.

We’ll have to wait until this weekend to see if that time is now, with Push, but in the meantime let’s take a look at some of the past offenders in this tradition. Most of the following former child actors (our definition: actors that began their career below the age of 13) have done great things in their adulthood, but each has done at least one film that could have been better without him or her. You may disagree with some of these picks, and you may think we’ve forgotten some (was Christian Bale really the worst part of The Dark Knight? did Mary-Kate Olsen’s disturbing kiss with Ben Kingsley take away from The Wackness?), so do share your own thoughts on former child stars below. We just ask that you keep your comments somewhat tasteful and law-abiding.
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I feel terrible for exploiting the Christian Bale Terminator Salvation rant tape for multiple posts in a matter of hours, but these two items just happened to pop up next to each other in my feed reader, and the convergence was just too much too ignore (and anyway — I’m allowed one “What? It’s meta-criticism of the media coverage!” post every now and then, right?)

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Obvious, but surprisingly hilarious nonetheless. Via @jlichman.

YouTube - Terminator 4 Psycho Christian Bale Goes Apeshit in “He’s Just Not That Into You” trailer

I found it unnecessary yesterday to be the billionth blogger to link to the Christian Bale tirade, but today I want to roundup some of the damage control, both direct and indirect, that should hopefully water down the seemed significance of yet another recording of yet another actor having yet another bad day. Because when big media like the Daily News finds it newsworthy and gets poll results from readers believing it to be more “bad attitude” than “bad day,” it’s necessary to spin the positive and concentrate on what we should be concentrating on: the actual movie being made.

• So, first direct your attention to some cool Terminator Salvation images recently published by Wired, and specifically focus on the image of the “Hydrobot” (thanks to I Watch Stuff for spotlighting it). Is this some kind of special tribute to two of James Cameron’s other great films? And should we be on the lookout during the film for sinking ships and flying Piranhabots?
• Nikki Finke has updated her initial post with a quote from an unnamed source: “Christian and the DP are all good now. It happened. It was one isolated event. He regrets that he lost his temper.”
• 1st AD Bruce Franklin, who was somewhat involved in the incident, also defends Bale to E! News as simply having had a bad day: “He is so dedicated to the craft. I think someone is begging to make some noise about this, but I don’t think it’s fair. The art of acting is not paint by numbers, it’s an art form.”
• Similarly Terminator Salvation costar Terry Crews comes to Bale’s defense on Hollyscoop: “He is a class act! He is one of the greatest actors ever. You can catch anyone on a bad day.”
• Heckler Spray’s Stuart Heritage believes that after last year’s arrest coinciding with the release of The Dark Knight, this rant is merely Bale’s latest means of film promotion: “Christian Bale’s next movie is the Michael Mann film Public Enemies. Lord alone knows how he’s going to promote that one, but we’d wager that it’ll involve a tank of petrol, a lighter, a box of puppies and some sort of tribal dancing.”
• Rope of Silicon highlights both Herzog’s Fitzcarraldo and the David O. Russell/Lily Tomlin incident as proof that blow-ups like this are not uncommon.
• Cinematical’s Scott Weinberg and William Goss have made a parody audio that shows just how common such work-related tirades can be. Yes, even bloggers have bad days.
• Of course, others are using this as an opportunity to show how perfect their own sets are. On The Today Show this morning, Matt Lauer and friends shared a similar incident involving a wandering crew member that didn’t result in bad behavior. Watch the better-than-thou display here.
• Finally, the best way to positively spin a negative story such as this? Dance remix! Check it out after the jump.
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Today’s video isn’t new, so don’t get your hopes up too high; this isn’t a companion to the new Terminator Salvation trailer (which you can watch here), nor does it confirm whether or not Arnold Schwarzenegger has a cameo in the new installment. It’s just a hilarious deleted scene from Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. Or, maybe it’s just a gag. I’m not even sure if it’s from the film’s DVD.

Two reasons why I’m sharing this now: first, I’d never seen it prior to this past weekend; second, it’s a fun alternative to the seriousness of the Salvation trailer. I love Christian Bale as much as the next guy, but he really knows how to put a straight face on an otherwise enjoyable franchise. If Sean Penn can give us a great big smile, Bale can too. I know, Terminator Salvation should appropriately be dark, but it doesn’t need to be depressing. That giant, clunky robot at the end is laughable enough to allow intentional comic relief.

Then again, the terrifically amusing scene below, in which Schwarzenegger makes fun of his voice, was obviously even too over the top for Terminator 3. And that one was the most playful of the Terminator films. So, there’s certainly no hope for something so fun in the new sequel.

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Last week, Entertainment Weekly confirmed with Warner Bros. that the studio would be campaigning for a nomination for Heath Ledger specifically in the supporting actor category, putting to rest all the speculation and suggestions that he could contend for the Best Actor Oscar. Now all the awards pundits seem to agree that Ledger is a definite lock for a posthumous nomination. As for The Dark Knight’s hopes for other categories, though, it’s still up in the air as to how many nominations the comic book movie might garner.

While its predecessor, Batman Begins, only received one Oscar nomination, for Wally Pfister’s cinematography, there’s at least some likelihood that The Dark Knight could be recognized in as many as a dozen categories. That’s about as many as it’s legitimately eligible for, anyway, and in a year that keeps looking slimmer and slimmer in terms of Oscar-worthy pictures, there’s no reason to completely deny The Dark Knight’s full capability. Unfortunately, it’s a popular genre picture, so regardless of how critically acclaimed it is, and regardless of how the Academy has historically lauded similar titles, there will be a lot of doubt and debate concerning this movie’s prospects all the way up until January 22, when the nominations are announced.

Yesterday, John Foote of In Contention, commented on the increasing chances of The Dark Knight in such a lackluster Oscar season. In some ways, though, it’s not just about onetime Oscar hopefuls turning out to be hopeless; it’s also the constant problem of so much Oscar bait being held away from viewers and voters until the last possible second. Even those films that end up being fairly good can be disappointments after so much premature awards season hype. Sure, audiences have short attention spans and typically a film released midyear is easily forgotten by voting time, but a movie as memorable, as successful and as well-made as The Dark Knight can come out in the summer and easily be in the forefront of voters’ minds as an easy and deserving fallback. Therefore so many Oscar bloggers shouldn’t suddenly be surprised to see that The Dark Knight’s hopes for multiple Oscar nominations is “brightening” or “shaping up.” It’s always been a contender. Let’s break down its chances, category by category, after the jump:

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“Three episodes into this second season, Mad Men already has delineated the shadings between good and evil — between a sense of fairness and callousness — in a way far more profound than anything in The Dark Knight.”

That’s Steven Rosen, in a Cincinatti City Beat story in which he considers Don Draper, the protagonist of my beloved Mad Man, as “sort of dark knight himself,” and the “moral compass” of a world that may not have devolved into the violent chaos of Gotham, but underneath its outwardly controlled facade is melting into a soup of generational conflict and moral relativism.

Rosen cites the men of Mad Men’s various reactions to the 1962 crash of American Airlines’ Flight 2, the real-life event that inspires the fictional conflict driving Season 2’s second episode, as proof of his point:

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This article is filled with sour notes about the state of Batman video games, but if you want some pure audio delight, click here to listen to Frank Gorshin (he played The Riddler on the Adam West Batman TV show) sing “The Riddler.” Awesome.

Batman is known for vanishing into the night in order to instill fear into his foes, and to confound Commissioner Gordon who always wonders how he disappears so quickly. However, his video games are also known for leaving store shelves just as quickly and quietly. Is that why there’s no Dark Knight video game? Commission Gordon himself, looking a bit like Garth from Wayne’s World, was shown a tiny bit of the game, as you can see in this clip… so where is it?

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Thus concludes our coverage of the 2008 Comic-Con International. If you missed anything, here it all is:

• Porn on the floor
• Jabba the Hutt
• Hoverboard for sale
• LEGO Batman
• Star Wars stamps
• Guy Ritchie’s comic book
• Pineapple Express and a brief history of stoner films
• Max Payne/Wolverine
• Twilight
• Red Sonja
• Nerd Barbies
• Tron 2
• Scream Like a Girl, hosted by Kevin Smith
• RocknRolla panel
• Guy Ritchie press conference
• Fanboys
• Watchmen
• The Wolfman
• Dr. Horrible (including sequel info)
• The Spirit
• Keifer Sutherland and Mirrors
• Judd Apatow, Kevin Smith, Zach Snyder, Frank Miller
• Watchmen: Dave Gibbons on Alan Moore
• Terminator Salvation
• Disney/Pixar
• Heath Ledger, the bobblehead
• Mummy 3, Death Race, Land of the Lost, Drag Me To Hell, Evil Dead
• Pineapple Express, Underworld, Quarantine
• Harold and Kumar
• Wes Craven and David Boyer
• Nightmare on Elm Street Part 209
• Hamlet 2
• Terminator Salvation press conference
• Troma at Comic-Con, Toxie in Iraq
• Interview with Gil Kenan, director of City of Ember
• Girls at Comic-Con
• Tropic Thunder
• Where was Star Trek?

McG and Bryce Dallas Howard, “This is our new baby, we named him T-600 McG-Dallas-Howard.”

The world of Terminator fandom let out a collective groan when the news was announced that McG, director of the Charlie’s Angels films, is at the helm of the upcoming Terminator Salvation. The film, the fourth in the more than twenty year-old franchise, stars Christian Bale as John Conner. Bale unfortunately did not join the rest of the cast in promoting the film at Comic-Con. There was a press conference immediately following the big announcement panel, and the star of the show, surprisingly, was director McG.

When asked about the overall feel of the film, McG said, “I’m tremendously influenced by Children of Men, hat’s off to that picture, I think it’s fantastic… By the same token, this isn’t designed to be an art picture, it’s for audiences the world over, so you’ve got to find a balance between that artistic take and what’s right for a film to be seen by a great many people around the world.”

Many fans are concerned that McG’s take will further derail the franchise, rather than improving upon the rather dismal third film. McG seemed more than prepared to address these fears, making explicit his interactions with James Cameron, the creator and director of the first two films. “I did not want to move forward on this picture if Jim were like, ‘Fuck you, what are you doing?’ It’s very simple, I would have acquiesced and said, ‘You’re right, you’re the creator of what this is, and I respect that.’ And he was very encouraging, we talked at length about the story, we talked about Sam [Worthington], and most particularly, we talked about his experience on Aliens, and the idea that you can’t live in fear, you’ve got to move forward.”

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