Movie fans were shocked today with the news that Oscar-winner Adrien Brody is turning action hero to star in the Robert Rodriguez-produced Predator reboot, Predators. At first I thought maybe he’s trying to distance himself from the Roman Polanski mess by picking a movie as far from The Pianist as possible. But then I remembered that since winning Best Actor six years ago Brody has done little to show himself worthy of the award (he’s great in The Darjeeling Limited at least).
But will anybody believe him as a guy who can defeat a bunch of Predators? That he’s better than Arnold Schwarzenegger, who barely survived one of them? That he’s the guy to lead kick-ass costars like Danny Trejo, Oleg Taktarov, Walt Goggins and even … umm … Topher Grace (he’s at least been an action movie villain before, even if a bad one)? Well, obviously this gig is going to require that supposed Oscar-caliber talent in order to convince us.
Check out the stunned reactions from other film bloggers after the jump:
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Early this year we featured a list of franchises in need of a genre change. The Rambo series was not one of the five selected, but apparently Sylvester Stallone thinks it’s a good idea to take a turn into sci-fi for the fifth installment of the action franchise. This, after the Indiana Jones series took a disappointing leap into alien territory last year. This, despite the fact Moonraker is one of the worst James Bond films.
The funny thing is, it’s difficult to find a straight up action or action/adventure franchise that doesn’t have sci-fi elements anymore. So wouldn’t it be nice to have these few series remain grounded in reality if they started that way? We think so. That’s why we’re going to beat Hollywood to the punch on a few action franchises that have yet to add aliens, monsters or whatever to their world.
The following five premises are completely ridiculous, and that is the point. Hopefully the series’ respective studios will thereby see that it would be a bad idea to do anything of the sort.
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A few days ago, Erik Davis of Cinematical Tweeted that he was watching Rambo: First Blood Part II, and he made a comment about how if Robert Rodriguez’s Predators doesn’t work out, he’d get behind a Rambo vs. Predator film. I thought the idea was a little silly since that’s basically what the original Predator was, only with Arnold Schwarzenegger instead of Sylvester Stallone. Little did either of us know that Rambo V: The Savage Hunt would end up involving a half-human, half-beast adversary that does seem to be like what Davis had in mind.
One thing appears to be different, though. Apparently Rambo (Stallone) is going to the Arctic Circle to battle the creature, which aligns it more with the first Alien vs. Predator movie. Sure, it’s the wrong Pole but the same climate and terrain — superficially anyway. Oh, and here’s another thing that’s slightly different: the creature isn’t an alien; it’s a secret governement genetic experiment gone wrong. In the poster, made before the official synopsis was even revealed, it looks like a werewolf.
The only thing more ridiculous would be for Rambo to fight teenage vampires, though I think werewolves may actually be the hip new thing as dictated by Twilight, so that might not be any more silly or popular. Hey, going sci-fi worked for Indiana Jones, right? And Rambo is even getting a young “hunting partner” in this installment. Maybe it’s actually his son?
Check out what the other film blogs are saying about this crazy Rambo V scenario after the jump:
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If you need to rest your eyes at any point during the 146 min. comedy epic Funny People, your best bet is to do it early during a sequence in which Adam Sandler’s character has back to back sex with a couple of female fans. The second of these scenes is mildly amusing, but there’s just no need to put the images in your head of either Sandler with a face full of breasts or the actor taking a girl from behind.
There are some actors we don’t need to see in a sex scene, humorous or otherwise, and Adam Sandler is one of them. He’s of a generation of comedic actors who starred in movies where they get the girl but where there’s no need for gratuitous sex and nudity. Unlike most of his successors, including Vince Vaughn, Owen Wilson, Paul Rudd and Dane Cook, he was never a pin-up in addition to being a funnyman. Even if he was better looking than some of his brethren, such as David Spade, Mike Myers, Chris Farley, Rob Schneider.
Still, Adam Sandler isn’t the last male actor we’d want to see in a sex scene. He’s not even in the bottom ten, which we present in a list below:
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Variety published three separate but similar “Top Stories” Sunday (one - two - three) on the topic of blogs and how certain bloggers (mainly Nikki Finke, pictured) exhibit questionable journalistic practices. What seemed at first to be an excessive, behind-the-times and otherwise forgettable trio of articles has today (and initially last night) become a topic of discussion for many film bloggers, including some who were mentioned in these Variety pieces who felt the need to respond.
My personal response is primarily, as I said, one of disregard. But here’s a quick commentary: I enjoy Finke and others as I might have appreciated Louella Parsons or Hedda Hopper decades ago — with a grain of salt. The fact that some bloggers are taken more seriously for their rumors and faulty reporting styles than, say, any one of the hundred other fanboy movie blog sites out there is the problem of the reader (especially the one who’s a Hollywood player), not the writer.
Though the timeliness of Variety’s blogger-hating trilogy comes on the heel of recent errors and conflicts involving Finke and others, there’s no more necessity in such articles as there would be for a trio of stories about the trustworthiness of Fox News. Don’t read the blog, don’t watch the channel, don’t read the trade magazine if you don’t like their content.
Anyway, I’ve given my two cents; read what others have to say after the jump:
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