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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There will be sequels to both Star Trek and X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Not only are these now officially greenlit, but they’re also what we call “likely sequels” prior to their certainty — meaning we all saw them coming way before Paramount and Fox, respectively, announced them. However, it’s not necessarily a given that a successful movie will always spawn a follow-up. For example, box office record-holder Titanic could never become a franchise.

Of course, people will always joke about the possibilities for a Titanic sequel, and that kind of humor is what makes the Twitter meme #unlikelysequels so entertaining. Unfortunately, 140 characters allows for little more than a proposed sequel title (and yes, “Titanic 2: Jack’s Back” is among them), so we have decided to expand on ten favorites by providing the synopsis and, for some, casting suggestions.
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The reactions to the new G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra trailer are, as expected, pretty negative. But it’s almost as if bloggers had their write-ups pre-written, because the thing is not that bad. Maybe I just have low expectations and so therefore wasn’t expecting much to begin with, but considering all the crap that movie blogs get excited about on a regular basis, I’m dubious. Those criticizing this trailer so harshly are obviously just going along with the fashion of trashing on this movie. I’m not saying it looks good, but I might actually prefer to see this than, say, the new Transformers sequel.

And if District 9, which does indeed look amazing via its new trailer, is actually “this year’s Cloverfield, then I might also prefer to see G.I. Joe than that, too. Of course, if we go by trailers alone and not presumptions, the little-known-about District 9, which appears to be a faux-documentary sci-fi flick, completely wins the fight over our summer moviegoing dollars. And I’m certainly not alone in seeing the Peter Jackson-produced movie as the champion today. Let’s compare the responses to each trailer, from the usual suspects:

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As long as X-Men Origins: Wolverine is a success this weekend (and despite all its “bad luck,” it should do very well), Fox will follow it with another X-Men spin-off, this one detailing the back story of Magneto. Outside of that project, which has been in the works just as long as the Wolverine film, there’s interest in solo movies for Gambit, Deadpool and Emma Frost (White Queen), as well as a spin-off about the original X-Men team as students.

Recently, in another list, we called for an Origins film focused on the shape-shifting villain Mystique, for which we even suggested Brian DePalma to direct. That spin-off is still our first choice, but since there are so many great mutant characters in the Marvel Universe, we’d like to pitch ten more X-Men origin movies to Hollywood (not just to Fox). To go along with the studio’s idea of hiring an unqualified filmmaker (Gavin Hood) for the job, we also recommend a barely appropriate director for each film.

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So, this week almost had an ABAB pattern as far as Bloggery topics go. Two posts devoted to Bruno and now two devoted to Wolverine. If only we had six of these a week I could make it all paired up with an additional Bloggery post focused on how Regal cinemas allegedly won’t show Ice Age 3 in 3D if Fox indeed pushes the entire cost of 3D glasses onto theatre owners. I guess it’s not that big a deal to film bloggers, though, anyway. They’re much too excited about the non-trade-confirmed casting news of Jackie Earle Haley as Freddie Krueger for the Nightmare on Elm Street reboot (all I can think of is Freddie cutting off penises — even his own — with his glove). As one of the few horror franchises I liked growing up, Elm Street is too sacred for me, as is Robert Englund as Krueger, to bother skimming the posts celebrating the remake, and Haley in it. So, instead, I’m going back to the other clawed character making headlines this week, because the X-Men Origins: Wolverine piracy story is just too big* to have been covered in one post:

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Thanks to the six-year-old site April Fool’s Day On The Web, there isn’t much need for me to link to film-related gags that can be found on the Internet today. And thanks to Cinematical’s annual roundup, you’ve probably already been clued into some of the best film foolery, including the very cool, very unfortunately fake Empire Strikes Back-referencing Tauntaun Sleeping Bag posted on ThinkGeek. Regardless, I’m going to sample some of the most creative of bloggery bamboozlement. Because there isn’t any other story that’s funnier or more interesting than the stuff that was made up for this special occasion.

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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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The Academy Awards barely recognize comedic talent in film, so it’s kind of ironic that the Oscars have typically been hosted by a comedic personality. Since the Academy primarily honors serious movies and performances, it’d be more fitting to have Sean Penn leading the show. But TV audiences love a funny variety program, and the tradition has worked out well thanks to humorists like Will Rogers, Bob Hope and Billy Crystal, so the comedy has been a constant.

This year, however, the ceremony will feature Hugh Jackman as emcee, and the joke-filled monologue has been axed. But is it still ironic that an actor best known for playing a superhero is hosting an award show that fails to regularly celebrate blockbuster franchises like his X-Men series? And are the producers capitalizing on this irony by hiring Jackman, who will certainly be promoting his upcoming spin-off, X-Men Origins: Wolverine?

When the choice was announced, plenty of people immediately thought of the ratings-boosting possibility of having Jackman wear his Wolverine costume while performing his hosting duties. For an Oscars ceremony that may end up nominating a superhero film for Best Picture and will be secretly recognizing Robert Downey Jr.’s performance in Iron Man as much as in Tropic Thunder (if he’s indeed nominated for the latter), the singing, dancing Australian is quite appropriate for the gig.

But despite his ratings appeal to comic geeks and old ladies who read People magazine, could this relatively humorless host be setting himself up for a roast? Here’s hoping he’s at least better than the following Oscars embarrassments:
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If you still haven’t had enough goodies from Comic-Con, feel free to check out the bootlegged clip of the new traiiler for X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Personally, I’m ready to move on, and so here’s a look at another superhero story: Oliver Stone’s W. Or, as I like to call it, U.S.-President Origins: George W. Bush.

It looks a little more serious than I anticipated. For all we’ve read and heard about the campiness of the script, the thing is now at least being marketed as a drama about a clash between father and son. Even the roll call of characters (captioned as such, rather than crediting the players) makes each part look less like caricatures than I’d expected.

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I’m still not crazy about the idea of Liev Shreiber playing Sabretooth (aka Victor Creed) in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. I think of the actor as being more a white-collar kind of guy. And maybe a bit smarter. I know Sabretooth isn’t supposed to be nearly as dumb as he was portrayed (by Tyler Mane) in X-Men, but I think of him as being more animalistic than intelligent — I know it’s probably wrong to think that, and it’s been years since I last read an X-Men comic, but that’s what I’ve always thought. Meanwhile, I expect to see Schreiber wearing a suit and tie (or reciting Shakespeare, or both!). Hooray for typecasting!

Anyway, most of you have probably already seen these latest set photos courtesy of Just Jared, but I thought I’d showcase my favorites, which include that one above and this one and this one and this one. I’ll give it to the more knowledgeable fans who will point out that Creed has brains, but did he also have boobs? Surely they should have cast a more fit actor, or had Schreiber get in better shape. And I don’t just mean the obvious issues seen in these pics. Shouldn’t Sabretooth have gigantic shoulders, at least?