Sci-Fi Storm

Paramount won the rights earlier this year to what is considered one of the best science fiction novels, [asin=1876963468]The Stars My Destination[/asin] by Alfred Bester, and now has gotten development under way by giving the pen to David DiGilio (Warrior).

DiGilio had also been tied to Disney’s Tron: Legacy sequel at one point, until that project got shelved earlier this year.

The novel (better known in the UK as “Tiger! Tiger!”) deals with a lot of science fiction elements as it tells the story of Gulliver “Gully” Foyle, a man who is marooned is space for six months as the sole survivor of a merchant spaceship and becomes consumed with rage when a passing ship ignores his signals. He manages to repair the ship but is then captured and tatooed with a tiger mask on his face. He later escapes and has the tatoos removed – but it is only partially successful, with the scars appearing when he becomes enraged. He then embarks on a quest for revenge for those who left him to die.

This is looking GOOD…the Avengers fracture into two teams – one led by Captain America, and the other by Iron Man, while the government seeks to control them all…

In theaters May 6th!

Phillipa Boyens, well known for her collaboration with Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh on The Lord Of The Rings and The Hobbit franchises, has signed on to help Disney kickstart a new fantasy franchise – this time based on T. A. Barron’s [asin=0142418897]The Merlin Saga books[/asin], about the early life of the wizard of Arthurian legend.

With something of a void to fill in the fantasy series realm after years of hobbits and young wizards (Warcraft is on deck, along with some new Harry Potter films, but our journey in Middle-earth is done, and even YA post-apocalyptic franchises are reaching their conclusions), Disney is hoping to launch a new title, and Barron has already created a wide setting (spanning 12 books) that could take the legend closer to a Harry Potter audience, and Boyens, who shared the 2002 Oscar with Jackson and Walsh for The Return Of The King, could be perfect for leading a expansive vision on screen. Gil Netter (Life of Pi) is producing. No director has been named yet.

The project was previously set up at Warner Bros where it seemed to be making progress, but after a couple years of silence it moved to Disney last year.

I…can’t…wait…

The first TV spot for Star Wars: The Force Awakens was released last night, “Every generation has a story”…it’s getting closer!

Star Wars Weekends, a multi-weekend event that Disney has hosted for annually for the last 13 years and occasionally before that, is over.

It was announced on the official Disney Parks Blog today, although we believed it already to be the case.

Construction will begin next year in Disney’s Hollywood Studios park, where the Weekends were held, in order to provide a whole new “land” dedicated to Star Wars. Previously, the Star Wars presence was limited to the Star Tours attraction, the Tatooine Traders shop, and more recently the Jedi Training Academy (where children get trained by a Jedi and then face Darth Vader!) With Disney’s acquisition of Lucasfilm in 2012 everyone expected a bigger park presence and it’s on the way. A few details were released about that expansion:

• On December 1st, “Star Wars: Launch Bay” opens, giving fans a look at the franchise and the upcoming Star Wars: The Force Awakens with special exhibits and peeks behind-the-scenes, special merchandise and opportunities to encounter Chewbacca and Darth Vader.
• Star Tours: The Adventure Continues will feature a new scene inspired by Star Wars: The Force Awakens: a chase following the Millenium Falcon through the ship wreckage on the desert planet of Jakku. Those familiar with the random scenes in the attraction might be glad to know that for a few months, the Jakku scene will be in every ride, and then it “will be up to the will of the Force”.
• Jedi Training: Trials of the Temple (opening early December) is a re-imagining of the Jedi Training Academy which will take younglings to the secret site of an ancient Jedi temple where they will face Darth Vader along with the Seventh Sister – a new villain from the Disney XD series Star Wars Rebels
• Star Wars: Path of the Jedi will feature scenes from the complete Star Wars saga, also giving anyone new to the Star Wars galaxy an opportunity to get acquainted with the films.

This looks good! The war between Men and Orcs comes to the big screen! Opens June 10th, 2016

We may have had the “final” U.S. trailer, but this Japanese one focuses on Rey, and shows us some more interesting scenes…I’m almost getting a Katniss Everdeen vibe…

SIX WEEKS!

Check out these cool character posters released today for Star Wars: The Force Awakens – five characters each holding their weapon (except Leia, whose weapon appears to be information/strategy)…pretty awesome!

You can see the crackle and sparks to Kylo Ren’s lightsaber – perhaps betraying a less refined origin…

I finally got to see The Martian this weekend thanks to several hours free in the middle of my non-stop schedule lately, with nothing to do while trapped in Boston.

I described Gravity as “the worst work day ever”. But it was relentless – a constant series of just bad things happening that just somehow impossibly not end up killing the protagonist. Great visuals, but TOO intense and non-stop.

The Martian is Gravity done a TON better. And more enjoyable.

In The Martian, as seen in the previews, a sudden massive storm forces the abort of the Ares III mission on the surface of Mars. While attempting to reach the ascent vehicle, astronaut Mark Watney is struck by a piece of debris, and his bio monitor indicates that his suit had been ruptured. The rest of the crew are unable to locate him before he would likely run out of air, and are forced to take off.

Miraculously, Watney survives and makes it back to the habitat, and realizes his situation. He’s trapped on another planet alone, communications are out, a rescue mission would take 4 years to reach him without nearly enough food and many things that if they broke would kill him.

The Martian dispenses with the intensity for realism. It isn’t a constant series of bad things happening, but there is the constant threat of it. But Watney is given the chance to think through his options, and not have to improvise every second. He works through the solutions and, for the benefit of the audience, talks through them via the video logs he makes in case anyone can retrieve them.

Matt Damon did a spectacular job as Watney. He managed to effectively bring the humor to a character in a dire situation. He appears defeated when things go south but never gives up. And everything he does is believable, and for the most part, accurate. As part of that, in some cases the technospeak might lose some portion of the audience – such as all the talk about intercept velocities. But it is something that they had to deal with, so the audience had to deal with it too.

Perhaps the weakest parts of the movie may have been with the supporting cast. Not that anything was horrible, but at times I just didn’t connect with the emotion or passion the characters should have been generating. I hate to say this, but I think Sean Bean’s portrayal of flight director Mitch Henderson, who I felt should have been making a more impassioned plea of NASA director Teddy Sanders (Jeff Daniels), but more often looked like someone who just wanted to go to bed. And I LOVE Sean Bean. But keep a watch out for the meeting where they discuss “Project Elrond”…

Visually, the movie is spectacular…the flat Mars landscapes punctuated by tall, wind-carved mountains, looked incredibly realistic. I was VERY impressed. They did a spectacular job of not making it look like he was just filmed in a greenscreen room and everything was just composted in.

I believe The Martian is probably the best movie I’ve seen in years.