Dubai to Host New Theme Park Based Entirely Around Marvel Characters

Move over Orlando, Dubai is looking to become the world's next major theme park hub. United Arab Emirate-based Al Ahli Group and Marvel Entertainment, Inc. have announced a joint partnership that will bring a new mind-blowing theme park to Dubai; one that can (and most likely will) utilize Marvel's entire library of superheroes, including Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, The X-Men, The Fantastic Four, The Silver Surfer and Iron Man. According to a press release, the project will open in 2011 and is sure to become a must-see for you thrill fanatics and Marvel fanboys.

A number of Marvel characters (including Spider-Man and The Incredible Hulk) are already featured at Orlando's Islands of Adventure -- however, to my knowledge, there are currently no parks that specifically cater to the Marvel universe. Mohamed Khammas, CEO of Al Ahli Group, notes that with this new partnership they aim to create "the ultimate entertainment destination for families and children of the region and the world, a destination where they can live their childhood fantasies and create new memories for the entire family to cherish and remember." The creative team (working off a direct investment of $1 billion) will be based in Hollywood, Orlando and Dubai during the development process, with the ultimate goal being to create "a new standard for theme parks around the world." The only problem? You have to go all the way to Dubai. Drats.

The whole thing sounds pretty interesting, and I wonder whether they will incorporate scenes from the films into each ride (a la Disney with their Pirates of the Caribbean ride in Orlando). Is this a place you'd be interested in visiting? What sort of rides would you like to see show up?

[via Hollywood Wiretap]

Remember 'Southland Tales'? Here's New Pics To Remind You

I rented Donnie Darko the day it came out on DVD. This was before it reached cult status, I hadn't really heard anything about it at all. I put it in the machine with very low expectations, Patrick Swayze was in the thing for crying out loud! Two hours later, I sat in the dark, completely blown away. I immediately watched it again. I wanted to call everyone I knew and tell them to watch this movie, and fast. These days, it's very difficult to find something truly "under the radar," but Donnie Darko felt like a real discovery to me, and to a lot of people. I think it's one of the best movies of the decade. So of course a new film from its director, Richard Kelly, is big news. And no matter what the critics think of Southland Tales (and they haven't been kind thus far - Andrew O'Hehir at Salon called the 160-minute Cannes cut of the film "about the biggest, ugliest mess I've ever seen" and you can read James's negative review here), I'm dying to see it.

Listed on imdb as a "comedy musical sci-fi thriller," Southland looks interesting to say the least. Set in Los Angeles, 2008, with the city on the brink of "social, economic and environmental disaster," it's got a cast that redefines "eclectic" (Justin Timberlake, John Larroquette, Mandy Moore, Jon Lovitz, Cheri Oteri...getting the idea?),and you can see just how eclectic in this cool new group of photos from the film over at iesb. There's shots from the movie, behind-the-scenes stuff, storyboards, paintings, sketches, all kinds of goodies. A majority of the photos are of Seann William Scott (who plays twin brother cops), The Rock and an almost disturbingly attractive Sarah Michelle Gellar, who plays a porn star in the film. Southland Tales has been picked up by Columbia Pictures, and Kelly is said to have made some pretty drastic cuts in preparation for a potential release soon.

Clip from Lucy Liu's Vamp Flick 'Rise' Leaked to Web

I'm not sure if this is a actual leak, or if Ghost House Pictures is trying to finally drum up some buzz for Rise. In the summer of 2005, Lucy Liu filmed the vamp flick, intended to be the actress' step into the horror genre. With names like Michael Chiklis and sexy Sin City alum Carla Gugino co-starring, and Marilyn Manson popping up as a bartender, you'd think it would have sped its way to horror fans' eager eyes. It didn't, but now Arrow in the Head has gotten a tip to a clip that has found its way to YouTube. It's all sexy, lesbian, sweaty and blood-lickingly NSFW.

According to IMDB, the movie will finally be released on June 1st. What's it about? Well, Lucy plays a reporter who wakes up, undead, in the morgue. More than a little ticked about her predicament, she vows revenge against the vamps who put her there, mainly, I would assume, the other lady (who appears to be Gugino) in the clip. One by one, she hunts them down. Does it sound familiar? At least Liu didn't suffer the same fate. However, this was the last live-action film on Mako's long resume -- the man who did guest spots in just tons of shows over the years, and who was also the voice of Master Splinter in the upcoming TMNT before he died last July. The movie could be cool, but the delays don't give me much hope.

Jon Favreau Is Blogging 'Iron Man' Filming

Though he's knee-deep in filming Iron Man, director Jon Favreau is saving a little bit of time to update fans on his progress. In a recent message on his MySpace page, Favreau tells us the first week of photography was "extremely challenging," but went off "without a hitch." He goes on to praise the efforts put forth by his cast and crew, saying "Downey was definitely the right choice." (For those not aware, Robert Downey Jr. is playing the role of Tony Stark, aka Iron Man.)

Apparently, these first few weeks of shooting revolve around Stark's origin story -- how he was captured while on a trip to Afghanistan (originally Vietnam), where he was kept hostage and forced to build weapons. It's during this time when he builds the Iron Man suit and uses it to escape. Says Favreau: "I'm looking forward to getting out of the "cave." The first few weeks of shooting are spent, somewhat in sequence, establishing Stark's captivity. It sets the table tonally for the rest of the film. The close quarters and tight schedule make it the toughest part of the shoot on the cast and crew." Am I the only one who cannot wait to see how Downey Jr. pulls off this character?

In related news, Iron Man scribe Mark Fergus is currently making the rounds promoting his directorial debut First Snow. In a recent interview over at the Movie Blog, the unavoidable "sequel question" was raised. On whether or not there will be an Iron Man 2, Fergus says that "absolutely, the seeds have been planted for a lot of stuff to come, for sure." As far as his involvement goes, Fergus admitted that he hopes to be "invited back for that party." Of course, it all depends on how well the first one does first. So, Iron Man fans, if you want more, then get ready to break out that wallet.

SXSW Review: Sisters

"Lord help the mister/
Who comes between me and my sister/
And Lord help the sister/
Who comes between me and my man."

-- Irving Berlin, "Sisters"

Debuting at the 2007 SXSW Film Festival, Douglas Buck's Sisters looks like yet-another remake -- this time, of Brian De Palma's 1973 thriller of the same name. Something about Sisters caught my eye in this iteration -- possibly the cast, including Chloe Sevigny and Dallas Roberts among others. The curious thing is that I've never seen De Palma's original -- I was going into Sisters blind, and curious if the film would work on its own without memories and recollections laid over it to fill in any blank spots or uneven patches.

And from the jump, Sisters doesn't quite feel like a remake -- to use a musical metaphor (which, for a film that debuting at SXSW, is certainly allowable), Buck's take on Sisters felt less like a cover version than a mash-up. Sisters has De Palma's original story and credits him, but a lot of the film's look, feel and sensibility are on loan from that other avatar of '70s horror, David Cronenberg. You have all of the classic De Palma touches in Sisters -- voyeurism, faux-Hitchcock, cheap and greasy surprises that satisfy -- but you also have many classic Cronenberg elements -- bizarre institutes of medicine, signifying and stomach-churning scars, winter-grey Canadian shades in the cinematography.

Continue reading SXSW Review: Sisters

Holly Valance Joins Taken

It looks like the casting process is moving fast and furious for Luc Besson's latest production, Taken. Moviehole reported that Australian actress Holly Valance is the latest addition to the thriller. It was only yesterday that Monika had the news that Lost's Maggie Grace had signed on for the film, so it would appear that Besson isn't wasting any time moving the movie closer toward production.

Pierre Morel is directing, and the film centers on a father (Liam Neeson) trying to find his daughter after she has been sold into slavery somewhere in Europe. Grace will star as the daughter, but there is no word on who Valance is going to play. You probably know Valance mainly for her TV work; she was on the Aussie soap Neighbours and also had a recurring role on Fox's Prison Break. So far Valance has a pretty short film resume that includes the Paris Hilton comedy Pledge This! and the jiggle-fest that was DOA ... which at least had some creative uses for lingerie. Both movies never really saw the light of day, and probably for good reason. So, even though the premise for Taken might seem a little corny, compared to some of her other films, it's a definite improvement.

A Small Silly Shot of Caffeine

In the tradition of the convenience store in Clerks, the record shop in Empire Records and the theme restaurant in Waiting comes ... the coffee house in Caffeine. Frankly I'm stunned that nobody came up with the "wacky ensemble comedy that takes place in a coffee house" before now, but here it is all the same. Just because this new trailer is packed with silly sex jokes, stupid scatology and infantile antics, don't mistake it for all those other movies. This one comes with British accents!

From director John Cosgrove (who once directed an episode of Unsolved Mysteries, so you know he's got skills) and first-time screenwriter Dean Craig comes a trailer that proves, once and for all, that the Brits can do poop humor with the best worst of the American actors. Starring several photogenic young folks (and a few familiar faces like Mena Suvari, Breckin Meyer and the adorable Katherine Heigl), Caffeine is set for a limited release on March 17. And most likely a quick trip to Walmart's $5.50 bin a few weeks later.

New Phantasm DVD Looks Like a (Spiked) Ball

For a while you couldn't find it on DVD at all. And then MGM released a pretty solid (albeit annoyingly non-anamorphic) Phantasm DVD that sold for about ten bucks -- and then that DVD went out of print. So for a while there the horror freaks couldn't find a copy of Don Coscarelli's trippy horror masterpiece at ALL! But as Jeff Anderson told us a few weeks ago, Anchor Bay is coming to the rescue!

Arriving in DVD shoppes on April 10 is a full-bore (and, yes, anamorphic) "Anchor Bay Collection" Phantasm DVD, and while the extras sure do look pretty slick ... they also look like they were ported directly from the old MGM release! I could be mistaken, but it sure seems like if you already own the MGM version, the only upgrade this new platter offers is the new anamorphic transfer. Otherwise you already own the deleted scenes, the feature-length Phantasmagoria documentary, the promotional interviews and featurettes, the trailers and TV spots and the rather amusing audio commentary with Don Coscarelli, Michael Baldwin, Bill Thornbury and Angus "The Tall Man" Scrimm. But if you don't have that MGM disc, this one's an absolute keeper -- provided you enjoy movies with murderous spiky-balls, hulking morticians, undead fly-finger creatures, and pint-sized mutant slaves imprisoned in alternate dimensions. (Hmm, I might actually spin Phantasm again tonight...)

GM Unveils a Transformers Line Of Cars?

The already-hyped Transformers flick received another shot of free press this week when the cars that GM licensed for the film showcased at the GM "ten" pre-Oscar fashion event at Paramount Pictures. IESB.net has exclusive video of the cars on the "red carpet" and already speculation has begun that GM could bring a "Transformers Edition" of cars into production. Mike Jackson, GM North America Vice President, marketing and advertising, notes, "Transformers is a compelling project and offers us a global platform for marketing GM products and building our brands, it represents the perfect intersection of entertainment, marketing and design."

Most of the attention directed at the cars in the film has been the switch for Bumblebee from a VW Bug into a brand new classic Camaro. Fans are already a little miffed at the change; I'm not exactly the biggest Transformers aficionado, but even I thought it should have been a Volkswagen, regardless of what high-profile marketing agreements were in place. Other GM products in the film include a Pontiac Solstice (Jazz), Hummer H2 (Ratchet and a GMC TopKick (Ironhide). Since these cars are already on their way to the marketplace, I would assume any Transformer edition would pretty much be the same car but with an Autobot or Decepticon logo on the back. So it's not exactly groundbreaking design, but could fans resist the lure of driving around in their very own Transformer?

Interview: Jim Carrey

I recently got the chance to sit down for a brief one-on-one with Jim Carrey during a press junket (translate: press torture simulator) for The Number 23. If you've never seen a junket before, they're pretty brutal. They invite dozens of members of the press to show up, give them interview slots with the talent, and then stick to their schedule tighter than KFC sticks to their secret spices recipe. Seriously, if they put the people in charge of scheduling these things in some sort of high-ranking position at the airlines, there would never be a late flight again. It's scary how efficiently they are run.

Now, keep in mind that this wasn't going to be the Ace Ventura Jim Carrey, or the Bruce Almighty one, but the darker and more brooding Jim Carrey -- closer to the Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Carrey than any other. I wanted to ask him why his dramatic roles don't perform as well as his comedic ones, but I was worried that he might respond to the question by leaping across the room and tearing my throat out. Of course, this nervousness resulted in me kicking his foot, and finding out that if he was Tommy Lee Jones, I might have been worse for wear.

At any rate, I was ushered into the mysterious hotel room that was decorated in dark motifs for the film, and sat down with what turned out to be a genuinely nervous Jim Carrey. (Because of course, I'm so famous and all, it must have been slightly intimidating for him.) I found him to be real and honest, and he didn't give "canned" Hollywood answers, which I actually half-expected. Maybe the foot-kicking loosened him up. By the way, the Jenny McCarthy questions were "off limits," so I didn't bother asking those. Check out the video, and Jim's long hair, after the jump.

Continue reading Interview: Jim Carrey

Review: The Last Sin Eater

The Last Sin Eater is a weak attempt at recharging the batteries of the drowsy, unsophisticated message machine of today's Christian evangelical set by augmenting it with a few misguided stabs at old-world Tolkien-style mysticism. Set back in olden-times, in the woodsy wilds of North America, the plot revolves around a clan of rough-and-tumble Welsh immigrants, although based on the accents in the film, I have to assume that a few Irish people (and modern-day Americans) climbed into the boat as it was shoving off from Cardiff. When a creepy, bug-eyed grandmother kicks the bucket in the first reel, her simple funeral prompts the arrival of a hooded figure whispered about as the 'sin eater.' This gentleman turns out to be something of an Edward Jesushands who is forced to live a shunned existence on a nearby mountain, but must also occasionally trek down the mountain to perform a ritual whereby he physically removes sins from a person's body. Intrigued by the stranger, young Cadi (Liana Liberato) determines to learn more about him.

The most interesting thing about Cadi is that she has a pre-teen angel for an everyday companion, which might be good grist for a film that was literate in Philip Pullman or other modern religio-fantasy writers who are trying to do the hard work of making dogma fresh and intriguing. The Last Sin Eater, however, is a film that's barely competent in things like camera set-ups, let alone interested in creating a project that's actually meant to be intellectually stimulating. The plot structure builds rapidly towards a Twilight Zone-style payoff, when we learn that this isolated clan of Zeta-Joneses are actually suffering by not knowing -- I guess this would actually occur to the film's target audience -- that this 'sin eater' must be a fraud. A bible-toting preacher arrives somewhere near the one-hour mark to let young Cadi and her clan know that the only real 'sin eater' is a man who ate sins two thousand years ago, and whose record-holding status as heavyweight sin-eating champ is uncontested.

Continue reading Review: The Last Sin Eater

Berlinale Review: Itty Bitty Titty Committee

With her new film Itty Bitty Titty Committee, director Jamie Babbit (But I'm a Cheerleader, The Quiet) once again delivers a politically-charged message by dressing it up in a Hollywood-ized story, with predictable characters and a whole bunch of jokes that often mask what's really going on. Like with The Tracey Fragments, Babbit takes the reins behind a new generation of filmmakers looking to throw a wrench in traditional on-screen teenage angst by pushing the boundaries, while keeping it fresh and familiar. The world has changed, teenagers have changed and, thus, our movies will have to change ... along with our thoughts, our feelings and our ratings system.

Following the screening, the first comment during the Q&A was a call to American distributors to please take a chance on this film. Babbit, who just barely dodged an NC-17 rating with Cheerleader and spoke about the issue in the pic This Film is Not Yet Rated, might face similar issues with Itty Bitty -- what with its steamy -- yet tame -- lesbian sex, an attempted bombing of the Washington monument and an "extra large" shot of a male penis (hard to describe without spoiling the finale, so you'll just have to see for yourself what I mean) thrown in at the end. However, as of yesterday, producer Lisa Thrasher informed me a number of offers were almost all but certain. But, is the film worth it?

Continue reading Berlinale Review: Itty Bitty Titty Committee

Children of Men: Who Really Wrote the Script?

The way the Writers Guild divvies up writing credits has always been a bit of a mystery, especially when there are controversies around who wrote what. When Oscar nominations get thrown into the mix, it gets even more interesting. Back in December, I interviewed Alfonso Cuarón, director of Children of Men, and he had some interesting things to say about his take on the writing creds for the film (the WGA credited Cuaron and his writing partner Timothy Sexton, along with three other writers -- David Arata, Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby, who had worked on earlier versions of scripts for the film).

When I interviewed Cuarón, the fiery director had this to say about the script that he used in filming Children of Men:

" ... So I asked my writing partner, Tim Sexton, to read the book, and I said, okay, I don't want to read the book because I don't want to sidetrack myself or second-guess myself. I had a very clear vision of the movie I wanted to do. So I said to him, you read the book, and based on this movie I'm telling you, there are elements of the book which you will write into the movie. That's what happened."

More after the jump ...

Continue reading Children of Men: Who Really Wrote the Script?

More Photos From Pirates 3 Leaked To Web!

A handful of high-resolution pics from the upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End have been slipped to Ain't It Cool News. They all seem like promotional photographs, as opposed to something an amateur grabbed during the production, so I expect to see them pop up everywhere on the web today. The first one shows a dirtied-up Keira Knightley, with long and ragged hair, holding onto a rope while presumably standing on the deck of a ship. Then there's one of Geoffrey Rush and Tia Dalma also standing on a deck, looking in different directions.

There's also another of Keira, wearing a hat and rowing some kind of canoe through the smokey waters of a harbor, possibly on some kind of stealth mission. A couple of others are included, too. Based on these photographs and the promotional pictures released a while back, which included one of Keira swinging a sword, it seems like one of the big themes of the upcoming film will be transforming Elizabeth Swann from a damsel in distress to a warrior of some kind. The film, which you can't possibly believe will be the last one in the series, is scheduled to arrive in theaters on May 25.

Disney's Tinkerbell to Invade the World in 2008

Did you know that the Tinker Bell character accounts for 4% of all merchandise sold at Disney parks and resorts? Yep, that's what Variety tells me, and it seems like the folks over at Disney have just started to take notice. Not only will there be a CG-animated direct-to-video Tinker Bell flick in 2008 (with Brittany Murphy providing the lead voice), but you can prepare your daughters for an unending outpouring of "Disney Fairies" merchandise.

You know how every little girl in the known universe has a passionate affection for the "Disney Princesses"? (That'd be Belle, Jasmine, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Cinderella and Ariel, I believe, and sometimes Mulan and Pocahontas.) Well, the Disney Global Toy Syndicate has decided to skew their next line a little younger. After tink's flick arrives in '08, it will be followed by four more movies following in successive years, and each new movie will also introduce a new Disney Fairy, which will then adorn every toy store, shopping mall and airport terminal for the next 32 years. One of the selling points seems to be that, unlike the Princesses, the fairies will be able to interact and go on all sorts of crazy adventures together. Start saving your pennies, parents.

George Lucas: Empire Was the Worst Star Wars Film!

On Wednesday of this week, entertainment blogger David Poland threw up a rather perfunctory account of the Publicist's Guild luncheon: "I kinda like this particular high-school event. There is no pressure on me to report. I am comfortable knowing that this is a group that will never nominate me for their journalistic award." But pressure or no, he did report one item of interest, two days late. Yesterday afternoon, Poland tossed in an update on the lunch that he forgot to dole out originally: "George Lucas, giving the award to Sid Ganis, who was the in-house publicist on Star Wars: Episode Five - The Empire Strikes Back, said, 'Sid is the reason why The Empire Strikes Back is always written about as the best of the films, when it actually was the worst one.'"

Wow. Is there anyone besides Lucas who actually believes this? I think that even if you have a personal animosity against the Yoda character or you think the original film should have spun its sequels in a completely different direction, you have to accept that Empire has superior writing and plotting, not only in comparison to those damn prequels, but probably in comparison to New Hope and Jedi too.

Nicolas Cage to Play Mickey Mouse ?

Disney is awfully good at depreciating the value of its animated classics. Sometimes it makes useless sequels to films, as in Bambi II and The Lion King 1½. Other times it produces live-action remakes, such as 101 Dalmatians. Now, it is going a little too far. Not only will there be a live-action version of The Sorcerer's Apprentice, but it may well star Nicolas Cage, who is so far only confirmed as a producer.

Of course, The Sorcerer's Apprentice is much older than the segment of Disney's Fantasia. The story goes back 210 years to a poem by Goethe called Der Zauberlehrling. But most people these days are more familiar with the Mickey Mouse version set to Paul Dukas' symphonic poem L'apprenti-sorcier (itself an adaptation of the Goethe). The animated sequence is so popular that it was even reused for the sorta-sequel Fantasia 2000. Obviously most viewers of this new film are going to be thinking about Mickey while watching Cage. That can't be good.

To make matters even worse, it is difficult to imagine the story -- a lazy sorcerer's apprentice misuses his magic by giving life to a broomstick -- being enough to fill a feature-length film. Apparently Lawrence Konner and Mark Rosenthal have completed a script, but none of its details have yet been revealed. Anyway, it must be possible because a straight-to-video version of Goethe's tale was made in 2002 with Kelly LeBrock (interestingly enough, Weird Science has some of the same themes).