The coveted roles of Peeta and Gale have been cast for the Hunger Games movie, according to Media Bistro.  These roles round out the three main characters, with Jennifer Lawrence portraying heroine Katniss Everdeen.  Lawrence was nominated for Best Actress by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for her role in Winter’s Bone but lost to a glowing and pregnant Natalie Portman.

Katniss Everdeen

The highly anticipated movie follows Katniss as she is forced to compete in the annual Hunger Games, where children from each District are chosen to fight in a televised battle to the death.  Competitors are known as Tributes, and two are chosen from each District for the yearly Games.

The book trilogy is often compared to the Twilight saga for its appeal to young readers and love triangle that has readers divided between Peeta and Gale, but the characters are arguably more complex than Stephenie Meyer’s idealized paranormal creatures, and the heroine is bold, brave, and remarkably intelligent and resourceful.  Things that Bella Swan is not.

Liam Hemsworth is cast as Gale Hawthorn, Katniss’ best friend.  He recently appeared as Miley Cyrus’ love interest in the film adaptation of Nicholas Sparks’ The Last Song. I’m not sure how I feel about this casting . . . I imagined Gale to be a little less good-looking.  More the typical guy-who-is-the-best-friend who may or may not turn out to be the love interest as the storyline develops.  I mean, this guy has eyes that smolder.  (and not in the Flynn Rider in Tangled kind of way, either).

Gale Hawthorn

Josh Hutcherson is Peeta Mellark, another resident from Katniss’ District 12 who must compete in the games.  The two teenagers have had very little contact before their fate is irrevocably linked by the fight to the death.  Hutcherson may be best known for his role in The Kids are All Right or perhaps Bridge to Terabithia. I’m not sure why, but HE looks more like the best friend.

Peeta Mellark

The role of Prim Everdeen, Katniss’ little sister, has yet to be cast, and I’m sure we’ll hear about casting for the other Tributes as time goes on.  I think I’m more interested in who will portray the stylist Cinna than anyone else.  Cinna’s clever designs for Katniss’ wardrobe not only draw attention to her, but the clothes truly make a statement to the eager viewers throughout the Districts and in the Capitol.

Hunger Games’ release date is scheduled for March 23, 2012.

Related:

Hailey Steinfeld in the Hunger Games?

Hunger Games as a Movie

Hunger Games:  Will it be Worth the Wait

Wow! So last week we mixed our usual two-fisted action with political intrigue! The mayoral race was being fixed, but Britt Reid uses his position as editor of the Daily Sentinel to demand a recount! It all culminated in a rendezvous with an armored car, dynamite and a dangerous mountain curve! While, it’s pretty much a given that the Hornet is going to escape relatively unscathed, you gotta wonder how. The armored car got blowed up real good! I can’t wait to see what happens next, can you!? Sit back and enjoy chapter 11 of The Green Hornet: Disaster Rides the Rails!

(NOTE: This is NOT an April Fools article, and is intended with all honesty and sincerity)

March is typically a month of movie releases that represent what either didn’t test screen well, or what the studio’s didn’t really know what to do with. This past March proving no exception to the rule. It has been a long cold month of less than great, if not sometimes truly ridiculous films. So it is rather nice to start April off with a breath of cinematic fresh air, and Source Code is just that. Solid story telling, a compelling plot, and a great cast round Source Code up into the total package of a smart action thriller.

Jake Gyllenhaall plays Colter Stevens, a soldier that can not really remember how he ended up in his current assignment; That being some strange new experimental technology that allows a person to occupy the mind, body, and life of another person for their last 8 minutes of existence. There has been a terrorist attack on a train in Chicago. Stevens must endlessly jump back into the body of his subject over and over again until he can figure out the puzzle of who bombed the train in hope of stopping a second, more devastating attack. Time is of the essence, and trial and error are frustratingly the only way Stevens can figure the puzzle out. The end of each eight minute session ending with him being blown up along with the train and everyone on board.

Source Code is director Duncan Jones’s follow up project to his much acclaimed (and totally award robbed) film Moon. Like Moon, Source Code is wonderfully claustrophobic in its sense of confusion and isolation on the part of the protagonist Stevens. Whether in the pod he is in while himself and communicating to Vera Farmiga’s character via video com, or trapped on the doomed train 8 minutes at a time the sense of limitation is palpable. The pace in which the story unveils itself has a wonderful sense of build to it. As in the case of the best Sci-Fi films, it leaves the vast bulk of your questions and suspicions answered but leaves you just enough to mentally wander on when the credits roll. After the past month’s worth of movies, it was nice to leave the theater with out so much as a hint of frustration. I look forward to what Jones will give us next. If Source Code is any sign – the future is for this Director is a bright one.

In a stunning press release this morning, 20th Century Fox announced that the tiny Texas town of Andrews, home to a new nuclear waste dump owned by Waste Control Specialists, will hold a gala event to premiere one of this summer’s blockbusters, X-men: First Class.  For those not familiar with the WCS facility, please read previous posts on the TexasVox blog here, here, here, and here. From Fox’s press release:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

APRIL 1, 2011

HOLLYWOOD, CA — X-men are “gone to Texas” for their premiere, which will take place on the grounds of the country’s newest and potentially largest nuclear waste dump.

Fox executive Tom Rothman said, “The X-men have been referred to as ‘The Children of the Atom’- so we decided to showcase that in our premiere”

Harold Simmons

While the site, owned by Waste Control Specialists and Dallas supervillain billionaire Harold Simmons, only contains so-called “low level” radioactive waste, the waste site will house all of the radioactive waste created by a nuclear reactor except for spent fuel rods, meaning there is plenty of radiation emitted by some waste products to have its desired effect:

“We’d really like to cut costs for future sequels by creating actual super-powered mutants,” said Rothman. “Who better to start irradiating than our actual cast?”

Rothman also noted that the proximity of the waste site to the Ogalalla Aquifer, which provides water to 11 states, is also ideal. “There’s how many million people who might drink this water? Surely some of them will have to get superpowers!” Several Texas environmental regulators quit their jobs in protest of the waste dump possibly leaking into the water.

Executive Producer Bryan Singer and Director Matthew Vaughn also added this statement, “We love the idea. This is the type of groundbreaking marketing we ought to do more of, and will allow us to use more practical effects in future… no, stop! They have guns to our heads and have kidnapped our families. We’re being forced to say this.This is a &#$%ing TERRIBLE IDEA. Don’t believe anything…” They were unavailable for further comment.

In an unprecedented display of corporate synergy, this will further tighten the bonds between billionaires, campaign finance spending, and Fox.  Simmons, who is known for his political contributions to Republican candidates, will donate the use of his site rather than making more ad buys attacking Barack Obama on Fox News, a sister company of  20th Century Fox. “It’s all Rupert [Murdoch]’s  money anyway, so who cares? We billionaires have to stick together. We thought we’d help out our team indirectly this time instead of giving more campaign bribes, err donations to politicians, as those usually have to be disclosed, ” a spokesperson for Simmons stated.

###

As much as I like the idea of giving some of the people behind this movie and the missteps taken with the X-men franchise cancer, this is just beyond the pale. We hope you got the humor intended here, but also like to point out that some of the issues here are no joke.

Thanks to the folks at TexasVox who covered this and pointed it out to us.

In the same interview in which the LA Times spoke to Warner Bros. executive Jeff Robinov about the future of a Justice League movie, there was also a bit of talk about the future of the Batman franchise beyond Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises, due out next year.

Robinov knows that the most bankable part of his superhero empire has been Nolan and his Gotham City films – the studio has yet to deliver a 21st century superhero blockbuster hit without Nolan in the director’s seat. Batman will continue to be a centerpiece property beyond next year’s “The Dark Knight Rises” and Nolan’s departure from the franchise. “We have the third Batman, but then we’ll have to reinvent Batman…Chris Nolan and [producing partner and wife] Emma Thomas will be producing it, so it will be a conversation with them about what the next phase is.”

I can only assume that “reinventing” means something close to “rebooting”, which I doubt comes as a surprise to anyone out there. Nolan has always stated he’s telling a story that will span 3 films, and then be done with the Batman universe – at least as far as directing goes. It is interesting that he and his wife will continue to be involed in producer roles however.

I would rather have Nolan tell his story, and then pass the torch. We all saw what happens when multiple directors and a studio try to take a continuous Batman franshise beyond what it should have gone. While it’s nice that Nolan will stick around as a producer, it will be exciting to see another director take the reigns and put his own vision into a new Batman story arc. My only hope is that it’s not a “full reboot” in that we have to sit through Batman’s origin story . . . again.

In an interview with the LA Times published on Tuesday, WB Exectutive Jeff Robinov spoke a bit about the future of DC superhero properties in film, including future Wonder Woman and Flash films, the future of the Batman franchise, and a Justice League movie.

In the interview, Robinov notes that a Justice League movie is one of the top priorities at Warner Bros. and a new script is currently in development. If you remember, in early 2008 a Justice League movie was close to starting production, casting had even been done, but was then killed by the writer’s strike as well as some Australian tax issues. Robinov also mentioned they are looking at a 2013 release date and that the film may serve as a spin-off to other superhero films for Wonder Woman and the Flash.

Robinov said a new Justice League script is in the works. Also being written for Warner are scripts featuring the Flash and Wonder Woman, who could be spun off into their own movies after Justice League. Though Wonder Woman is also in the works as a television pilot for NBC produced by Warner, Robinov dismissed that as a sticking point. “Wonder Woman could be a film as well, the same way that ‘Superman Returns’ came out while ‘Smallville’ was on,” he said, referring to the 2006 film that put Brandon Routh in the cape and the television show starring Tom Welling that is now in its 10th and final season.

The following day, heyuguys.co.uk had the chance to speak with Snyder at the London premier for Sucker Punch, and he noted that this Justice League movie that’s in the works will have nothing to do with Nolan’s Batman, or his Superman.

It doesn’t. Like what Chris Nolan is doing and what I’m doing with Superman, what they’ll do with Justice League will be it’s own thing with it’s own Batman and own Superman. We’ll be over here with our movie and they’ll kinda get to do it twice which is kinda cool.

So it looks like we may still get a Justice League movie afterall and DC and WB are approaching it quite a bit different than how Marvel is approaching their superhero ensemble film, The Avengers. Marvel has obviously set up many of the main characters for their film by having them in their stand-alone films prior to The Avengers. WB looks to be taking the approach of developing a stand-alone Justice League movie and then using that to launch a few new film franchises. In my opinion, Marvel has the right approach – not to say that DC/WB’s is “wrong”. It may be confusing to fans to have more than one iteration of say, Superman, on the big screen at the same time. That being said though, it’s not really different from a comics point of view in reading two unrelated Superman titles like Superman and All-Star Superman and enjoying them both. The only problem is, much of the general population that will see these films aren’t comic book readers and may have a hard time getting that Snyder’s Superman film and this upcoming Justice League film will essentially exist in seperate universes.

This Justice League movie is in the very early stages it sounds like, so a lot could change. While Warner Bros. may decide to cast their own Superman for the Justice League film, they may still decide to fold in whatever continuity Snyder portrays in his Superman film for a little continuity. We will just have to, as always, wait and see!

What do you think of Warner Bros. approach to a Justice League movie by making it it’s own movie outside Nolan’s and Snyder’s Batman and Superman universes? What about the approach opposite to Marvel of launching the ensemble film first, using it as the vehicle to launch Wonder Woman and the Flash stand-alone films?
Sound off in the comments below!

Over the weekend, Proletariatron, Mexicus Prime and I ventured out to our local cinema to take in the stylized film that is Sucker Punch. Prior to our viewing we all avoided any and all official reviews about the film, though, we heard a few rumblings here and there that this movie just wasn’t that good. After my viewing of the film I visited a few sites to read some reviews, and they were less than favorable. The thing is, I don’t disagree with any of the negative things said about the film – the plot was pretty convoluted and weak, the film does come across as just an excuse to showcase sexy women running around kicking ass – but, I liked it.

I’m here to give you my “review” of Sucker Punch, without apologizing for any of the many mistakes this film makes. I just feel like that perhaps this isn’t a movie that should just be disregarded so quickly.

There’s something to be said about the frame of mind you go in with for a movie like this. I’m not sure what other people’s expectations were but I was fully prepared for a weak plot that barely serves the purposed of moving the audience from one mindless action scene to another. I’m not a professional movie critic, so perhaps it’s easier for me to just turn my brain off, lower my expectations, and enjoy a loud movie with lots of shooting, stabbing, and punching. Does this say a lot about the film to begin with? Probably not. I decided after viewing the first trailer for Sucker Punch that I was going to go into this film with zero expectations except I am going to see attractive women whooping the hell out of various “bad guys”, and with this very basic expectation, I was pleased.

The film opens with the “basis” of the story: Babydoll (Emily Browning) accidently kills her younger sister trying to protect her from their evil stepfather, who then uses this as fodder to commit her to an insane asylum – this all set to a haunting rendition of “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This), performed by Emily Browning. Once in the asylum we find out Babydoll is going to be labotimized in 5 days. Next thing I know, the asylum is now some sort of burlesque house, all the inmates are dancers/whores, and everyone is sexed up to the third degree. I got that this was all being played out in her mind for some reason, but I didn’t really get the point. It’s at this time, about ten minutes into the film, I checked out of the plot. I literally looked over to Mexicus Prime, mouthed “I don’t know what the hell is going on.”, grabbed a handful of popcorn, swirled my Icee around, and decided, “Okay, I’m going to enjoy this for what it is I suppose.” Frankly, it’s a good thing I checked out so early, because all of those kick-ass action scenes we’ve all seen in the trailers, those all happen in the version of Babydoll in Babydoll’s head’s head as she’s dancing. Yeah . . . it makes that little of sense.

For the rest of the movie I was sitting back in my chair enjoying this film for pretty much the only reason I decided to see it. There was ridiculous over-the-top action, kick-ass heroines, obligatory posing after performing some sort of awesome feat, shooting, stabbing, jumping, flipping, skirts flailing, explosions, and loud music to accompany it all. I can honestly say I had a great time watching each and every action sequence presented and for me, that’s all I was really hoping for out of Sucker Punch. The fighting choreography and physics are so over the top at times it reminded me of watching anime, but I was drinking up every last drop of it, and I would think that even those most disgusted with this movie would admit that there were some pretty cool, stylized ass-kickery about these scenes. It are these sequences alone that redeemed this movie in any way for me, and the only reason I suggest to not be so quick to just pass on this film, even if you wait until it hits Netflix. There’s something to be said about just enjoying gratuitis action for the sake of gratuitis action. These action scenes played out on screen as Babydoll is “dancing” come across a bunch of different ideas Zack Snyder had for awesome action sequences – but then just decided to try to cram them all in one movie. At one point or another the girls do battle with WWI nazi zombies, a dragon, knights, robots and samurais. All exciting, sexy-to-look at, stylized, well done scenes – but I really feel like Snyder could have come up with a much better script to tie these things together, or at the very least worked with this idea he had about being in the mind of a young girl in an insane asylum and ironed it out (a lot).

For those of you who have read reviews about this film, unfortunately most of what critics are saying about Sucker Punch is true. The plot is a weak, convoluted excuse to put these action sequences on the big screen and the characters are all one-dimensional. Perhaps I am the exact demographic this movie is aimed down the barrel at: male, mid-twenties, appreciates ridiculous action; so throw a bunch of scantily clad, ridiculously attractive women on screen with swords, guns and acrobatic prowess of course I’m going to enjoy it in some regard – but I recognize that I am most likely in the minority in considering this gives Sucker Punch any sort of redeeming quality.

I can’t “recommend” this movie to anyone. There are far too many mistakes from a bad script, almost non-existant character development, and poor editing during anything thats not an action sequence. That all being said, if you ever find yourself one afternoon craving a movie with loud, stylized, and over-the-top action with sexy actresses, Sucker Punch may feed that craving, and you may enjoy it a little more than everyone else seems to be.

Here are some of the comments made about Sucker Punch by Arse-bot, Mexicus Prime, and Proletariatron during and immediately following the ending of the film:

• “That movie was the live-action version of what kids in elementary school draw in their notebooks during class.” -Proletariatron
• “That movie was loud as shit!” -Mexicus Prime
• “Well, at least it was a sexy looking movie.” -Arse-bot
• “I don’t know what the hell is going on.” -Arse-bot to Mexicus Prime within 10 minutes
• “I just . . . I just don’t know . . . what the . . .” -Mexicus Prime
• “I felt like I just got sucker punched.” (no one laughed) -Mexicus Prime
• “Emily Browning is so hot in this movie it actually pissed me off.” -Arse-bot
• “It’s like someone bet Zack Snyder, ‘Hey man, I bet you can’t fit scifi, steam punk, knights, samurais, dragons, castles, guns, swords, explosions, sexed-up women, over-the-top action, slow motion, robots, bombs, whores, death, violence, lobotomies, nazis, zombies, jet packs, and attempted rape all into one movie!’ To which he replied, ‘Watch me.'” -Arse-bot

You can check out Bizzarobot’s review of Sucker Punch as well!

The LA Times Hero Complex has the exclusive and we’re here to regurgitate it to you. Over the weekend, Zack Snyder phoned Amy Adams to let her know she’d won the part of Lois Lane in his Superman reboot.

Is it any coincidence that Snyder held off on this announcement until the weekend of the release of Sucker Punch? It seems like this was a very shrewd distraction by the director, as Sucker Punch is hovering in the teens on Rotten Tomatoes.

Adams might just be perfect for the role. She has incredible acting chops and is completely adorable.

From the LA Times:

“There was a big, giant search for Lois,” Snyder said. “For us it was a big thing and obviously a really important role. We did a lot of auditioning but we had this meeting with Amy Adams and after that I just felt she was perfect for it.”

Snyder declined to discuss the precise prominence of Lois in the story or any plot details about the film but he said the role is “a linchpin” to the project and that he considers it essential that Lois — an FDR-era creation – arrives on screen in 2012 with contemporary appeal and spirit.

She joins Henry Cavill who is playing Superman and Clark Kent and Diane Lane and Kevin Costner as Ma and Pa Kent respectively.

The cast for this film is incredible, the only thing that could make this suck is Snyder. And if reviews of Sucker Punch are to be believed, it’s a distinct possibility. Let’s hope the Nolan Brothers and David Goyer can turn in a great script and story, because Snyder is incredible visually. If they can deliver on the writing front as they have with the Batman films, we might have the best Superman film ever made.

I hate Hollywood. Here I am, having a perfect Saturday. Went to yoga, had a good breakfast, pot of Irish coffee, made a batch of homebrew and see Diamonds with Kirk Douglas is on TV. This is a great movie, but suddenly my mind draws a blank and I can’t remember who played the madam at the brothel. [Lauren Bacall, if you’re interested, can’t believe I forgot that.] So I check IMDB.

What’s the first thing I see on IMDB? #1. Captain America trailer, #2. Thor trailer, #3 Mr. Popper’s Penguins trailer!!! What??? Mr. Popper’s Penguins? Yes!!! You’ve never heard of this I’m sure, but the book by Richard and Florence Atwater was one of my favorites as a tiny little ‘bot. It’s one of the larger books my brother used to teach me to read, and one of the first I read with chapters, that required a bookmark. “My God,” I thought, “they’re making one of my favorite all time books into a movie. This is going to be great.” Then I watched the trailer:

Mr. Popper is not a a New York yuppie with a high class apartment. Yes, he turned his love for his penguin friends into a musical act, but this pop routine is just evil. And he would never, ever, ever, be portayed by Jim Carrey. Way to go Hollywood. You have officially ruined everything that was ever wonderful.

So, there are only a few weeks left in this serial. You would think it’d start getting stale now, so what do the serial writers do? They gave us a double cliffhanger! Not only has Axford got the Hornet trapped in a closet with deadly acid, he may also discover that the Hornet is really his pal Britt Reid! It’s a real corker how this one is resolved, so, get to watching! You don’t want to hear big gibbering anyway, not when there’s adventure to be had! Turn down the lights and watch Chapter 10 of the Green Hornet: Bullets & Ballots!