SDCC: Will 'Megamind' Be Good or Evil?
If the chatter during Dreamworks' Megamind panel was any indication, their upcoming animated superhero flick is going to be 90 minutes of blistering Mel Gibson mockery. Unfortunately, the 5 minutes of footage director Tom McGrath brought for us suggests that the film might do away with that approach, instead choosing to involve traditional elements such as plot, characters, and unrelenting Dreamworks face.
Megamind is the story of... Megamind (voiced by Will Ferrell). By which I mean that the film's most intriguing idea is that it's not the story of an evil villain dueling his stoic and chin-heavy arch-nemesis (Brad Pitt), but rather the story of an evil villain defeating his do-gooding rival. What does an evil villain do with his beautifully bland Metropolis (er... Metro City) and its terrified townsfolk once he's finally conquered that pesky hero? It's a neat idea, and its perfectly cast lead actors (Ferrell, Tina Fey, Jonah Hill, and a cardboard cut-out of Brad Pitt) were all on hand to stir the excitement. The banter on stage was top notch, but as for the film itself... there were a few promising moments, and a few moments that made me miss how Pixar & Brad Bird mined this miliieu with The Incredibles.
So here are 6 bits from the panel that gave this good citizen hope, and 4 things that made me think Dreamworks is better off training their dragons.
Continue reading SDCC: Will 'Megamind' Be Good or Evil?
Anthony Breznican of USA Today has all-important details about the next entry in the Transformers franchise, including the release date, July 1st, 2011 (a.k.a. Superhero Summer), and the new villain, Shockwave (not to be confused with Soundwave), but none more important, at least to me, than the confirmation that Transformers 3 (in 3D, of course) will be the last film in the trilogy. When I sat down to see Transformers, the big-screen adaptation of the 80s' cartoon and the toy line, three years ago, a trilogy was the last thing on my mind. I wanted to see what even casual fans of the series and toy line wanted to see: giant, transforming robots, realistically rendered by the best CG Hollywood money could buy, knocking each other around, destroying property (but hopefully not taking lives) in the process. In that respect, Michael Bay (Bad Boys II, Pearl Harbor, Armageddon, The Rock, Bad Boys), the one-time Master of Disaster (a title currently held by one Roland "2012" Emmerich), delivered.
What Bay and his screenwriters didn't deliver were relatable characters or a storyline that followed the normal rules of logic or sense. Instead, Bay delivered clichés
masquerading as characters, juvenile humor, the once-hot, super-tanned Megan Fox washing a car in slow motion (in short-shorts), and not much else. Moviegoers seemed more than satisfied with the results, filling Paramount's coffers to the tune of $700 million dollars worldwide and turning co-leads Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox into bankable stars, if only briefly in Fox's case (see e.g., Jennifer's Body).
Continue reading Transformers 3: The End Is Nigh (Thankfully) 
This kind of thing still happens well into the 21st century??!? Hopefully you haven't bought a $2 Shrek Forever After collectible drinking glass at McDonalds recently. But if you did, hopefully you didn't let your kids (or anyone else) drink from it yet. If you did, though, don't freak out, as it's not as terrible as it sounds. MarketWatch reports that the 16 oz. glasses are being recalled by the fast food chain because their Shrek-themed illustrations are slightly poisonous. At least 12 million of these cheap souvenirs, of which there are four different designs, were made using paint featuring toxic cadmium, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. And surprisingly they weren't produced in China, where we've come to expect hazardous products now and again. No, they were made right here in the U.S. -- New Jersey to be exact -- by a company called Arc International.
So what do you do if you have bought a glass or four? Well, you can simply be out a minimal cost of $2 to $8, or you can try reaching out to McDonalds. Unfortunately, it appears that this early into the recall the second option could be difficult. Apparently you're supposed to visit a certain website (http://www.mcdonalds.com/glasses), which currently doesn't work. But if you can call today (Friday) before 5pm CT, you might also try reaching someone at the following number: (800) 244-6227. I have a feeling that will be a bit busy, as well. Or, one other option is just to keep the glasses as a display item and not let anyone drink from them, at least not regularly. The cadmium in the paint is allegedly low enough that it doesn't really pose a threat to anyone on an immediate level, but as with any carcinogenic item, you're better off being safe now than sorry down the line. 
With talk of a Fright Night remake being tossed around DreamWorks, horror fans have been more than a little intrigued. I certainly approved of Anton Yelchin in the role of a kid who discovers that his next-door neighbor is actually a horrible vampire ... but who would they get to play said vampire? In Tom Holland's 1985 original, it was Chris Sarandon. In Craig Gillespie's remake, it will be Colin Farrell. Not a bad choice! As the Heat Vision blog points, out, Farrell has been doing mainly indie work recently (like Crazy Heart and Ondine), so this looks to be a fun way for the man to make a fresh splash in a Hollywood flick.
Toni Collette has also been added to the cast as the nosey kid's mom (previously played by Dorothy Fielding), which is great because Toni Collette is all sorts of awesome -- but there are still some key roles to be filled: there's the vampire's "familiar" assistant (previously played by Jonathan Stark), the lead kid's sweet girlfriend (played by Amanda Bearse back in '85), and the former movie star turned vampire killer Peter Vincent, who was originally played by the late, great Roddy McDowall.
HV also indicates that the DreamWorks production will be distributed by Disney, which is weird because the original flick was a Columbia (now Sony) release. Going only by the early casting ... I'm actually feeling pretty positive about this particular horror remake. Cautiously optimistic, you'd call it. 
Just looking at the Sam Worthington tag here at Cinematical is a sea of casting news and rumors. If he's not signing on, he's at least rumored to be milling about the project. He's probably the only one who could battle and beat Taylor Lautner for Hollywood Adonis right now, no matter what the masses say. And now he's gearing up to be the next incarnation of Allan Quatermain. THR's Heat Vision reports that Worthington will star in Quatermain a sci-fi spin on the ol' literary hero that's cooking over at DreamWorks. To top things off -- this flick will also debut his shnazzy new producer talents.
If you don't already know, Allan is the hero of King Solomon's Mines. He was last played on the big screen by Richard Chamberlain in 1985, and was most recently played on TV by Patrick Swayze in 2004. Every star has been over 40, but as DreamWorks heads to space, they're youngin' it up. Instead of exploring Africa, Quatermain is living in a time when humans have vacated the earth, and he returns after "a sojourn in space" to have a King Solomon's Mines-style adventure across the planet.
I'm sorry, Worthington fans, but I just don't get it. He's far from the worst, but as I noted before, he's also far from the most charismatic. I'm all for big, grand, and ridiculous adventures, but can't Hollywood find a lead so damned charming and engaging that we're along for the ride no matter how silly it is?