Before vampires became shiny diamonds and set the course of feminism back five decades, they were a force to be reckoned with. From the days of the Universal monster movies, it was always vampires and werewolves that were the creatures who made the bumping noises in the night, and sometimes they even went head-to-head. With 2003’s Underworld, an ultra-slick world in which an ancient war between vampires and werewolves (or Lycans) was being waged unbeknownst to humans, we were introduced to Selene (Kate Beckinsale), a vampire hell-bent on wiping out the Lycans that killed her family. She ultimately falls in love with the Lycan-Vampire hybrid, Michael, and is exiled from the vampire community.

As Underworld: Awakening opens, vampires and Lycans have been exposed to the world at large, who set about systematically wiping them out. On the eve of their escape, Selene and Michael are violently separated, and Selene is knocked out, only to awaken in a world she doesn’t recogise. In fact, she has been placed on ice for twelve years, and only vampire David (Theo James) seems to be a friendly face. They soon find the injured child Eve (India Eisley), a powerful child of non-human origin, and despite a reluctant vampire coven, they must all band together to face off against the Lycan and human forces who aim to stop them.

The return of Beckinsale is a welcome treat for Underworld fans, as she was not present in the poorly received prequel Underworld: Rise of the Lycans. Apart from still being amazingly fit and able to slide into her old outfits, Beckinsale injects a sense of familiar energy back into the series, making this one of the best entries since the first installment. The cool poise that the beautiful Beckinsale brings to the role is unmistakably striking, and her focus for the last few years on smaller-scale dramas (Snow Angels, Everybody’s Fine) comes to and end as she eases back into big-budget fare with this film and Total Recall later this year. It is just a shame that there isn’t as strong a relationship formed with David the one with Michael in the first two films, and while it is great to see Charles Dance, he barely compares with Bill Nighy as a vampire elder.

Måns Mårlin and Björn Stein take over the series, and while it may be missing some of the panache of series originator (and Beckinsale’s husband) Len Wiseman, they project a visual flair all of their own. The action barely lets up in the brisk running time of the film, so dwelling on any plot holes will only aid in missing the gunplay. There is an element of style over substance, but this is to be expected with one of most stylish set of action films of the last decade. The constant running and gunning can be relentless, especially given the short nature of the film. Indeed, more time could have been spent fleshing out a potentially fascinating new world, when ultimately the film simply sets up the inevitable sequel. Either way, despite the modern trappings, this feels like old-school Underworld, and fans will lap this up.

Underworld: Awakening is released in Australia on 26 January 2012 from Sony.

They feature Nick Fury up-close-and-personal, as well as Captain America, Iron Man and Bruce Banner in civilian garb and a quiet moment between Hawkeye and Black Widow! Apparently, there are scenes not set on the blown up street!

Starring Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner and Samuel L. Jackson, and directed by Joss Whedon, Marvel’s The Avengers is based on the ever-popular Marvel comic book series The Avengers, first published in 1963.

The Avengers is released in Australia on 25 April 2012 from Disney. It will be released in the US a week later on 4 May 2012.

Click images for larger versions

The sequel G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra takes things up a notch with the addition of Dwayne Johnson and Bruce Willis, with Channing Tatum, Arnold Vosloo, Ray Park, Jonathan Pryce and Lee Byung-hun reprising their roles from the first film.

When Cobra spy Zartan has most of the Joes assassinated, the remaining Joes band together to strike back.

This hits cinemas on 29 June 2012 in the US, and on 2 August 2012 in Australia from Paramount.

The Dark Crystal (1982)

Director: Jim Henson, Frank Oz

Writers(s): Jim Henson, Dave Odell

Runtime: 93 minutes

Starring: Stephen Garlick, Lisa Maxwell, Billie Whitelaw, Jim Henson, Frank Oz

Distributor: Universal Pictures/ITC

Country: US

Rating: Highly Recommended (?)

More 80s Bits

The work of puppeteers extraordinaire, Jim Henson and Frank Oz, The Dark Crystal (1982) is a masterpiece of advanced puppetry of its time and ambitious story-telling. Best described as a fantasy adventure film, The Dark Crystal can be overlooked as the nostalgic darker sibling of the later and lighter, family friendly Labyrinth (1986), but stands in its own right to have earned a cult status.

The Dark Crystal tells the story of the land of Thra which was divided when the Crystal of Truth shattered, becoming the ‘dark crystal’. Now two opposing races represent good and evil – the Mystics and the Skeksis. Also in this world are other beings – the cute little podlings who are sometimes captured and their essence drained to be consumed by the Skeksis as a sort of fountain of youth, various forest and swamp creatures, and the last of their race, two Gelflings – Jen and Kira. When the Skeksis sought to destroy the Gelfling race to prevent the prophesy of their demise at Gelfling hands, baby Jen was rescued and bought up by the gently lumbering mysterious Mystics, while infant Kira found her saviours in the simple, kind and fun loving Podling race.

Years later when Jen’s dying Mystic master sends him on a hero’s journey to fulfil his destiny of finding the shard that reunites the crystal, Jen ventures out and is surprised to find he is not the only Gelfling when he meets Kira, and still more surprised to find she is winged. The two experience adventure and danger at the hands of the Skeksis and their evil giant beetle-like Garthim pets, as they attempt to reunite the crystal before the Great Conjunction of Thra’s three suns.

The Dark Crystal was largely driven by Jim Henson, the same puppet master responsible for The Muppets and original Sesame Street characters, however this film is considerably darker in story line, with many scenes that would probably scare the little ones that puppets are traditionally aimed at. Jim Henson wanted to expand his successful puppet world and his own talent to deeper metaphysical explorations  – good, evil, morality and mortality -  and found inspiration with the The Land of Froud drawings by Brian Froud, who agreed to be the conceptual designer for The Dark Crystal.

These are no cute muppets, as Garthim attack Podlings and the vulture like Skeksis are scary even to look at in general, let alone when they are eating tiny creatures for dinner or defrocking their own kind (one of the scariest scenes I’ve witnessed by puppets).

There is some cute factor: the Gelflings are inherently cute, with their elf-like features, gentle voices and David Cassidy style 70s hair.  When they haven’t been zombiefied by the Skeksis, the podlings are sweet and…well, pod like with very small round heads. Fizzgig, Kira’s spirited small fluff ball of a pet, is probably the cutest thing in the whole film and welcome light relief.

The strengths of the film are the fantasy sci-fi story line for those who are that way inclined, although it is a very simple story that has been told many times before (Lord of the Rings, anyone?). The technical skills are to be admired, with puppetry gone beyond to the realm of animatronics where mechanical, electrical ad hydraulic systems create fine movements that make you forget these creatures are not real.

The film also creates a whole visually awe-inspiring world that is reminiscent but different to earth, with elaborate and vast set designs. The music is also otherworldly, weaving a mystical pan pipe soundscape.

The characters themselves are simple stereotypes that draw you in – the gentle Gelflings, the cute Fizzgig, Aughra the eccentric horned prophetess with a Yoda talking style, and Chamberlain skekSil, the ambitious Skeksis who would be emperor only to suffer a humiliating loss, the aforementioned de-frocking and exile. With a catch phrase of a whining scheming ‘hmmmmmmm’, skekSil does inspire sympathy in his pathetic countenance post-humiliation, and tries to befriend the Gelflings, but is of dubious intention and ultimately captures Jen, although one may say this allows the prophecy to be fulfilled by putting the Gelflings right at the home of the crystal.

The moral of film is as old as time. Good versus evil is always a classic. However, another zen step is taken to show that good and evil are the same sides of one coin, the yin and the yang. The Mystics and the Skeksis were of one race until their separate entities were divided into good and evil, and may be united to become one entity again. Even divided, the Mystics and Skeksis are tied together, as when one dies or is hurt, so does one of their corresponding race.

The Dark Crystal was not a major box office success, although it was apparently big in France and Japan. The film was nominated or won several awards, including a Saturn Award for Best Fantasy Film. It is certainly not as family friendly as other Henson productions (such as Muppets Take Manhattan, The Great Muppet Caper or especially Follow that Bird) and earns a G-rating here in Australia despite some scary scenes and subject matter.

Perhaps we are underestimating the capacity for a child’s imagination to absorb stories that are challenging and mysterious.  Similarly, we also need to rethink that puppetry is always a child’s game – rather it is a way to create and shape worlds and creatures, exploring human follies untethered by earthly constraints. The Dark Crystal does feel like it is the exercising of a talent that wanted to be stretched. It’s very sad that Henson died of pneumonia at the young age of 53 in 1990. Who knows what he would have gone on to inspire and create.

The Dark Crystal Trailer (1982)

Denzel Washington plays the most dangerous renegade from the CIA, who comes back onto the grid after a decade on the run. When the South African safe house he’s remanded to is attacked by mercenaries, a rookie operative (Ryan Reynolds) escapes with him. Now, the unlikely allies must stay alive long enough to uncover who wants them dead.

For the past year, Matt Weston has been frustrated by his inactive, backwater post in Cape Town. A “housekeeper” who aspires to be a full-fledged agent, the loyal company man has been waiting for an opportunity to prove himself. When the first and only occupant he’s had proves to be the most dangerous man he’s ever met, Weston readies for duty.

Tobin Frost has eluded capture for almost a decade. One of the best ops men that the CIA’s known, the ex-intelligence officer has given up assets and sold military intel to anyone with cash since he turned. As soon as Frost is brought in for debriefing, mercenaries come and tear apart Weston’s safe house. Barely escaping, the unlikely partners must discover if their attackers have been sent by terrorists or someone on the inside who will kill anyone standing in the way. Now it’s up to Weston to figure out who he can trust before they’re both eliminated from the game.

In cinemas 9 February 2012

www.safehousemovie.com.au and www.Facebook.com/UniversalPicturesAU/

© 2012 Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved.

We have 5 double-passes to give away to SAFE HOUSE. To be in the running, all you have to do is:

1. Subscribe to our newsletter and ‘Like Us’ on Facebook! The newsletter only goes out once a fortnight, so we promise not to spam you. (If you already subscribe or Like, you don’t need to do so again). Click here to sign up. It’s not too much to ask is it?
2. Fill out the form below with the names of one of the stars of SAFE HOUSE. (Hint: The answer is in this post). Please include your name, contact email and postal address so we can mail the tickets to you as soon as possible!

Important: You must answer all the questions to be eligible. To ensure people do not have an unfair advantage by entering multiple times, only 1 entry per person will be accepted. Every entry is looked at and if duplicate/suspicious entries are found you will automatically be disqualified. This competition is only open to residents of Australia.

The competition closes Friday 3 February 2012, so make sure you get your entry in!

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A source posting as chuckachucka2012 on YouTube has posted the following video along with this short tease of a message: “We hate to be such a tease, but on a day like today, we just have to. Stick it out until the Super Bowl, or take a “day off” on Monday and catch the big reveal”.

The video teases an aged Bueller ready to take another day off, but we know this is for a commercial. Who could it possibly be, and what would Ferris think about being used as a tool of corporate America? Guess we’ll find out on 5 February.

UPDATE: Jalopnik reports that the ad will be for Honda and directed by none other than  The Hangover director Todd Phillips. According to the source the spot is ”to mimic much of the original film, except this time prominently featuring Hondas. The big jump the two valets do in Cameron’s dad’s Ferrari? We hear this time it’s going to be a Honda CR-V”.

These projects, as previously announced, will be part of the road to The Avengers 2.

Iron Man 3

From ComicBook.com, it was revealed that Iron Man 3 may begin shooting earlier than expected. While it was previously announced that the movie would commence shooting after the release of The Avengers in May, there is talk that the film could begin production before that film is released. This makes mixed sense, with Robert Downey Jr. presumably busy with promotion duties around the world in the lead-up to the big event this year. Of course, with an ensemble cast as large as The Avengers, promotion could be happening in three separate countries while shooting is commencing in another. This machine can’t be stopped!

Check out ComicBook.com for more details.

Captain America 2

Meanwhile, over at IMDB, an interview with Justified‘s Neal McDonough, who played Dum Dum Dugan in Captain America: The First Avenger, a few more details emerged about the Captain America sequel.

“Yeah, they’re planning (to go into production for) Captain America 2 for the end of this year, because Marvel does one film at a time. So they’re going to do Thor 2 and as soon as Thor has wrapped, they’ll do Cap 2. Hopefully right after that, we’ll jump into Nick Fury because that’s the one I’m looking forward to more than anything”.

When he was asked to elaborate on why that was the case, he added “Because it’ll be me and Sam Jackson. In the real Marvel universe, Dum Dum Dugan is Nick Fury’s right hand man…And  I just pray that they have a 1970s setting, because I want to see Sam Jackson with lambchops kicking people’s asses for Marvel universe. It would just be awesome. And to work with Sam would be a treat. We’ve become friendly over the years”.

Dr. Strange

Marvel still has two untitled projects with tentative release dates of April 4, 2014 and May 16, 2014, and there has been a great deal of conjecture over what these might be. According to Fans Share, we are now one step closer to the long-rumoured Dr. Strange film.

According to the source: “It has been confirmed that the script for Doctor Strange has been completed by Thomas Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer (Conan The Barbarian, Sahara) and Marvel Studios are now actively seeking a director to come in and helm the project. Once the director has come on board, they will then be searching for the cast to star in Doctor Strange…The budget for Doctor Strange is not expected to be anywhere near as much as that of the bigger Marvel movies but it is still believed that, with the right script, the right director and the right cast, a good superhero movie could definitely come out of this. Production onDoctor Strange is expected to begin this year, with a release date likely to be sometime in 2013″.

However, given the production dates on Captain America and the comments above, we suspect it will be a little longer before we see that Dr. Strange film.

It goes a little something like this:

One of the world’s most popular characters is back on the big screen as a new chapter in the Spider-Man legacy is revealed in The Amazing Spider-Man. Focusing on an untold story that tells a different side of the Peter Parker story, the new film stars Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans, Denis Leary, Campbell Scott, Irrfan Khan, with Martin Sheen and Sally Field. The film is directed by Marc Webb from a screenplay written by James Vanderbilt, based on the Marvel Comic Book by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. Laura Ziskin, Avi Arad, and Matt Tolmach are producing the film in association with Marvel Entertainment for Columbia Pictures, which will open in theaters everywhere in 3D on July 3, 2012.

The Amazing Spider-Man is the story of Peter Parker (Garfield), an outcast high schooler who was abandoned by his parents as a boy, leaving him to be raised by his Uncle Ben (Sheen) and Aunt May (Field). Like most teenagers, Peter is trying to figure out who he is and how he got to be the person he is today. Peter is also finding his way with his first high school crush, Gwen Stacy (Stone), and together, they struggle with love, commitment, and secrets. As Peter discovers a mysterious briefcase that belonged to his father, he begins a quest to understand his parents’ disappearance – leading him directly to Oscorp and the lab of Dr. Curt Connors (Ifans), his father’s former partner. As Spider-Man is set on a collision course with Connors’ alter-ego, The Lizard, Peter will make life-altering choices to use his powers and shape his destiny to become a hero.

The Amazing Spider-man is released on 3 July 2012 in the US and 4 July 2012 in Australia from Sony.

It seems that they are definitely keen to reboot the character for the small screen, including Black Canary’s alter ego, and hints at old foes Merlyn and a character who appears to be a little bit of an Eddie Fyers character from the book. Black Canary was previously reconstructed for the ill-fated Birds of Prey TV series, while Arrow became a popular character on Smallville after being introduced in the show’s sixth season in 2006, and appeared in over 70 episodes. Hartley is not involved in the pilot, and this is not a spin-off of that series.

However, this does confirm that Arrow’s origins will still involve a shipwreck, as they did with the character created back in 1941 for DC Comics, but do not say whether Lance will be seen as Black Canary in the show.

From the source:

Oliver Queen
A 27 year old reformed bad boy, who after having spent five years shipwrecked on a tiny, brutally dangerous island in the South China Sea returns to town a different man. Or to be more specific, a tortured, thoughtful master of the bow with a ferocious determination to make a difference.

Dinah “Laurel” Lance
28 years old, smart sexy, Laurel is a legal aid attorney determined to use her life as a one-woman war against the 1% following the death of her younger sister Sara. A sister, who as luck would have it, just so happened to have died aboard Oliver’s yacht.

Tommy Merlyn
28 years old and devil-smooth, Tommy is a trustafarian like Oliver, a spectacularly rich young man whose life revolves around parties, clubs, liquor and lots of anonymous sex. Unlike Oliver, he can’t seem to understand his former best friend’s sudden change of lifestyle and direction.

Moira Queen
48 years old, a beautiful woman, Oliver’s mother Moira is a very wealthy woman who is not used to being shaken. Having remarried during the five years that former husband Robert and Oliver were both presumed dead, Moira has had free rein over the Queen billions. Not surprisingly, she’s deeply interested in learning whether or not Robert will also return unexpectedly, to ruin her present marriage and go over the books with a fine-tooth comb.

John Diggle
35 years old, African-American, Diggle is really, really big, a former military man who served with the Army Rangers in Afghanistan, and has been a bodyguard for hire for the last four years. Hired by Moira to be Oliver’s chauffeur and protector, Diggle soon finds he is trapped in a battle of wits, as Oliver repeatedly eludes his protection. But in fact, Diggle’s primary conflict is one of loyalty — he has to show that he’s working for Oliver, not Moira, before Oliver will give him a smidgen of trust.

Thea Queen
17 years old (suggest 17-22 years), Oliver’s Lolita-esque sister, Thea was a 12 year old girl when he went on his infamous yachting voyage — but now she’s a celebutante who’s testing the boundaries of acceptable behavior. Thea loved her big brother with all her heart, and is delighted to have him back in her life — but she’s spreading her wings, and is unprepared for Oliver to become the Bad Cop in the family, restricting her access to boys and drugs.

Taking a fresh look at the artwork for the original series of five films, from Planet of the Apes through to Battle for the Planet of the Apes, artists include Martin Ansin, Ken Taylor, Rich Kelly, Phantom City Creative and Florian Bertmer.

If you want these, follow Mondo News on Twitter to fin out the on sale dates. Be quick, as these tend to disappear in minutes, only to mysteriously reappear on eBay moments later. It’s a kind of magic.

Click to enlarge

Poster by Martin Ansin. 24″x36″ screen print. Hand Numbered. Edition of 415. Printed by D&L Screenprinting.

Poster by Ken Taylor. 24″x36″ screen print. Hand Numbered. Edition of 395. Printed by D&L Screenprinting.

Poster by Rich Kelly. 24″x36″ screen print. Hand Numbered. Edition of 320. Printed by D&L Screenprinting.

Poster by Phantom City Creative. 24″x36″ screen print. Hand Numbered. Edition of 370. Printed by D&L Screenprinting.

Poster by Florian Bertmer. 24″x36″ screen print. Hand Numbered. Edition of 345. Printed by D&L Screenprinting.

Bonus poster: painted by Jason Edmiston!