This December Fox will release The Day the Earth Stood Still, a modern take on the immensely popular 1951 film of the same name – and this is one movie I can’t wait to see. Although the director of the film, Scott Derrickson, isn’t a name yet associated to any movie of epic brilliance, and if I were to take into account that the writer, David Scarpa, has only one movie under his belt (The Last Castle), I might be concerned. But this remake stars Keanu Reeves. Whatever your view on Reeves, his movies are in the history books as some of the best ever. The Matrix Trilogy is easily one of the greatest trilogies of all time, and acts as one of the greatest philosophical works of all time – the name ‘Neo’ is now a household name. Reeves’ portrayal of the Buddha in Little Buddha was brilliant and proves he is an excellent actor, Constantine was cool and especially so if you’re a Hellblazer comics fan, and contrary to many an opinion, I also think A Scanner Darkly had a lot to offer. Add that to the ‘all round nice guy’ persona he has in real life and I’m quite happy to watch a Keanu Reeves movie. Keanu Reeves will play an alien named Klaatu.

The script for the 2008 remake seems to have been kept largely under wraps. There’s probably leaks out there, but quite honestly I’m not going to look for them – its under wraps for a reason, and that’s not to spoil the film! From what I hear, the new movie will follow very closely to the storyline of the original and, perhaps to a larger extent, to the short story ‘Farewell to the Master‘ that the original was based upon. In the original storyline, a spaceship lands in Washington DC and the alien Klaatu emerges. He declares he is on a mission of peace and goodwill, stemming from the fact that people of other planets have become concerned about the development of atomic weapons on Earth. Read the rest of this entry »

Terminator 4, aka Terminator Salvation, is set to be released first in Australia on 4 June 2009. With Christian Bale cast as John Connor, this is definitely one movie that has shot to the top of my must sees of 2009. Here’s the plot summary:

Set in post-apocalyptic 2018, John Connor is the man fated to lead the human resistance against Skynet and its army of Terminators. But the future Connor was raised to believe in is altered in part by the appearance of Marcus Wright, a stranger whose last memory is of being on death row. Connor must decide whether Marcus has been sent from the future, or rescued from the past. As Skynet prepares its final onslaught, Connor and Marcus both embark on an odyssey that takes them into the heart of Skynet’s operations, where they uncover the terrible secret behind the possible annihilation of mankind.

In addition to Christian Bale, who I probably don’t really need to mention played Batman in the recent blockbaster The Dark Knight, the character of Marcus Wright will be played by Australian actor Sam Worthington. Worthington’s most recent movie is Rogue, a cool little scare flick about a monster crocodile that is stalking a group of stranded tourists in outback Australia. We’re told Worthingtons character is a Terminator. The script is pretty much under wraps, but right now I’m thinking Worthington is a good casting choice. Though not a behemoth of a muscle man like Arnold Schwarzenegger, he does have a cool squarish face suitable for the role. Here’s hoping he’s liquid metal, but that might be hoping for too much. Read the rest of this entry »