Logo on fire

That’s right, as I am sure any enthusiast of the 12 colonies knows, The Hunger Games is getting a Hollywood makeover and coming out in March 2012.  Will it be great or will it dissapoint all the loyal fans?   It is hard to know, but equally hard not to be excited.  I am not thrilled by all the casting choices, I admit, but I am willing to give them a try.   

Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen

 I think Jennifer Lawrence will probably be amazing.  She was great in Winter’s Bone, showing a steel to her acting needed to play Katniss.  The casting of Peeta and Gale, however, worries me.  They seem to be cast too much on their looks and  that might mean that this movie will swing to the Twilight side of adaptations. 

I will admit that the Twilight books were a guilty pleasure of mine, but when I saw the first movie, I really didn’t like it.   It was all pretty actor/models, standing around and mooning over each other. It didnt seem to capture the essence of the book, as it had played out in my head.   The people cast to play the very central roles in The Hunger Games need to be more than pretty faces.    (side note, for a great bit of satire relating to Edward’s relationship with Bella, watch Chad Vader, season 3 and keep an eye out for the vampire stockboy)

The Hunger Games does have some different, deeper  themes going on which should help, but so help me, if people stare at each other for minutes on end without dialogue, I will become very upset.

Lenny, soon to be Cinna

Another troubling casting choice is that of Lenny Kravitz as Cinna.   I am not sure about anyone else, but he is most certainly not the man I would have picked for this part.   He is too scruffy.  I personally picture Cinna as a smoother member of this very polished district of people.  Cinna by his very job description, is a part of an over-stylized culture, for all that he doesn’t buy into the extremes.    Although, to be fair, I have never seen Lenny Kravitz act.  I guess we have no choice but to wait and see.

I think Donald Sutherland will be brilliant as President Snow.  He has the gravitas to pull it off.  Woody Harrelson as Haymitch is a bit iffy.  He sure knows how to play a mean drunk, but he is not quite what I pictured.  I hope he will roughen up appropriately.  Ceaser Flickerman should be great, played by the always interesting and entertaining Stanley Tucci.

Own the trilogy. Go on, Buy It!

I am definitely reading the books again, before the movies come out.  And this time, I will know which parts to avoid reading in public for fear of –spoiler alert—the tears that will inevitably roll down my face.  If you havent read the books yet, do it!  You wont regret it. 

 As I am sure I am not the only one on the edge of my seat, waiting for this movie to be released and snapping up every little bit of news as it becomes available, join me in the countdown, at this, one of the many movie fansites.

So if you haven’t seen this yet, a couple of days ago, this Mortal Kombat Rebirth trailer appeared on YouTube in an attempt to generate interest in a reboot of the franchise.  It’s more of an eight minute scene than a trailer, and it focuses on portraying various characters (e.g. Reptile, Baraka) as brutal serial killers.  What’s interesting about this trailer is that it was directed by Kevin Tancharoen, whose claim to fame is Fame (which isn’t exactly similar to Mortal Kombat).

After watching the video, I felt like it was a substandard Seven with wicked action sequences.  Unfortunately, action spectacle doesn’t really do it for me like it used to, but if you hold this against something like Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, you’re sure to see a vast improvement.  Don’t take my word for it.  Check it out for yourself, and let us here at Paper Spaceships know what you think.

So why am I talking about a movie that I know so little about?  Because it’s causing a controversy, of course!  Chloe Moretz plays Hitgirl, and the press seems to want us to believe that it’s a role that has tarnished this innocent flower forever because her character has a foul mouth and loves to splatter the baddies.  I mean, just look at her in her comic book form:

Eat your heart out, Go-Go Yubari.

This must be the most badass 11-year-old known to man.  The evidence is right there in the comic book.  Oh, and also in the movie’s R rating.  And if there’s anything we Americans just loooove to do, it’s throwing a royal hissyfit when minors act like adults on film.  Notice how no one is recognizing Chloe Moretz for playing yet another adult-oriented role in the past year:  the wise-beyond-her-years little sister to Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s character in (500) Days of Summer.  Don’t listen to all the dicks out there who think you’re becoming an abomination, Chloe.  You are awesome.  And being in Kick-Ass is a gazillion times better than voicing Darby on My Friends Tigger and Pooh, which is something you’re also experienced at.

Are we really a nation of people stupid enough to think that any movie containing teenagers and children is actually appropriate for teenagers and children?

Maybe we shouldn’t answer that.  That’s what the comments section is for, kids.  Also, go watch this clip from CNN.com of the movie’s cast talking about how we all need to stop flipping out about Hitgirl’s potty mouth.   Clark Duke’s comment is my favorite.

The legend of Ong Bak 3 begins after Tien (Tony Jaa) has lost his fighting skills and his beloved stepfather at the Garuda’s Wing cliff from the raid led by Jom Rachan (Saranyu Wonggrajang). Tien is brought back to life with the help from Pim (Primrata Dechudom) as well as Mhen (Petchai Wongkamlao) and the Kana Khone villagers. Deep into the meditation taught by Phra Bua (Nirutti Sirijanya), Tien finally is able to achieve ‘Nathayut’. His talents are put to the test again when his rivals including the Golden-Armored King’s Guard (Supakorn ‘Tok’ Kijusuwan), the mysterious killers in black, and Bhuti Sangkha (Dan Chupong) return for the final massive showdown.

Although as we all know these plots are just on the side of nonsensical and who actually watches them for the story anyway? This one looks over the top and brutally amazing. I can’t wait to see it.

Will Smith's not in this one, folks

Carl Erik Rinsch’s short film The Gift was recently released as a part a 5-filmmaker showcase funded by Philips (that’s right, the electronics company) in cahoots with RSA (Ridley Scott and Associates), which is Ridley Scott’s commercial company. All 5 films in the showcase feature the same dialogue, but each tells a different sci-fi story.  Rinsch’s film features a pandora-like box and a robotic manservant on the lam.  If you haven’t seen it, check it out here (it’s well worth your 5 minutes).

According to the guys at /Film, The Gift has sparked a bidding war between major production companies in Hollywood, with Fox and Warner Bros being the big names mentioned.  It’s exciting to see directors like Rinsch on the Sci-fi-horizon (or Scirizon if you like), giving us something to look forward to.  Oh, and did I mention that Rinsch comes to us officially endorsed by Ridley Scott?  If that isn’t a good endorsement, I don’t know what is.

Also worth mentioning is Johnny Hardstaff’s Dark Room, which seems to draw heavily from Blade Runner.  Check it out via the link.

Rick Deckard, vouyer

My argument, perhaps too idealistic and full of youthful zeal but that’s the way I roll, was that young directors in Korea need to band together and just make films instead of sitting around writing scenario after scenario and never getting them picked up by a production company. Korea is one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world. The internet is easily accessible by most of the country via cell phones, PC rooms, or even on the street at kiosks. Seoul itself is a wireless enabled city and this is a culture that created the netizen. The DVD industry is all but dead in Korea and there is a severe lack of art house cinemas. The multiplexes usually do not pick up smaller independent films or documentaries as they do not preform well going against the latest romantic drama with whatever young actors are trending at the moment, and the Hollywood blockbusters make them too much money.

So what should they do? I’m shocked that more people do not release them online. Here is a country that makes our high speed internet look like dial-up, with a population that is constantly hooked up to the internet and there is nothing like the Netflix rental service or even Hulu. I argued that all it would take would be for one or two things to make it big, or sort of a filmmaking revolution that used social networking and new media distribution techniques to change this. I feel that if young filmmakers gather together and use existing technology such as Vimeo, Youtube, and even the Chinese Youku (as the Korean wave was a smash in China) they could start that same revolution. Think about it a couple years ago webseries and webisode were not in our lexicon. Now they make up a large portion of our viewing. How long has it been since you have watched TV on TV? I use Hulu for most of my shows and Netflix for the rest. Documentary director Kim Dong-won (sort of a personal hero to me) started Purn Productions which is a documentary collective that has produced some of the most interesting documentary work I’ve seen and arguably the modern equivalent of minjung art (which is a whole other article for another time). 

There is light at the end of the tunnel however, The Romantic Movement Seoul is a new project staring Min Hyo-rin and adapted from the first several chapters of Romantic Movement, a novel by popular Swiss writer Alain de Botton. Now this sounds like just another Korean drama, especially with directors such as Kang Chul-woo and Park Hyun-jin at the helm. Each director gets a segment (there will be four in all) and it is shot on location around Seoul with the Canon 5d (a DSLR camera that shoots 1080p HD video). The major difference is that this is being released online. The first episode was released on the 30th and the site has integrated twitter in an interesting way on their fan wall, and if I’m not mistaken uses WordPress as a CMS (much like us). In between each episode there are also several webisodes featuring the series number one fan (a crazy American who is rather entertaining) as well as behind the scenes footage. Min Hyo-rin is not the only rather big star in this either, Yeo Wook-hwan, Defconn (a Korean hip-hop performer), and Mate’s Jung Jun-il will all have roles in the short film. I have watched the first episode and it is decently acted and shot well, although it is very melodramatic and so far doesn’t differentiate itself stylistically from any other k-dramas you might see on television.

I do not think this is a bad thing at all. In fact it was a smart choice on the part of the project leaders as it will allow Korean audiences a familiar transition to a newer format, and appeal to a much wider audience than say a Korean equivalent to The Guild. Choosing the very popular author Alain de Botton was another genius stroke. The broader appeal that this project receives the more likely similar projects will be made. The other thing that I appreciate is the English subtitles embedded in the video. They are appealing to a wide audience, and I am interested in what is coming next and wish them the best of luck. Hopefully it will catch on and people will try to expand stylistically and explore the digital format.

You can follow Romantic Movement on twitter. And here is the Part 1 of the first episode:

This was found via The Armchair Commentator on Amazon.

My favorite to this day is the insane Chinese Super Ninjas:

First off, George A. Romero’s new zombie film, Survival of the Dead, has a new red band trailer, exclusive to IGNhas been posted today and it looks quite fun to this gorehound. Remember though, this film isn’t as action packed as the trailer might show, but it’s still the master at work here. Plus, it has to be better than Diary of the Dead, right?

Next up on the Splatter Menu, we have Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead getting a 6 episode pick up for the fall season this year. October 2010 to be exact, which is exciting news. When hearing that AMC picked up the series, it worried a few people out there. How would the gore quotient be? Would AMC allow the grotesque and harsh violence that makes the comic book a fan favorite? Well, Shock Til You Drop spoke with KNB’s very own Greg Nicotero, where he mentions that KNB will be working on Frank Darabont’s The Walking Dead, which is already exciting for everyone out there. They are the premier special effects group around, not only for horror but for any film that has required special effects work.

KNB worked recently with Darabont on the greatly under-appreciated film The Mist, so in less than a year we’ll find out how much blood AMC allows in the series.

And finally, not necessarily horror news, but the G-Man himself will be coming back to theaters in 2012. Legendary Pictures officially announced today that they will be partnering with Warner Bros. and Toho to make a new Godzilla film. As long as Roland Emmerich is nowhere in sight of this, then we won’t have another abortion of sorts on the big screen. Godzilla was last seen in the film Final Wars, a fun little flick that even poked fun at the American Godzilla mess. I appreciate how bad they made the CGI for the new Godzilla look in the movie. Check out the clip below.

Let Paper Spaceships know if you like this idea for a new article. Being a huge horror nut, I will scour the internet for random news bits that you, the horror fan, would like to know about.

Epic Indeed

’nuff Said