Doomsday Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Tattoos in the movies have a storied history, from the simple, classic LOVE/HATE knuckle tattoos in The Night of the Hunter to the slick and sexy additions to Angelina Jolie's existing body art in last summer's Wanted. Recent movies like The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Eastern Promises have used tattoos to great effect; in Button, Captain Mike's homemade tattoos both referred to his life on the sea as a sailor, which in that era was the most visible tattoo population, and his own father's discouragement of his hopes of becoming an artist. Instead, he brings his art with him everywhere he goes. And Eastern Promises based its tattoos (hello, Viggo in his undies sipping a shot of vodka getting tattooed) on the heavily researched Russian tattoos and their different signifiers in the gangster underworld.

Unfortunately, most recent movies have the tendency to slap some crappy tribal on a character to make him or her seem more bad-ass, which, given the context of tattoos in the movies, is kind of understandable. But what's not is just how freaking terrible they are! Here are my personal picks of the worst ink spilled onscreen, plus a bonus mention for the most gorgeous tattoos in a movie, both in design and story use.

There's just something about watching the whole world go boom on the big screen, isn't there? Case in point: Independence Day. Sure, not exactly what you would call a great film, but I think most of us were sold on the flick the moment we saw the White House go up in a ball of fire. It might be twisted, but audiences just can't get enough of the end of civilization; Roland Emmerich went with a Mayan doomsday prophecy for his disaster flick, 2012, but I Am Legend's Francis Lawrence is going for something a little more scientific for his next film. The Hollywood Reporter announced that Fox has hired Lawrence to direct a feature film version of Alan Weisman's book, The World Without Us.

Weisman's book focuses on what would happen to the natural and built environment if humans suddenly disappeared. Sure, the whole thing is an educated guess based on Weisman's interviews with leading academics and scientists, but as educated guesses go, it's pretty good. So if you've ever wondered how long it would take for this civilization of ours to die out, here is your answer, and the bad news is that it won't take long at all. On the upside, though, at least Mount Rushmore would still be standing.

Mark Protosevich has been hired to write the script before heading off to work on the Oldboy update for Dreamworks. But Fox doesn't intend to make a documentary (which was done* once before) and instead Protosevich's script will make use of Weisman's science as the background for the story. I have to admit, Lawrence would seen to be the ideal choice for the flick -- especially since his vision of the world left behind in Legend was possibly the best thing about that film.

But this has me thinking: what are some of the best 'End of the Word' flicks? I'll even start you off with one of my nominations: Dr. Strangelove. Now it's your turn...


*Correction: The link provided for The World Without Us documentary was an error, and was not meant to make any political associations with Weisman's work.

Back in July, Eugene brought up the initial teaser for Nicolas Cage's new thriller, Knowing, and as Cage struggled to crack a numerical pattern that has a nasty habit of correlating with major disasters past and future, it struck me as some sort of cross between The Mothman Prophecies (not bad) and his own Next (not good).

Now, this latest trailer comes across as more of a mix between Mothman and Dark City, which was also directed by Knowing helmer Alex Proyas, which gives me mild cause for concern. It's nothing against Dark City -- which is a fine film and all -- but I find the introduction of pale figures known only as "the whisper men" significantly less intriguing than the central doomsday concept. Whatever answer I had hoped might be behind the mystery at hand simply didn't involve creeps who often stand on the horizon and, well, whisper.

The train and plane crashes seem creep enough as it stands, and for all I know, those fellas on the outskirts could figure into the plot quite nicely. I, and we, won't know until March 20th if my skepticism is unfounded. At the moment, though, are any of you guys and girls sold on this?

British filmmaker Neil Marshall earned a legion of new fans with 2005's The Descent, a genuinely scary flick that put me, for one, off spelunking forever. And for his next act? An energetic but derivative apocalyptic adventure that Rogue Pictures has unceremoniously dumped into theaters without press screenings or even much promotion.

Being one of Hollywood's Shameful Secrets™ (movies not screened for critics before they open) gives a film a certain stench, and it's too bad that Doomsday is stuck with it. It's not great -- I'm not even sure I'd call it "good" -- but the studios have certainly screened films that were worse. Heck, the studios have screened films that were worse this week (including one whose name rhymes with Mever Mack Mown). Doomsday is perfectly acceptable as a C+ movie, the kind that you don't see on purpose but that will certainly amuse you if you happen to stumble into the theater accidentally.

It begins with florid narration by Malcolm McDowell, who tells us that a horrific virus -- subtly called the Reaper Virus -- wiped out much of England. Then a wall was built to divide the infected northern half of Britain from the clean southern half, and all the sick people up north were left to die in chaos. "Social order decayed along with the corpses," McDowell says.

Kim and Erik are long gone, but a bunch of your sexy Cinematicaleers are still knee-deep in SXSW awesomeness. Peter and Jette have been seeing tons of flicks, Snider and I have been trying to do the same (but man oh man do I stay up late!), and all the while ... Austin has been invaded by thousands of music-type people. But we wanted to take a break from the documentaries, the dramas, and the mumblecorings, so four of us (namely: Eric Snider, William Goss, Eugene Novikov and myself) decided to trek towards a multiplex and take in a screening of Doomsday, since it opened today.

For those who don't worship at the altar of Genre Film, I'll remind you that Doomsday is the third feature from Neil Marshall -- after Dog Soldiers and The Descent. Sir Snider will be reviewing the film very soon (while my review will appear at FEARnet), but I do know he liked the film pretty well. I, however, was clapping my hands with childlike glee at every well-timed punch, kick, quip, bullet-hole, and explosion. A great musical score, excellent pacing, a few kick-ass action scenes, an amusing and unpretentious attitude, and no B.S. time-wastin' blah-blah-blah junk.

Then we spent about 2.5 hours trying to travel the half-dozen miles from the theater to my hotel, because apparently the music festival has called DIBS on every taxi in Austin. But I saw a fun movie with good pals, plus I stopped at a book store and bought a new horror compilation from Richard Laymon. Oooh, and we ate at Arby's! And now ... back to the festival!

Despite a putrescent score of 7% over at Rottentomatoes.com, Roland Emmerich's 10,000 B.C. took the saber tooth tiger by the tail and raked in some respectable cash, pulling in more than twice as much as its closest competitor. Last week's two other big releases, College Road Trip and The Bank Job, took second and fourth place respectively. Vantage Point enjoyed its third week in the top five, with sales already exceeding the film's $40 million budget by more than $10 million. Here are last weekend's totals:

1. 10,000 B.C.: $35.7 million.
2. College Road Trip: $14 million.
3. Vantage Point: $7.5 million.
4. The Bank Job: $5.7 million.
5. Semi-Pro: $5.8 million.

Last week's prehistoric adventure is counter-balanced by a post apocalyptic (sort of) romp, a classic children's book brought to the big screen, and teens kicking the living crap out of each other.

Doomsday
What's It All About: In the wake of a devastating plague, an entire country is walled off to prevent the disease from spreading. Thirty years later when the plague resurfaces, a military team is dispatched into the now barbaric quarantine zone in search of a cure.
Why It Might Do Well: Director Neil Marshall has The Descent and Dog Soldiers to his credit, two very cool flicks that have me curious about his latest.
Why It Might Not Do Well: The unimpressive trailer indicates a hodge podge collection of influences including The Road Warrior, Escape From New York and Underworld.
Number of Theaters: 1,800
Prediction: $9.5 million

Man, on days like today, I wish I could make this post have a soundtrack. Just the thought of horror in the Old West makes me think of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. It would be so easy to darken that tune up and make it creepy. Anyhow, Variety reports that Rogue Pictures, who will release Neil Marshall's Doomsday this Friday, has made a deal for the writer/director's next flick, an Old West horror film called Sacrilege.

Marshall says: "It is set during the Gold Rush, a time remembered for incidents like the Donner Party. It is meant to be a pitch-black, gritty, period horror movie." Well, we certainly don't get blood fests in period garb everyday. The filmmaker goes on to say that the film is influenced by The Thing, will tap into isolation and paranoia, and will be "Unforgiven by way of H.P. Lovecraft." The project is just in the idea phase right now, although Marshall plans to start writing the script immediately.

In the meantime, you can watch Rhona Mitra fight the deadly Reaper virus from within suffering, and quarantined country this Friday.

You know, for a movie that probably isn't the best idea to begin with, a lot of people certainly seem to be lining up to work on it. Just days after rumors swirled that Rob Zombie would be taking over the Conan remake for Millennium/Nu Image, now Doomsday director Neil Marshall has also been added to the list of possible directors for the fantasy update.

Rumors of Marshall's involvement first surfaced over at IGN, where it had also been confirmed by one of their sources that Zombie was in talks with the producers. That same source then threw Marshall's name on the list. Marshall joins John McTiernan, Zombie, and Hitman director Xavier Gens as possible candidates to direct. It has since been confirmed that Zombie will not be taking the reins, and instead is off working on the biker flick Tyrannosaurus Rex. According to IGN, Gens has also been in talks with the producers, but so was Zombie and look how that turned out.

The production has struggled since the beginning; first there were battles over the rights to the franchise, and after a few false starts, Millennium/Nu Image was left standing and they are now the proud new owners of the film. Thomas Dean Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer have been allowed to work on the script during the strike thanks to an agreement between Millennium and the WGA. IGN also reports that Millennium/Nu Image will not be choosing their director until the script has been completed. By then who knows how many more names will have been added to the list. Conan is tentatively scheduled for release in 2009.

[via Comics2Film]

Having a baby, meeting extraterrestrials, losing your cat: these are all jumping off points after which -- for good or ill -- your life is never quite the same again. This week we're looking at trailers for films that show big changes.

Doomsday
Yeah, I've got to imagine the end of the world will change everything. At the very least, you won't have to go to work tomorrow, and to hell with that car payment. When a lethal plague devastates a large section of England, the area is walled off for decades. When the plague resurfaces, a special team is dispatched inside the quarantined area to look for a cure. This is from director Neil Marshall, whose last two films -- The Descent and Dog Soldiers -- I loved. The Mad Max influence is obvious, but it also brings to mind all the Italian-made Mad Max knock-offs from the 80s, of which there were so many that they became a genre unto themselves. There's also a fair amount of Escape From New York evident here, and our heroine Rhona Mitra (pictured above) recalls Kate Beckinsale in the Underworld movies. I'm getting lots of deja vu here, with nothing really striking me as original. I'll probably see this based on Marshall's credentials, but the trailer doesn't sell me. Here's Scott's take.

Baby Mama
Tina Fey plays a successful business woman who wants a baby, and she hires a working class woman played by Amy Poehler to be her surrogate. Between Knocked Up, Juno and Waitress, it's been a big year for pregnancy comedies, and I have to wonder if Hollywood has gone to the well once too often with this one. I loved Fey and Poehler on Saturday Night Live, and Fey's 30 Rock is a riot, but this trailer isn't grabbing me. Like Doomsday, if I see this one, it will be on the basis of the reputation of the people involved and not the preview. Here's Erik's take.

I'll keep this short because I just did a Doomsday piece a few days ago and I don't want my geekish enthusiasm for post-apocalyptic action mayhem to be mistaken for Universal shillery ... but we now have a trailer. So if anyone out there thought that Neil Marshall was going to do some sort of rom-com or arthouse tear-jerker after wooing the genre fans with Dog Soldiers and The Descent -- feast your retinas on this hardcore lunacy.

Clearly shooting for an Escape from New York / Mad Maxine vibe, the flick looks to be grade-A matinee madness all the way. For a bit more on Doomsday (which opens on March 14), check out this previous report, the MovieFone page, the official site, the IMDb page, and (obviously) the trailer. And then go outside and get some sun.