hercules Tagged Articles at Cinematical

I'm not sure if this gives Peter Berg anything to worry about, but it looks like he's not the only one itching to reboot Hercules as a franchise. Alexander Nevsky -- Russia's version of Arnold Schwarzenegger (not to be confused with the saint and subject of the famous Eisenstein film) -- is working on his own version, which his production company will finance for $12 million. At the moment, the project is unimaginatively titled Hercules: The Beginning.

The Hollywood Reporter article doesn't specify if this is to be a Russian (and Russian-language) production, or if it is to be in English, akin to Nevsky's recent American efforts, which have gone (or will go) direct to DVD stateside. The latter strikes me as a boneheaded move, dooming the film to obscurity. If he can produce it in Russia, where he might get some bang for that $12 million, he might wind up with a minor crossover hit in the vein of Night Watch and Day Watch (each of which cost a fraction of that). The world doesn't need more cheap American B-movies, but a big-time Russian blockbuster might get noticed.

Have any schlock enthusiasts here had a chance to see any of this guy's movies? Any thoughts? I'll tentatively say I'm more psyched for the Peter Berg version.

When you've made a very modern tale of a troubled man struggling to live with his super powers, what's left but to tackle a mythical yet tormented Greek hero? Peter Berg, who directed Will Smith to box office success in Hancock, will reboot one ot the original superheroes, Hercules, according to Variety.

Hercules: The Thracian Wars, a five-issue comic book series by Steve Moore issued in May by Radical Publishing, will provide the source material. Ryan Condal, recently tapped to adapt Warren Ellis' comic mini-series/graphic novel Ocean, will write the script; Berg will direct and co-produce.

The plot synopsis for the series describes Hercules as a "tormented soul ... neither god nor man." When the King of Thrace hires him "to train his men to become the greatest army of all time," Herc and his buddies are prompted to consider whey they have such a ruthless, bloodthirsty reputation. Berg intends to stay true to the "conflicts and redemption" in Moore's character-driven comic book series.

When another project about Hercules was announced last year, Christopher Campbell questioned if there had ever been a decent Hercules movie. (He ran down most of them.) So, three questions: (1) Is the comic book any good? (2) Is Berg the right director to reboot Herc? (3) Who could play the muscular Greek hero without making people laugh at him?

Here's a good question: Has there ever been a decent Hercules movie? I don't mean guilty-pleasure decent; I mean well-made decent. I don't think there has been. Hercules is pretty much synonymous with cheesy Italian films, a cheesy television series, a movie that dared dub over Arnold Schwarzenegger's voice and arguably one of the least interesting animated features Disney has ever made. All this could change, though, if producer Avi Lerner and his Millennium Pictures (The Black Dahlia) does right with a new live-action Hercules feature. Lerner has been responsible for many, many bad films, but there's definitely a chance this could be good.

Okay, so it will probably actually follow in the awful footsteps of the Hercules efforts before it. Sean Hood, who gave us the scripts for Halloween: Resurrection and The Crow: Wicked Prayer, has written the screenplay, so there's one thing against it already. I think that the only way we could ever get a good movie about the Hercules character, though not necessarily his legendary adventures, is if Marvel Studios for some reason wanted to do a feature on the Marvel version of the demi-god. Of course, we may get to see him included in The Avengers, but I'm not holding my breath. He never was that interesting in the comics, and I don't think he'd be that interesting in the movie either.

In what could be described as a case of "sour grapes," former Hercules star and recent The OC guest star Kevin Sorbo had some, shall we say, choice words about his former Hercules exec. producer and Spider-Man franchise director Sam Raimi. In an interview detailed over at IESB, Sorbo accuses Raimi of, among other things, not giving him parts in any of his bigger films because he is infantile and holds a grudge against him for not wanting to do more season of Hercules.

According to Sorbo: "I busted my ass on Hercules and during Season Five, I almost died doing it. I think I'm a good enough actor that [Sam Raimi] can put me in a secondary part in one of his feature films. It would be nice if he did that. I think he's holding a grudge over me." In the article, Sorbo also recounted the director's actions when he ran into him during the filming of For Love of the Game. Sorbo, who is friends with the film's star Kevin Costner, was hanging with the actor in his trailer when Raimi came in and, according to Sorbo, acted nice but was really holding back. "It is very infantile from a guy who's as powerful as he is and as wealthy as he is to. Throw me a bone. Why not let me do something?

Even if Sorbo hasn't been in any of Raimi's movies, its not like he hasn't had work. He starred in another successful TV show after Hercules -- Andromeda -- which ran for five years. Maybe Sorbo feels he deserves the same treatment as longtime Raimi friend Bruce Campbell? After all, Raimi has thrown Campbell many bones and had him appear in most of his big projects, including the first two Spider-Man films. To me, Sorbo comes across as jealous of Campbell and doesn't really make much of a compelling case -- especially knowing how Hollywood works. Sure, it would be great if everyone did the "right" thing in Hollywood. Unfortunately, that's just not how things work. Sorry Kevin. Maybe Kevin Costner will give you a job?

If you're a fan of a specific film genre then I'm sure you've seen those bulk packages where you can get a ridiculous number of genre-specific movies in a single box for a price that seems too good to be true. For a long time Brentwood Home Video was putting out 10 movie packs covering horror, science fiction, martial arts, action, etc. One of the biggest contenders in this market now appears to be Mill Creek Entertainment with their 50 movie sets. The first question that ran through my mind when I saw these things was, "What sort of quality are we talking about here -- cheap or not, is this worth my money?"

Tim Lucas is Editor of the long-running magazine Video Watchdog-The Perfectionist's Guide to Fantastic Video, the best periodical on the stands (in this blogger's humble opinion) to deal with genre films on video. In between issues, Lucas posts regularly to his Video Watchblog covering a wide variety of topics. His recent post "By the Gods" takes a look at roughly half the films presented in Mill Creek Entertainment's Warriors package, a smorgasbord of 50 films from the sword and sandal (or peplum) genre dating from the '50s and '60s and hailing, for the most part, from Italy. You've got your gladiators, gods, monsters, and damsels in distress all in a single box. The posting places particular emphasis on the quality of the films' presentation, with some of the author's impressive knowledge of film history peppered in. For example, here is his description of Ursus in the Land of Fire:

"Another formerly Dyaliscope pan&scan print with no panning; there are several occasions when the actor speaking is not onscreen, as the framing stares down the wall between two actors. Grainy, muted color. This movie is nevertheless delightful as a catalogue of classic Italian Golden Age locations -- the Cascate de Montegelato waterfall from Hercules, the lake from Medusa Against the Son of Hercules, etc."

Lucas says he got his money's worth just based on the twenty-four films he discusses, and having purchased Warriors myself I have to agree. None are in pristine condition, having been presumably sourced from VHS masters, but many of these gems are hard to find elsewhere. As Lucas points out, some of the films, like Hercules Against the Moon Men, have been released in far better condition by other companies, but I think Mill Creek's collection serves as a great introduction to the genre.