plot Tagged Articles at Cinematical

It's Write Stuff time again, and what a crazy time to be a writer! As I'm sure you've heard, on Cinematical and everywhere else, the Writers Guild of America has officially gone on strike. There's not much I can say on the subject that hasn't been better said already-- check out great statements from writers Judd Apatow (Knocked Up), Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and Shawn Ryan (The Shield) -- but I am in complete and total support of the strike.

This isn't rich people trying to get richer, as it may seem to a casual observer. Only a handful of writers command the incredible salaries you read about on sites like this one. This strike is about writers wanting only what is fair, now and into the future. Writers get no respect these days. Even a casual film fan can name hundreds of actors and 20 or 30 directors with ease, but how many screenwriters can they name? Plain and simple, without screenwriters those actors have nothing to say. Those directors have nothing to direct. Movies and television would cease to exist, unless The Bachelor 38 is your idea of quality entertainment. These are working people just like anyone else, a Hollywood area code doesn't change that. Their demands are far from outrageous, and it's time to give these talented men and women the respect they deserve. You can find me on the picket lines this week.

Moving on to less stressful matters, let me pop open the old mail bag for three questions from commenter Jim...

Those fine folks over at Warner Bros. have sent Cinematical an official Speed Racer press release which provides a full cast list, as well as lots of plot info. Although it wasn't very difficult to piece together all the nuggets of information we've received over the past month or so, it is nice to see all things Speed Racer in one place. (Check out the recently released pic of Speed's Mach 5 to the right) As expected, the meat and potatoes of the story will revolve around Speed's (Emile Hirsch) attempt to take down the powerful and corrupt Royalton Industries before its evil owner (Roger Allam) puts Speed and his family out of business for good.

One of the casting choices I'm most interested in is that of Ji Hoon Jung (aka the popular Korean singer Rain) as a rival driver. Although the press release suggests this is his feature debut, I managed to catch some of Rain's acting in Park Chan-wook's I'm a Cyborg, But That's Okay -- a film that actually marked his first feature role; one that was pulled off rather successfully, if I may say so myself. In case you've been living under a rock, Speed Racer was written and will be directed by Andy and Larry Wachowski (of Matrix fame), and will be based off the old acid trip of a cartoon. Pic also stars Christina Ricci (as Speed's friend Trixie), John Goodman and Susan Sarandon (as mom and pops racer), Matthew Fox (as the mysterious Racer X), Kick Gurry (as Sparky) and Paulie Litt (as Sprittle). (Now all we need is for someone to play a character named Sprite and things will be all set.) I've included the full press release after the jump; Speed Racer is set to drive into theaters on May 9, 2008.

Okay, don't crucify me here, because this could be old news. However, it's the first time I'm actually seeing a detailed plot synopsis for Rob Zombie's upcoming take on the popular Halloween franchise. While tooling around on IMDB, I came across the following:

"Since his psychiatrist father's death, David Loomis has been working at Smith's Grove Sanitarium. David inherited all his father's files, except for those of serial killer Michael A. Myers, which are nowhere to be found. But when a horribly mutilated body is found, rumors fly that Michael has returned to Haddonfield. Eager to fulfill his father's obsessive quest, David travels to Haddonfield to wait for Michael. Like father, like son!"

Ah, so now we know how Zombie plans to mix the old with the new. Loomis' son will be the main character and, I imagine, we will flashback to some of the earlier Myers stuff. Perhaps, we will see a younger Loomis when he's first assigned to the case? That would be cool. So, is this new? Old? And what do you think about the direction in which they're heading?

After questioning which of several projects James Cameron was going to approach next, we were happy to hear he had finally chosen one in Project 880 (formely known as Avatar), though no one really knew what it would be about. Part of me felt that, out of 880 possibly projects, Cameron flipped a coin and chose, well, #880. Now, not only do we have a plot description, but also a bunch of character descriptions. (Note: Sorry Arnold fans, but none of these descriptions seem to ask for a juiced-up Governor, hell-bent on returning to the big screen in an attempt to kick some major ass.)

According to the casting notice put forth by Movie City News, story will surround a paraplegic war veteran who travels to a different planet, complete with its own language and culture. And no, the planet is not called New Jersey. Interestingly enough, its name is Pandora, home to the Na'vi. Hmm, as in Pandora's Box? As in going there will release a world of trouble? The rest of the plot description goes on to say that those from Earth don't exactly "connect" with the folks up on Pandora. This leads me to assume some major sh*t will go down. Sweet!

From checking out the character descriptions it seems a love triangle will show up at some point, as well as a good amount of medical and military action. Personally, I'm pumped up about the project and welcome Cameron's return to space. It's about damn time.

Yeah, so I dig the Saw movies. Sue me. But as part of a society that adores American Idol, professional wrestling, and NASCAR, I don't feel all that guilty about enjoying a few crafty little gore flicks. Anyway, Lionsgate and Darren Bousman are just getting their second Saw sequel underway up in Canada, and they were cool enough to drop us a brief but interesting plot synopsis.

Seems Saw 3 will deal with a sexy young doctor who finds herself kidnapped and forced to keep ol' Jiggy alive while another poor sap tries to escape from one of the Saw-Man's patented Nasty Dungeons. Good enough for me!

The cast of Saw 3 includes Tobin Bell and Shawnee Smith (of course), as well as newcomers Bahar Soomekh (as sexy doc) and Angus MacFadyen (as poor sap). I still can't find word on if Dina Meyer's coming back, darnit...

We may as well go ahead and change our name from Cinematical to CineSimpsons - All Simpsons. All the time. To recap: Several months went by after The Simpsons feature film was announced last summer until, finally, last week, things really started to heat up. Harry Shearer (Mr. Burns, Ned Flanders, etc..) divulged that the film was going ahead and that the cast had already starting laying down dialogue. He told us the movie would not be R-rated, but did admit to it being edgier than the television show.

Over the weekend, word got out that a teaser for the flick had already landed on the big screen in front of Ice Age: The Meltdown and then, today, that same teaser hit the internet. Now, with The Simpsons causing more of a stir than Sharon Stone after watching Basic Instinct Poo - er - 2 plummet at the box office, comes possible details of a Simpson's plot. According to AICN, Krusty the Clown's nephew emailed them ( I assume that's a humorous alias) to shell out more details about the movie, including its storyline.

The nephew informed us that all of the original cast and writers are involved in the production. If that includes some of the old schoolers like Conan O'Brien, then that can mean very good things. Very. Good. Things. Oh, and about that plot? (The sentence following this one may contain SPOILERS, so if you get freaked out by that sort of thing, then stop reading right now.) Well, according to Krusty's nephew, the story will surround Homer goofing up at the power plant and causing the government to place a dome over Springfield. There you have it folks! If the information is correct, the Simpsons will be living in a bubble come 2008. Now, how about we give poor Sharon Stone a cameo, huh?