resident evil Tagged Articles at Cinematical

(Just when you thought the Resident Evil series was finished comes word of yet another installment. Why not? Here's Peter Hall reporting for Horror Squad)

The Resident Evil well springs eternal. With three movies already under its biosuit (not counting the animated film Degeneration) and more games than I can shake a controller at, I think it's safe to say that RE is the most prolific zombie franchise ever created. It's influence is felt far greater in the video game world than Hollywood, but that has yet to stop Screen Gems from pumping out the undead actioners.

Which brings us the fourth in the film series (the aforementioned Degeneration was a standalone project more in line with the games than the films), titled Resident Evil: Afterlife. Shock Till You Drop picked up on a production report outlining the film's future, which will begin an eight week shoot starting this September with an expected release date of September 17, 2010. Though there is no director attached to the film yet, it's been confirmed that the always appreciated Milla Jovovich will be reprising her role of the fanboy loved Alice, destroyer of all things sans pulse. Also returning will be fanboy bait Paul W.S. Anderson, though as of this moment his duties will be strictly confined to the word processor side of things.

Read the rest at Horror Squad

You know, at this point I think that Milla Jovovich should probably be named the patron saint of video game flicks. Mainly it's because that in the barrage of crappy console-to- screen properties, there are none more beloved than the Resident Evil series. So I can only hope that some of that 'geek shine' is going to rub off on The Weinstein's latest attempt. Bloody Disgusting (who is usually pretty reliable when it comes to all things horror) has confirmed that Jovovich is set to star in the big-screen adaptation of Capcom's horror-survival game, Clock Tower. Even though this news is still in the rumor stage, BD is confident that Jovovich is already on board.

News of the film first surfaced back in April, and last month Variety had announced that Brittany Snow (Prom Night) signed on for the lead. According to sources, Jovovich will play "a woman in a psych ward who befriends the lead character, played by Snow, when they discover a shared family history. Meanwhile a psychotic madman dubbed Scissorman is pursuing her and keeping the family curse going strong." Eric Poppen (Borderland) was tapped to write the script, and even though there are some conflicting reports regarding the story, the general consensus seems to be that the film will be loosely based on the second installment of the series.

Shooting is scheduled for November in Los Angeles, and by then we should have a few more details. Hopefully the addition of Jovovich and an 'R' horror director like Martin Weisz (The Hills have Eyes 2) means that the film will be avoiding the usual pitfalls of PG horror and adding a little more 'bang for our buck'. Not to mention that at least with Milla on board, we might get a glimpse of a slightly more interesting female lead than the perpetually pouty Ms. Snow.

As is often the case with the translation of any geek property to the screen, this Friday's release of Max Payne seems to elicit just as many hopes and doubts as one would expect from a big-screen adaptation of a popular video game (well, one not directed by Uwe Boll, that is). So, coming from a position of relative ignorance when it comes to most titles (trust me, my PS2 gathers more dust than yours does), what's the current reading from fans on a film proudly rated PG-13, although based on a series of M-rated games?

And for which upcoming projects are you most hopeful: Halo -- that is, with or without Peter Jackson? Gore Verbinski's BioShock? Jerry Bruckheimer's Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time? (And just when is The Rock's Spy Hunter coming out anyway? Do you care?) (Should I?)

As for my fellow ignorati: does this look to you like an appealing action movie regardless? Which video-game movies worked best despite your lack of familiarity with the source material? My vote goes to the first Resident Evil, with some moderate supporting love going to Silent Hill and Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within -- no great blasphemy intended.

Oh, and just to keep things jumping, any thoughts on the following titles, or any left out, are more than welcome: DOA: Dead or Alive, Doom, Double Dragon, Hitman, the Mortal Kombat films, Street Fighter, Super Mario Brothers, the Tomb Raider franchise, Wing Commander.

If you paid good money to see Jaws 3-D, Friday the 13th Part 3 (in 3-D) and The Man Who Wasn't There (the Steve Guttenberg 1983 version in 3-D) during their original theatrical runs, as I did, then you might understand why I've been so reluctant to board the new 3-D bandwagon.Those were awful movies and terrible 3-D experiences: ghost images everywhere, red/blue mix-ups, and constantly shifting focus. The stupid little 3-D paper "viewers" never fit correctly over my own prescription eyeglasses. Instead of inducing a sense of wonder, those movies made my stomach queasy.

But everyone says the new technology is markedly better, and I'm even more optimistic after reading Christopher Campbell's recent column on the wonders of Journey to the Center of the Earth in digital 3-D. I plan to see for myself this weekend, and in anticipation, I started dreaming about other movies that might really benefit from 3-D done right. To keep the list from becoming endless, the seven below could all be considered future cousins of Journey, adventures involving travel through time, place and/or space. All are proposed sequels or remakes or adaptations of published works, and, alas, all must be considered dream projects, at least as far as 3-D is concerned.

Put on your 3-D glasses before jumping onward to my choices, and please share your dreams in the comments.

Call me crazy, but 90 minutes of Milla Jovovich doing anything is worth watching -- doubly so when her activities deal with zombies, monsters, and ridiculous high-tech weaponry. Yes -- deep sigh -- I'm a (slightly) reluctant fan of the Resident Evil series. (Yep, there's even some stuff I like in Part 2. Like Sienna Guillory.) When I'm writing or net-browsing or playing hours of Zuma, I often like to have a familiar movie playing in the background (like most people do with, um, music) and the Resident Evil flicks fit the bill quite nicely sometimes. (Depending on my mood, of course. Last night my relaxation movie was The Mask of Zorro.)

So it's my relative fandom for the series that leads me to share this half-piece of semi-news: According to the always-fun MTV Movies Blog, series master Paul W.S. Anderson has started speaking to Sony about a Resident Evil 4. And don't even dare act surprised when a series that grossed this much money moves forward on another adventure. How many Police Academy movies were there? (OK, bad example that isn't exactly helping my argument, but I seriously lost count. There were about 28 Police Academy movies? Or it only felt like that many.) Mr. Anderson doles out the reliable "Oh, once we get a good script ... We're not gonna do it just to do it" schpiel, which means he's probably about three weeks away from hiring a writer.

Life used to be much easier. I remember a time when iconic figures would only have two biopics being made about them. Now it's a crazier era, in which a person may have any number of films being made about him or her. Poor Columbus; poor Capote; poor Harvey Milk. I guess none of them were good enough for three biopics. Not like Salvador Dalí, who I already wrote about today (and he seems to have a lot more than three in the works), or Pablo Escobar. According to the New York Times, there's more than just the Joe Carnahan and the Oliver Stone/Antoine Fuqua versions of the drug kingpin's story. Joining them at the American Film Market is another pic, which is to be helmed by Resident Evil: Apocalypse director Alexander Witt. Though he only has one credit to his name as the big man in charge, and it's something as crappy as RE:A, Witt is a true veteran of the industry, having worked as second unit director and DP for many of Jan De Bont and Ridley Scott's films (including this week's new release, American Gangster). Plus, he shot footage for Casino Royale, The Bourne Identity and Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. He's even worked for Spielberg and Altman. So, he has to have learned something. Right?

Witt's Escobar project is simply titled Escobar, and is based on original research rather than a book. It has been scripted by Richard Rionda Del Castro (Sid Furie's Partners in Action) and Greg Mellott (Sid Furie's Direct Action, The Rage and American Soldiers), so it's probably fair to assume this one will be more of a low-budget-action-type depiction. Still, Del Castro claims the film has a budget between $22 million and $28 million; he also says his is further into production than the others. We'll see -- let the race to theaters, and our drug-dealer-loving hearts, begin!

Sony Pictures has launched the official site for Resident Evil: Extinction. This time around: Alice, our genetically enhanced heroine (Milla Jovovich) is lost in the wastelands of Nevada while fending off the evil plans of the Umbrella Corporation. Joining Jovovich as fellow plague survivors are Heroes' Ali Larter and R&B singer Ashanti. Also returning are Oded Fehr as Carlos Oliviera and Mike Epps as L.J. Last month we had gotten word of a new R trailer for the film and another gallery of photos released to the web. The arrival of a web site might not seem like such a big deal, especially in the current climate of viral fever, but there's plenty of cool content. There are wallpapers, screen savers, and loads of media gallerie, as well as a pretty decent online game -- but be warned; it's armed with one of those age-verification login pages.

Resident Evil: Extinction was directed by Russell Mulcahy; according to this piece over at Movies Online, Paul W.S. Anderson's script has reportedly taken elements from the RE: Code Veronica. Anderson has written his share of video game flicks, including all three of the Resident Evil flicks, and directing the first one back in 2002. There had been some debate over whether Extinction was going to be the last film in the series, but Sony refers to the film as "the third and final installment", so I guess it really is the end for Alice -- I can only hope she will go out in style. Extinction hits theaters September 21st.

[via ComingSoon.net]

Welcome back to the Hall H show direct from Comic-Con International in beautiful downtown San Diego. For the last few days its been Comic-Con, Comic-Con, Comic-Con and will be probably be that way or the next few days too -- that is if Kevin and I both don't keel over first from all the running around, fighting to get into Halls and chasing reluctant celebs who would rather do almost anything else than be interviewed. Which, if you think about it, is sorta odd for someone who makes their living in the public eye.

Anyway, once again I'm in the still-freezing Hall H to bring you all the latest news, pictures and maybe even some surprises or two.This time around I'm attending the Sony Pictures / Screen Gems presentation to take a look at some of their upcoming projects. On the menu this afternoon we've got an eclectic mix of films, genres and stars to hopefully spark you're interest and generate a little excitement. The films that we get to partake of today include a couple that I, being a huge horror fan, am really looking forward to: Resident Evil: Extinction and 30 Days of Night.

We're also going to get a look at a couple of projects from the mind of comic genius and all-around nice guy Judd Apatow, writer and/or producer of such classic comedies as The 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up. He'll be bringing us the deets on his latest films Superbad and Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story. With a title like that, the film just has to be funny, right? Well, let's find out, shall we?

I just watched an outdoor screening of Dazed and Confused the other day, and I was once again surprised to see Milla Jovovich in the movie. I always forget she's in there hiding among the huge cast, possibly because it's a such a small role, but more likely because she's such a sweet hippie chick in it. Four years after appearing in that film, she did The Fifth Element, then The Messenger, then Resident Evil. Now it almost seems like she only does movies in which she kicks serious ass. It's like she turned in the guitar and marijuana for guns and adrenaline. Not that any of us mind, of course, because there's no action heroine sexier than Jovovich. She's the reason many of us are looking forward to Resident Evil: Extinction (out September 12) despite the previous RE installment's extreme suckage.

For the new movie, Jovovich is joined by another geektastically hot actress, Heroes' Ali Larter. And in a gallery of stills from RE:E on Yahoo! Movies, we get to see more of Larter's presence. There's one photo of her aiming a gun, non-action-like, as though she's involved in target practice. There's another pic of her hanging out with Oded Fehr, giving us her trademark teeth-exposing, upper-lip-raising, flared-nostrile intensity. There's also one of her shaking hands with Jovovich's Alice, which we saw before. Most of the other Alice stills are repeats, too, but there is an awesome shot of her in mid-flight, about to slaughter a bald baddie with her hockey-stick-like blades. And there's another one of her parked on a BMW motorcycle. From what we've so far seen from all the images, there doesn't appear to be much diversity in scenery, but we also haven't really gotten to see much of the destroyed Vegas yet, and I'm hoping that isn't because the movie lacks great set pieces.

Like many others, I was disappointed with Resident Evil: Apocalypse. Yet, I still look forward to Resident Evil: Extinction. Why? Because Milla Jovovich is still the hottest action heroine, regardless of how bad the movie she's kicking ass in. And with Highlander (and, um, Highlander II: The Quickening) director Russell Mulcahy taking over for the third installment, the thing could have possibly been a guilty pleasure even if Milla hadn't returned. Fortunately she has, and of course she looks pretty good (maybe a teensy weensy too butch) in the pics and the teaser trailer we've seen so far. The first poster, though? Why does she have to be in silhouette? This new international poster is more like it -- even if she does look more scary than sexy.

One thing that is odd about the poster is how it features the mock Statue of Liberty from the New York, New York Casino in the background. It gives the impression that RE:E takes place in a desert-covered New York rather than a wiped-out Las Vegas. The domestic poster at least shows more of the destroyed casinos and even includes the city's famous sign. I should stop criticizing the poster, though, because just looking at it makes me think the new genetically engineered version of Alice (Jovovich) is going to come after me with that giant blade. Resident Evil: Extinction finishes out the trilogy of the video game adaptation starting September 21.