Steve McQueen Biopic Coming Soon

It's Jeremy Renner's world and we're all just living in it. The Academy Award nominated actor (The Hurt Locker, The Town) not only is currently filming The Avengers and will voice a character in next year's Ice Age: Continental Drift, he also is starring alongside Tom Cruise in this Fall's Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol.

Amidst his busy schedule, Renner also managed to start up his own production company, The Combine, with partner Don Handfield. The company's first movie is an ambitious project to say the least. It's a biopic on the life of movie icon Steve McQueen. Based mostly on the Marshall Terrill books Portrait of An American Rebel and The Life and Legend of a Hollywood Icon, Renner is set to produce and star in the film while James Gray will adapt the script.

Steve McQueen was the poster boy for cool back in the 60s and 70s. Films like The Magnificent Seven, The Great Escape, and Papillon made him a legend. McQueen was a man's man who liked to do his own stunts and unfortunately died of cancer caused by asbestos at the age of 50. I have to say I've been extremely impressed with Renner of late (his performance in The Town was epic) and I have a lot of faith in his ability. Whether or not he'll be able to pull off Steve McQueen's inherent toughness and cool is another story.

"Hey Bieber Say Hi to your Mother for me!"

I'm pretty sure the Mayans didn't predict this one but I'm positive it's further proof that the end of the world is approaching. This week Mark Wahlberg spoke at a Time 100 gala event in NYC and mentioned that he and Justin Bieber (who he once dubbed "the white Tupac" and no I'm not making that up) will be starring in an upcoming movie for Paramount. As preposterous as this whole idea sounds, even more ridiculous is the plot. Wahlberg states that the movie is about a "kind of a reluctant mentor in an inner-city environment." Um....what?? Inner-city? Are you kidding me? Bieber is so the polar opposite of "inner-city" that he makes Jon Cryer look gansta. If you dropped Bieber in the Bronx about twenty dudes would run a train on him before they realized he wasn't a chick.

I guess with the recent success of Whalberg's The Fighter and Bieber's hit documentary Never Say Never, money once again rules the day in Hollywood. You don't have to be Nostradamus to know that this movie will be an unmitigated disaster.

Although no title has been released yet I'd like to go with what Annabel_Lecter suggested at one of my favorite movie websites joblo.com, The Happening 2: Why is this Happening?

'Nuff said.

Review: Jonah Hex

Plot: When Confederate cavalryman Jonah Hex (Josh Brolin) sees his entire family murdered in front of him at the hands of his former commanding officer Quentin Turnbull (John Malkovich) as retribution for killing Turnbull's son Jeb (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), Turnbull brands Hex and leaves him to die. Surviving the ordeal, Hex begins life as a bounty hunter after discovering that Turnbull apparently died in a fire. However, when Hex discovers that Turnbull is in fact alive and planning to blow up Washington D.C., revenge gets ugly.

Review: I'm not going to say that Jonah Hex is the most brilliant graphic novel movie adaptation ever. It's not. However, it's not nearly as ugly as other critics would have you believe. This is due in large part to director Jimmy Hayward who keeps the run time at a sleek and tight 81 minutes. The brevity of the screen time makes for a fun and fast paced action ride that rarely lets up, from the opening scenes of the Hex family slaughter, to the final climatic clash between Turnbull and Hex in the Washington D.C. harbor.

Unfortunately, the short run time also allows for very little in the way of character development. However, one might expect this from director Hayward who for most of his career in Hollywood has been an animator for Disney. It's Hayward's first foray into live action and it shows throughout Jonah Hex, as almost all of the characters are as two dimensional as a cartoon. Hayward isn't completely at fault however. Mark Nelvedine and Brian Taylor's screenplay is completely without nuance and severely lacking in dialogue. The scene where Hex speaks to his dead best friend Jeb (did I mention Hex can talk to the dead too?) is almost laughable. The gunshots had the most passionate lines in the movie.

The casting choices aren't exactly top notch either. Malkovich falls flat as Turnbull. He never seemed like a very menacing character and there is no explanation for his intense hatred of the Union. Instead Malkovich comes across as a hackneyed Snidely Whiplash. Eye candy Megan Fox is forgettable as Tallulah Black, a prostitute and love interest of Hex. The only reason Fox seems to be in the movie is because the producers needed at least one hot chick amidst the bevy of beefy men.

Thankfully, Brolin did a good job of carrying the film as the movie's main character. I think a great indication of an actor's talent is how well they do in bad movies. Brolin is one of the few bright spots in a decidedly ridiculous movie. Gritty, tough, and completely believable as a disfigured bounty hunter, Brolin's performance contrasts nicely with his turn as Tom Chaney in True Grit. Brolin exudes menace and vengeance. Another pleasant surprise is Michael Fassbender as Burke, a psychopathic Irishman and Turnbull's right hand man. Fassbender is deliciously wicked. With turns in movies like Inglorious Basterds, 300, Jane Eyre, and the upcoming X Men: First Class where he plays Magneto, it's safe to say that Fassbender's career is on the upswing.

Explosions, gunfights, and action rule the day in Jonah Hex which is about what you'd expect from a film like this. It's a schlock fest that relies more on in your face tactics rather than subtlety. While Jonah Hex doesn't totally hit the target, I guarantee you won't want to disfigure your face after you watch this movie.

My rating: 5/10

ACHTUNG! Zod Gets Help For Man of Steel from German Actress

Every enemy needs help. Even General Zod.

German actress Antje Traue (Pandorum) will be playing the role of Faora in Zack Synder's upcoming Man of Steel. For those of you unfamiliar with the character (as was I) she is somewhat...well...complicated. There are in fact multiple Faora's throughout the Superman universe (I know shocking that a comic book would run into this situation) but from what I can gather she is a beautiful Kryptonian woman who inexplicably hates all men. She is also apparently skilled in the Kryptonian martial art of Horo-Kanu that uses pressure points to inflict pain. Faora (at least one version of her) is an aid to Zod and has the ability to disrupt molecular bonds which allows her to create a mutagenic virus for the Kryptonian general.

That last storyline sounds particularly appealing, but it remains to be seen as to what role Faora will play in the new film. This is an interesting character choice because speculation originally had Traue playing Ursa. Ursa, as you may recall, appeared in Superman and Superman II and was played by actress Sarah Douglas. I like this choice because it means Snynder doesn't intend this next story to be a complete rehash of all the crap we've seen before. (See Superman Returns.)

Traue joins fellow actors Michael Shannon, Kevin Costner, Diane Lane, and Henry Cavill in the newest cinema foray for the Last Son of Krypton.

AH-NOLD Set to Bash Skynet with His Walker and Rasal Scooter!

Guess there's no school like the old school. After considering many options and perusing various scripts, former governator of KALI-FORN-YA Arnold Schwarzengger has decided to return to his roots and star in a fifth Terminator film according to Deadline.

While currently there is no script, Fast Five director Justin Lin is set to direct and Jumanji's Robert Cort will produce. Production company Pacificor purchased the rights after it went to bankruptcy auction for $29.5 million. Rumors (which are multiplying like Hunter Killer Drones) also suggest that there may in fact be two films that would bring the series to a conclusion.

The idea of any production company continuing with the Terminator franchise, let alone having Arnold Schwarzenegger star in it is more ridiculous than the ex-governor bringing out his Conan sword during budget meetings. (And yes HE ACTUALLY DID THAT.)

Look The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgement Day are both iconic films entrenched in science fiction cinema lore. In my opinion you cannot write the history of science fiction cinema without those two films. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines was decent but director McG's Terminator Salvation was an unmitigated disaster that bombed at the box office domestically. And now Pacificor wants Justin Lin to direct? As far as I'm concerned he's the Asian version of McG and that's not a complement. (Seriously how is it possible that there have been FIVE Fast and the Furious movies??!!! It's as inexplicable as Rebeca Black's singing career.)

And Arnie, buddy I love ya but you're 63 years old now. It's unrealistic to expect you to play an advanced killing machine who incidentally doesn't age. Is the studio going to go Tron: Legacy and have him digitally youthified (yes I just made that word up) in the next film(s)? I hope not because it looked awful in the last one.

Somebody needs to put a phased plasma pulse rifle in a 40 watt range to the head of this franchise and pull the trigger. Twice.

The Dark Tower's Shadow Falls on Bardem

Well this announcement seems more like a formality than anything else but here it is: after months of speculation and rumors, Academy Award winner Javier Bardem has OFFICIALLY signed on to play the titular lead role of Roland Deschain in Ron Howard and Brian Grazer's adaptation of Stephen King's The Dark Tower.

The Dark Tower will be a groundbreaking new foray for moviegoers as the seven volume series will consist of three movies and three miniseries linked together. What's interesting (and a little disturbing) is that Bardem has only signed on for the first film and the first miniseries. A source with the New York Post says that the intention is for Bardem to be in all three movies and miniseries and that he was always the studio's first choice.

While I sincerely wish Grazer and Howard would have gone after Viggo Mortensen instead, I respect the choice. Bardem not only has the talent but also the look to play Roland of Gilead. My concern now however is that he is only signed to the first movie and miniseries. Who's to say he won't bail after that part of his contract is up and leave the studio twisting in the wind? I understand it's a big undertaking, but with a project like this you've got to be fully committed. I don't want this feature to become Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus with the main character being played by multiple people.

The other thing that is fascinating to me is that the studio said Bardem was always their first choice. Really? That's surprising considering that names like Josh Brolin and Viggo Mortensen were being thrown around, two people I thought would have been better fits.

Filming on the first movie in the series is set to start this September with a tentative release date of May 2013.

**One extra tidbit of information is that aside from the novels and the graphic novels about The Dark Tower that have already been released, Stephen King is releasing an 8th Dark Tower book next year called The Wind Through the Keyhole that takes place between the events of Book Four and Book Five. I wonder if they will incorporate the latest source material into the movies?

Ian Holm returns to The Shire!

More exciting news from Middle-Earth: long time character actor Ian Holm will be reprising his role as Bilbo Baggins in the upcoming Peter Jackson film The Hobbit. While obviously Martin Freeman has the main role, Holm will show up as the older version of Bilbo as was the case in Jackson's The Lord of the Rings.

It's unclear how much screen time or how exactly the 79 year old British actor will be used in the film. My guess is that he'll be used at the beginning of the film maybe in a flashback situation and then again at the end of the film. Since Elijah Wood will also be making a brief appearance, I suspect the two will show up in a few scenes, namely the ones where Frodo comes to live at Bag End.

As much as I love Ian Holm and am happy to have him back in the fold, I sincerely hope that his role is limited. After all this is Martin Freeman's film and I'd hate to see it overshadowed by Holm's reappearance. In any event it's nice to see that Jackson is getting the band back together. Here's hoping that Viggo Mortensen makes a brief cameo as Aragorn.

**Sidenote: This really hasn't gotten a lot of play and kind of slipped through the cracks, but Hugo Weaving (who will play Red Skull in this summer's The First Avenger: Captain America) will also be returning as Elrond.