It’s May and you know what time it is: The Summer Movie season begins! For the last half of my life, I have set out every first week of May (sometimes last week of April) and waited with gleeful anticipation for the first action packed popcorn movie to come out. I would always gather large groups of people in my high school and college days to get together for one giant extravaganza of movie watching. Some movies were great and others were downright terrible (looking at you Spider-Man 3), but it was always big event dating back to when my dad would take me out the first weekend of the season and we’d revel in the events that unfolded on the silver screen. Stars are made in the summer and these movies that myself, Brian, and Amanda went through, should be on the top of your guys’ lists, as well as a few honorable mentions.
Tag Archives: elysium
Neill Blomkamp’s Incredible Vision of the Future is Unleashed with New “Elysium” Trailer
Here is the first look at the trailer for Neil Blomkamp’s new movie Elysium from the Io9 website. Starring Matt Damon, Jodie Foster and Blomkamp regular Sharlto Copley, we see the Earth of 2159 where the rich live in luxury on a man-made station above the planet. The residents of a ruined Earth below struggle to survive and it is one of these residents that takes on a mission that could change the balance of both of these groups and bring equality to the polarized worlds. Below is the brand new trailer.
The first thing that catches your eye is the incredible realism of this future Earth. In all of Blomkamp’s work he has always had a talent of making the science fiction elements of the story blend into the real world we live in today. The Earth of the future looks very much like an exaggerated version of parts of our world. The huge ultra modern buildings and technology of the elite class mixed with masses of floral surroundings makes the harsh, war like life the people living on Earth have to suffer seem that much more tragic. The rich here have a flair for decadence that makes their world seem breath-taking and the poor people on Earths struggles seem a little too much like life on our planet right now. The trailer clearly defines these class struggles and felt a lot like the alien residents plight in District 9.
Certain parts of the trailer felt like the scenes following the human survivors from the Matrix movies, the bald head, modern and very rough looking technology, dirty clothing and wrecked housing probably helps to enforce that look. Matt Damon looks great sporting the above look and the insertion of his robotic Exo- Skeleton into his flesh was an incredible moment, as were the scenes where Matt Damon is smashing and blowing up his robotic foes. Sharlto Copley looks great in the same suit and has some great scenes where he to gets to blow stuff up. The mix of action and class struggle is handled fantastically and adds an exciting story to the trailer. The robots also look great. Neil has always had a soft spot for technology in his work, especially robotics and this film seems to be no different. The fact that he handles this interaction between CGI and live action so well is cause for celebration and certainly blew me away when I was watching this trailer.
This trailer has everything a fan of science fiction could hope for. The only downside is the lack of Jodie Foster, who only pops up in a few scenes and gets very little trailer time. But this is a very slight fault. Futuristic class struggles like Elysium shows have been around since films like Logan Run brought them to the cinematic masses in the 70’s and Neil is continuing that tradition with his own unique brand of science fiction action. The film is released on August 9th of this year and that time seems to far away for this reviewer. Keep checking Grizzly Bomb for regular updates on this superb looking movie.
CCI 2012: Looper, Total Recall & Elysium Panels!
Sony pictures decided to buy out Comic-Con on Friday with a two hour time slot in the hall H which is the biggest at the convention to promote their three biggest Sci-Fi films Looper, Total Recall & Elysium which all look really good.
Looper
First off let’s talk Looper. Johnson’s an undeniably terrific writer/director and Looper looks to be a refreshingly original breath of fresh air in a box office climate flooded with reboots, sequels, and remakes. You absolutely do not want to miss this movie because with these new and original films we just get the same things over and over again. Let’s see the panel video. We have 1 of 3 panel video below; part 2 & 3 is straight after the first.
Just some highlights from the panel:
- Gordon-Levitt was asked how he went about embodying Bruce Willis, but he admitted that he’s not a good mimic. He didn’t feel like an impersonation would be proper, so he internalized it. He watched all of his movies on repeat and even put the audio of his movies on his iPod so he could listen to his voice a lot.
- A guy came up and asked what it was like to work with Bruce Willis, and Gordon-Levitt said that he’s really sweet and actually soft-spoken. He said some big guys come into a room with a booming voice, but Willis doesn’t have to make himself heard and he doesn’t have to raise his voice.
- Johnson said that he’s “the luckiest son of a bitch in the world” to be able to work with people like Blunt and Gordon-Levitt. He said that writing drafts of the script after he had his cast was just as difficult as writing the script for the first time.
Courtesy of Collider, full read out here
Total Recall
Second, let’s talk Total Recall panel. It’s rare for a film to come to consecutive Comic-Cons, but Total Recall showed up last year at the beginning of production, and now its returned with the theatrical release only weeks away. So for that it’s a unique set up and I suppose it’s great for promotion. I don’t currently have the panel video for this, I may be able to update this article later but for now I have a great interview with Bryan Cranston on Total Recall.
Just some highlights from the panel:
- Farrell says he had a good time making the film, but he didn’t feel like he had to fill Schwarzenegger’s size 16 shoes.
- The actors are asked about how they physically prepared for the role, but Cranston cuts in because he wants to see how the sign language interpreter signs “Cohagen has been described as a douchebag.” He then notes how his co-stars had to go through so much physical training, but they probably got a good sleep every night. The other actors describe how they prepared to the physical stuff. It boils down to eating right, working out, and Biel adds “Boxing, boxing, boxing, boxing…and chicken.”
- When asked what attracted to the film, Wiseman said it was the mystery that intrigued him even though he geeked out on the action and world-building. So it was the mix of “the art stuff and the fun stuff.”
- Cranston said he was also hesitant to jumping in to something that had been done before and done well. But Cranston looked at the character of Cohagen as someone who wants Quaid (Farrell) not to die but “to behave.” He saw Cohagen as benevolent and if people just listen to him, he can lead them to utopia. That approach is what drew him to the role.
Courtesy of Collider, full read out here
Elysium
Third let’s talk about the Elysium panel. Neill Blomkamp‘s District 9 was an amazing feature film debut, and whatever he chose to do next would demand the attention of all the fans he amassed in 2009, which of course includes me. Elysium had been a complete mystery until a synopsis recently appeared online. After reading the synopsis, Elysium was easily one of my most-anticipated movies of Comic-Con 2012. Hope you enjoy the panel video below.
Just some highlights from the panel:
- People on Elysium never get sick because they have machines that can cure diseases. One shot shows a woman getting into a machine that instantly cures her cancer just by scanning her over.
- The corner Max is backed into is when he gets trapped in a radiation vault at his job. He’s hit with radiation poisoning and given pills to manage the symptoms, but he’ll still die in five days. The only way to save his life is to get to Elysium.
- His ticket to Elysium is to join a heist where he and two co-horts plan to download important information directly out of a guy’s brain (the guy is played by the great William Fichtner). Even though Fichtner’s character is on Earth, he’s a citizen of Elysium. Max is basically turned into cyborg in order to be able to extract the information from Fichtner’s character. However, that was incredibly important data so Rhodes sends down an assassin-type character played by Sharlto Copley.
- Bloody destruction; if you loved how the weapons in District 9 obliterated people, Elysium is going to follow suit. One goodie we saw was when some guy gets hit with a ninja shuriken in the chest, and some other guy says “That’s not so bad,” and then the guy who was hit with the shuriken explodes.
- Damon was drawn to the project because of Blomkamp. “It was a very easy decision for me,” says Damon because he was so impressed by District 9. But beyond that, Blomkamp showed Damon a graphic novel he had done that was on Blomkamp’s computer. And then there was a book about the weaponry and another about the vehicles. “Normally, we don’t get to see the movie before we’re in it,” but Damon says there was so much information here, and there was no way he was going to let this project get away.
- Blomkamp’s approach to Elysium was similar to District 9. “It’s an equally scaled up version. You’re trying to push the budget far beyond what the budget can sustain.” The pressure on the crew remained at a high level. Blomkamp went on to say they wanted to get more reality so they went to Mexico City rather than try to dress up Vancouver. He said how some crew members thought Vancouver was tough, and Blomkamp knew that they were going to go to Mexico City, and thought “You guys have no idea what you have in store.”
Courtesy of Collider, full read out here.
So while it seems like Warner Bros. has been taking the Con by storm, Sony wasn’t going to be outdone and blew us away with a serious of great panels for what look to be some great movies. To see our previous articles on these check out our links below.
Looper: New Trailer Looks Amazing
‘Elysium’ from the director of ‘District 9’: Plot & Images
CCI 2012: Neill Blomkamp Talks Elysium, District 10 & Something Called Chappie
TOTAL RECALL Trailer: Starring Colin Farrell and Kate Beckinsale’s Ass.
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‘Elysium’ from the director of ‘District 9’: Plot & Images
Elysium in case you haven’t heard of it yet, is an upcoming science fiction film written and directed by Neill Blomkamp (District 9). The film will star the following massive actors; Matt Damon, Jodie Foster, Wagner Moura and Alice Braga. The film is currently scheduled to be released on March 1st or 8th, 2013.
Elysium is set on another planet in the far future. The film will combine socio-political ideas and action! We haven’t had something like this since Minority Report, so we hope it does very well.
If you think it’s a bit weird that you haven’t heard a thing about this big production Sci-Fi with lots of popular stars, you’re not alone as the director (Neill Blomkamp) has been keeping everything about this film very close to lip. Hopefully this film will release more information soon, so keep an eye out.
Plot
In the year 2159, two classes of people exist: the very wealthy who live on a pristine man-made space station called Elysium, built by the Armadyne Corporation, and the rest, who live on an overpopulated, ruined Earth. Secretary Rhodes, a hard government official, will stop at nothing to enforce anti-immigration laws and preserve the luxurious lifestyle of the citizens of Elysium. That doesn’t stop the people of Earth from trying to get in, by any means they can. When unlucky ex-con Max is backed into a corner, he agrees to take on a daunting mission that if successful will not only save his life, but could bring equality to these polarized worlds.
Source from Collider.
This film looks to be going down the same path as District 9 with Social upheaval, but this isn’t really shocking considering a lot of films (The Hunger Games, Dark Knight Rises) and TV shows (Continuum, Legend of Korra) recently have pointed to this genre, it is very relatable in our world (rich get richer, poor getting poorer).
Images
If that’s not enough to tide you over then we have some great still that raise some questions, such as what’s that tech on these guys?, Why is Matt Damon bald?, and finally why can I not get more pictures? Well that’s because it’s a super-secret production without any leaks or spoilers.
Is that a Katana on his back, I think it is!
So finally what are your thoughts? Did you like District 9? Do you think Neil Blomkamp can repeat his earlier success? Or, do you think it will just suck? All views are welcome.
Grizzly Bomb 