News has hit the web of J.J.Abrams confirming he won’t be directing the next installment of Star Trek; it is hardly surprising, considering he now has the chance to play in a whole other universe with Star Wars Episode VII. And now that Star Trek‘s characters have been well-established it will be nice to see how someone else runs the rebooted franchise. In an interview with Collider, Abrams had this to say about the direction the Star Trek franchise would be heading without him:
[quote]”It’s a little bittersweet. But, I will say that I’m going to be producing the movie. Whomever it is that directs the film will be someone we all know is going to keep the cast and crew in good hands. I feel very lucky to have been part of it, and it definitely feels like the right time to let someone come in and do their own thing. I certainly don’t want someone to come in and try to do what I would have done. We want to hire someone who’s gonna come in and bring their own sensibility. I’m very excited to see what comes next, despite feeling jealous of whomever that person is.”[/quote]
Moving onto news from Yahoo Movies, it is no secret that fans love finding Easter eggs in their beloved movies. Apparently J.J.Abrams does too: He let slip that Star Trek Into Darkness featured a cameo that may have passed the audience by:
[quote]”R2’s really been in all of the movies I’ve done, really for no other reason than I’m a huge fan, and when I was a kid I realized that R2 was also in ‘Close Encounters. Actually, I’m putting a ‘Star Wars’ character into ‘Star Trek’ as an homage to ‘Close Encounters.’ So there you go.”[/quote]
Below is the scene in question and it’s a doozy [Second image below]. Just for fun there is also a cameo by R2 from the first Star Trek movie [Pictured first below].
Incidentally this is not R2D2’s only appearance in other movies. Take a look at the images below to see the little guy popping up in other great films:
So good news is mixed with bad but the suggestion that a Star Trek character could turn up in the Star Wars universe is certainly intriguing. Jabba’s palace and Mos Eisley cantina seem the most likely of places from the old movies for said character to turn up but who knows? Keep reading Grizzly Bomb for more up to date Star Wars news. Before you go check out Geek Exchange website showing even more of Abrams’s Easter eggs.
During the Sherlock Comic-Con panel yesterday, after briefly touching on his role in thenew Star Trek, and of course his work in the upcoming The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug, and finally his upcoming film The Fifth Estate in which he plays Julian Assange, Benedict Cumberbatch gave out a bit of a spoiler when it comes to Sherlock.
See in the last episode of season 2 of Sherlock, titled ‘The Reichenbach Fall’, Sherlock falls off a building. It is very sad and very emotional and very mysterious because obviously there is a season 3 and even more obvious, Sherlock is alive so how did he do it?
Benedict Cumberbatch himself tells us how:
Bonus Martin Freeman!
It’s such a shame that the feed went out. I suppose we’ll just have to wait for the premiere of Sherlock‘s season 3 in 2014. You can check out the important parts of the panel here. Now let’s take a look at Cumberbitch Cumberbatch as Julian Assange in The Fifth Estate trailer:
It’s going to be another big day at SDCC so be sure to check out all of our coverage here!
So with the huge principal cast of Star Trek Into Darkness, it’s easy to overlook some of the smaller roles, but there is some interesting casting here. We thought it was worth noting some of them, see how many you picked out.
I think the most interesting thing about all the clips and previews we’ve seen from the new Star Trek movie is definitely Benedict Cumberbatch. Not just in a “Oh who is he?” sort of way, (although GODDAMMIT WHO IS HE?!), but more in that he’s probably the best actor of the bunch, with the possible exception of Karl Urban. I say Karl Urban, because I defy you to watch Dredd and think that dude pulled off the most menacing and accurate portrayal of Judge Dredd, all only using the lower half of his face. That’s irrelevant though, because the real meat and bones here is the fancy new clip we have of Benedict acting circles around Chris Pine. Probably because of his soothing, baritone voice and limey accent. Those brits always have inherently more authoritative voices don’t they? Here, judge for yourself:
There’s been talk about the “villain in a glass cage” trope that’s being used here, but I don’t really find that all that interesting or revelatory. Tropes exist and will continue to do so. The creation of a new one isn’t anything to be particularly surprised about, unless for some terrible reason anal-eel interrogations become a new movie trope, and every movie has a scene with a good guy getting violated anally by writhing eels while the villain taunts and cackles from the darkness. Is that how Zero Dark Thirty started? I know there was an interrogation scene somewhere… Oh god I hope my horrific prediction hasn’t come true! HOLLYWOOD, NO ANAL EEL INTERROGATION SCENES PLEASE!
Well to get that awful image out of your head, here’s a few new posters featuring Chekov and Scotty via Moviefone. Frankly I find that Chekov adorable. Much more adorable that Walter Koenig ever was. Granted Koenig was amazing in his role, but have you seen him lately? So not adorable anymore.
Oh and lastly, a friend of mine was browsing through a bookstore and found a new Star Trek novel, where the cover art is strangely drawn so that Kirk looks halfway between Shatner and Pine and the more I look at it the more convinced I am it’s ripping my sanity in half.
Shocker of shockers, it’s still a month away from the release of Star Trek Into Darkness, but those bastards out there responsible for hyping the film still find it necessary to ceaselessly tantalize any and every Trekkie out there by releasing little clips or new stills. In particular a new trailer has been released, and this time it gives us a bit more of a confirmation of the growing themes for these Star Trek movies. It’s almost definitely revenge and the pursuit of it destroying you. This trailer paints a clear picture of Kirk becoming his own personal Ahab, with Cumberbatch painted as his white whale. I’m looking forward to the movie obviously, but I’m more looking forward to seeing how the film will stand up as the ever so important “middle” entry in the series, if it is indeed a thematic trilogy we’re getting with these new Star Trek films. Sure there could and probably will be more, but in the same way Wrath Of Khan, Search For Spock and Voyage Home were all linked around the character for Spock, this first three can be around the idea of revenge. I’m just looking to see how it’s all going to play out in the grand spectrum of things, because this trailer certainly makes the film look to be very, very revenge-centric. Overcome personal demons and all that. It’s literally titled INTO DARKNESS, so I suppose that’s the first clue anyway.
Also there was a new teaser that was shown on the MTV Movie Awards, which I would have never seen if not for Internet. I think the only reason I ever even put on MTV anymore is to watch that Catfish show. I have this fantasy about someone really beautiful pretending to be a total uggo, starting an online relationship with that person, and revealing that they’re actually totally gorgeous after all. Surprise! You got reverse-Catfished! I mean, that’d be a much more interesting show than one about a bunch of weird broken people pretending to be people they’re not right? How does this relate to Star Trek? It doesn’t. At all. And I’ll tell you why; It’s because there’s only so many ways you can possibly look at what generally adds up to the same series of clips, trailers, previews with a new little scene added in to make it technically new, and not just immediately groan in impatience and frustration. I’m not necessarily a child of instant gratification, but let’s just say I tend to like things as a sudden surprise than a long, excruciatingly dragged out wait. When it comes to film or TV, the journey is never the point, it’s always the destination. Unlike life, which is almost always the opposite.
Well regardless of my elaborate and terrible bitching, (because I’m a huge bitchy little emo man-baby), the clip does look goddamned neat, and the myriad pictures collected spell an interesting story. One I’m still not sure about, but why would I want to be? I’m one of those people who enjoys being surprised by a movie, and often films I’ve loved the most are the ones I knew nothing about beforehand at all. Take a look at them for yourself, and you be the judge of whether you find yourself wanting to know more about the scenes they’re from.
See like I said, that teaser was interesting, but mainly composed of things we’ve seen before, with little barely perceptible snippets of new stuff. I get it though, it’s a teaser. You’re supposed to watch it over and over to try to guess. I suppose I’m just so tired from being teased all the time. It’s a love/hate relationship with film and television. It teases you relentlessly, but you always come back for more. It’s probably the most abusive relationship there is. Aside from any of those on Catfish though. Man have you SEEN that show! Goddamn!
Oh yeah. Pictures. Woo!
Last but not least, there’s also some actually pretty well designed movie posters. They’re still basically floating heads, but at least they’re good floating heads.
And last but not least, I certainly won’t add in that picture of Alice Eve in her underwear like last time, because I am a man of class and taste. However, I can’t be held responsible for whatever my editor decides to add here at the last-minute. Ahem.
Recently a whole bunch of new posters were revealed for some of the most anticipated new Hollywood blockbuster releases. The event took place in Las Vegas, Nevada at the annual CinemaCon (formerly called ShoWest) event. This is where major Hollywood studios give exclusive glimpses into their new products. Below are some of the more interesting posters displayed on that day.
All of these look stunning but what caught my eye was the teaming of Ryan Reynolds and a very steam punk looking Jeff Bridges in R.I.P.D. The Hangover part 3 has the most interesting designed poster, with its gatefold cover parodying pretty much every other Hollywood blockbuster poster out there. To see more of these posters please check out the Cinema Blend website.
Before that though look at the posters that were shown on Hollywood Reporter showing the incredible looking Pacific Rim movie directed by Guillermo del Torro. My favorite poster is the retro styled war posters mimicking the enlisting posters of old.
All in all some pretty impressive film posters have come out recently. Here is hoping that the movies live up to the posters hype. Keep checking Grizzly Bomb to find out if they do.
It’s about that time; that time being just long enough in between Star Trek teasers and trailers that people started to get ready to actually see the movie to have its secrets revealed to them, which means it’s also time for them to release a big, “show-everything-basically” trailer internationally that more or less spells out the plot of the film. Don’t get me wrong, it was a great trailer and all, but it’s had sort of a reverse effect of making me less excited. Now Benedict Cumberbatch is so clearly just an original new villain for the series, rather than some updated or remade villain like we were all thinking a while ago. On top of the basic plot being revealed, (Cumberbatch is mad at the Federation while destroying things and getting revenge; Kirk & Co are the only ones to help), it’s also more or less telling us that we’re not getting interesting reinterpretations of older characters rather it will continue it’s own new path. Which I have mixed feelings on, but here, judge for yourself first:
While I like the idea of the Star Trek franchise moving forward and creating all new everything to complement and refresh the franchise for new and old fans alike, a part of me still wishes to see everything old, but new again. We’ve been teased with Klingons and Kahn and whatnot for so long, just little hints at these things make us salivate. It raises the question, is it bad that they’re seemingly not going this way? At this point I can’t really decide one way or the other, I’m just glad the movie still looks good. I’m also glad that apparently Peter Weller is in the film, which was a shock to me, but a happy one because I f***ing love Robocop. I’m also glad that cute blond girl they’ve been showing in the trailers up until now definitely gets in her skivvies, because I’m a disgusting man-pig.
What?! SHE HAS GREAT… ABS!
I’m sure there’s probably a bit more that the more hardcore Trekkie could get into, but more or less, this trailer was full of a lot of repeated footage, with some new stuff added in between. It’s nice to get a thematic preview of what the movie will be, and if it still turns out somehow that Cumberbatch actually IS a new version of an old character, it’ll still be surprising reveal. Maybe they are playing some double-negative-mega-reverse-double-bluff with us about his character all along? OH GOD I DON’T KNOW ANYMORE! Let’s just have the movie come out already okay? I don’t think my heart can take this much more. Especially if it includes cute blonde girls half-naked in their underwear.
{Amanda- while the guys have their moment with the cute blonde, excuse me as I geek out over a new poster, ooooohhhh Benedict Cumberbatch!}
Here’s the problem with teasers. I hate writing about them. Not in a whiny “Oh, I don’t wanna write this” way (although I am a whiny little b**ch about things like that), but because by their very nature I don’t like them. I mean who really, actually likes being teased? I mean, I know I don’t. I know some ladies who claim they do, but that’s not the kind of thing I’m into. When it comes to my sci-fi entertainment I want it big, hard, fast and now. I want you to give me aural and ocular pleasure, and I want my needs sated, right this moment. Don’t wiggle your little teasing sci-fi movie member around my entertainment erogenous zone and make me beg, just stick that thing in so we can both come together in science fiction ecstasy! [Ed. Note: I feel like I should have censored something… Oh well.]
Aside from providing the most disgusting metaphorical description of why I hate teasers, I also hate teasers because they seemingly never end. Is it too much to just be kept in the dark until the thing comes out? I know there are a lot of nerds out there who love this sort of thing, but man, I am so not one of them. I love Star Trek to bits but waiting for this sequel is killing me. That’s the worst thing about JJ Abrams is he loves to make his fans just beg for his sci-fi wang, all bedazzled and shining with lens flare. Well, here’s some more of that proverbial sci-fi c*ck teasing for all of us Trekkies, with yet another teaser aimed to make us all cream our pants once again.
It’s more or less a mishmash of what we’ve seen before, but every little split second of new scenes is another thing to obsess over, speculate about, compare to previous Star Trek canon and spread to all of our friends on the internet. I personally can’t wait to see if Captain (Admiral?) Pike ends up as Mr. Box man like he was in the Original Series.
Ladies?
But the whole thing is a just a ploy, a way to keep us waiting patiently so as to build up a huge opening for the movie when it releases. It’s basic movie marketing, I know, but I suppose this strategy is for non-Trekkies, because apparently they’re the folks who need to be convinced to go see this movie. The rest of us are dying and can’t wait to see it already. CURSE YOU ABRAMS, WHY MUST YOU BE SO CRAZY SEXY CRUEL!
Since it’s still months away from Star Trek Into Darkness‘ release, and we’ve done plenty of speculation on what little we know, it’s always a treat whenever a tasty morsel of information or update is given to us from the Abram’s scrap table. That is to say, I’m pretty sick of speculating endlessly of who Cumberbatch’s character may be, or what the plot of the film could allude to, and just wanna see the stinkin’ movie already. However, to quell the voracious appetite I and I’m sure many of you have for any and all Star Trek Into Darkness news, there’s been a couple of interesting photos published by Empire Magazine, showcasing the cast in a variety of situations, but mostly just holding guns. While there are a couple of more interesting ones, like the one with Spock in what looks like some sort of fire suit straight out of the MassEffect game series.
While the pictures themselves may not be terribly mind shattering, it paints this movie definitely as even more action packed than the 2009′ Abrams Star Trek film. Everyone has guns! Everyone is running around! Benedict Cumberbatch is Benedict Cumberbatching! How exciting! Now to turn into a slightly more serious note, as much as I desperately want to see the movie, I have to go and count my blessings. I have to remind myself that I will actually be able to wait for the movie to come out, and I’ll be able to enjoy it in theaters the way it was meant to be seen. Which is unfortunately not the case for everyone, including one Trekkie who is diagnosed with terminal cancer, who thankfully managed to get in contact with J.J Abrams, and will actually get to see the movie before he dies. In a case of the internet using its powers for good, it’s a pretty moving story.
Hello Reddit. I’ve seen some amazingly kind and generous stuff happen on here. I’m hoping there’s room for another amazing act of generosity and kindness for a friend of mine who is really sick. I couldn’t begin to put into words what he has gone through. Luckily his wife did it for me… “My amazing healthy film buff husband diagnosed with leukemia (CML) at 38 had to endure 3 rounds of chemo before they found a bone marrow donor match had a Bone Marrow Transplant, which was MORE chemo, full body radiation & lots of other horrific things….then endured/survived 3 major infections + a massive GI bleed that put him in the hospital 10+ times over 3 1/2 years not to mention 100′s of doctors visits…. he is my hero; I am his caregiver – I would do anything to help him…. he is now ravaged by a new TOTALLY UNRELATED cancer, (isn’t that a f*cker?) an aggressive and EXTREMELY rare vascular tumor that is crowding out his healthy liver tissue… they grew under treatment; there is nothing left to do but make him comfortable, at 41, he is jaundice & his liver is enlarged, his body has had enough, he has weeks to live, He was hospitalized and had to exchange our HOBBITT tickets (where the 10 min Star Trek preview was supposed to be shown) we were able to put him in a car and get over to the HOBBITT but NO PREVIEW???? we, his friends and family, the love of my life – WOULD LOVE him to be able to see the Star Trek movie but even the 10 minutes of the trailer would be AMAZING.” If there is anything any one of you or anyone you know could do to make this happen that would be an amazing, kind and generous thing. Please help. Thanks.
TLDR; My friend is dying. Would like to see the new Star Trek movie. Please help. At the least, upvote to get to front page for someone else to see. Please.
[/quote]
(Via)
I usually pretty much hate Reddit, and generally I think it’s a terrible community of the worst the internet has to offer, but occasionally something good will come along from it like this. The good news is that this fan will get to see the movie before he passes. Times like this make me think there’s hope for the internet yet, as we all aspire to exemplify the wonderful standard of humanity that is set as a precedent for us to follow in the Star Trek universe. Things like this, make it so. (sorry).
Anyhow, while there isn’t much new to mention about Star Trek Into Darkness, there’s still plenty of hilariously edited videos on youtube, compiling hours and hours of TNG footage to create… Well, here. Take a look:
Such pure, wonderful insanity. Live long and prosper folks.
It’s looking to be an intriguing year for Trekkies when the newest Star Trek film is released. One thing I’ve always admired about Trekkies, and being one myself, is that there’s a resolute sense of solidarity between us. Unlike Star Wars, which prompts leagues of arguments between the different sects of fandom over which trilogy is better. (Original obviously, but there are those out there who beg to differ.) Comparatively, Trekkies have never had this problem. If you were a Trek fan, you could go out there, wear your communicator badge and everyone would get it, love it, and approve. There’s never been any real major sense of contention other than a friendly debate about which Captain is the best. Until recently it didn’t seem like there was much of a divide, up until the new JJ Abrams Star Trek films come into play.
Having recently attended a Trek convention, I got to see Walter Koenig himself speak on what it was like to see someone else play Chekov, and at the mere mention of the new Star Trek film there was a noticeable distaste for it amongst the crowd. Now this could be a case of fan loyalty to Koenig, but a similar thing happened when George Takei took the stage as well. While they both had nothing but great things to say about the new movie, it struck me as something new. This had never existed in the Trek fandom before, and I believe this new Star Trek movie is set to divide that fandom even further. Especially now that our first glimpse of the film is very… Explosioney? I’m tempted to say it’s even Michael Bay-esque? Judge for yourself here quickly:
Now when I watched it, I think two things:
#1.) Holy crap that looks intense as all get out.
#2.) That barely even looks like Star Trek.
Then again, that’s what I thought when I saw the trailer for the first Abram’s Star Trek film, so I’ll hold my reservations until I actually see it. However I can definitely see how hardcore TOS Trekkies could be put off by such a flashy trailer.
As for what I can glean from the trailer about the story is very minimal. I can mostly base my speculation on the tidbits we’ve previously heard about the movie. In particular that Benedict Cumberbatch was playing a new version of Gary Mitchell, the psionically gifted Man-God from the original series. If he truly is going to be Gary Mitchell, I’m at odds towards guessing what his motivation is for seeking “vengeance” as he claims to want in the trailer. It’s possible that they could entirely establish him as a new character, with his motivation and character arc fully in this one film. I’m trying to think of an event that the crew could be guilty of, that could warrant such anger and desire for revenge from the first film, but I’m unable.
It definitely looks like the story is taking place more on Earth this time, as there are plenty of shots of what looks to be future San Francisco, and that glimpse of a submerged Enterprise slowly rising from the ocean is certainly ominous, and equally matched by the shot of it crashing into the ocean at the end. If it really is Gary Mitchell we’re supposed to be considering as the villain Cumberbatch is playing, then there’s no real way to accurately guess what his end game is, other than the vengeance as he claims. I’m hoping that this film will set up the idea of the eugenics wars, or mention it in some way, so we get Khan for the second sequel. I would be absolutely shocked if they pulled a bait and switch with the whole Gary Mitchell thing, and revealed Cumberbatch was Khan though. I don’t think that’ll be it, because they seem to be setting up vengeance as a theme in the movies.
Nero wanted revenge against Spock, this Cumberbatch character wants vengeance as he’s said in the trailer, and Khan famously wanted vengeance against Kirk. It certainly seems like they’ve tried to edit the trailer in such a fashion so as to suggest it is Khan, but this makes me think it’s Gary Mitchell even more. An older article from AICN says that Karl Urban was in fact joking about Cumberbatch playing Mitchell. If you ask me, knowing how much JJ Abrams likes to play the eternal game of secrets with every movie project of his, that it’s a double bluff. Karl Urban might have genuinely misspoke, so they went and did damage control by having people report this as a “joke” taken too seriously. Making the trailer seem like Khan adds to that double bluff, in order to keep the identity of Cumberbatch’s character secret until the film actually releases. As for Cumberbatch, he’s spoken very little about what his role entails, but what little he’s said could easily apply to both Gary Mitchell or Khan. He’s basically playing the “morally ambiguous” card, by saying his character isn’t quite good, or quite evil. Anyone who’s familiar with Khan or Mitchell knows that arguments could be made for both not necessarily being evil per se.
If they’re not going for any direct storyline continuation, and are introducing a new villain, and making the film series more of a thematic continuation, I think that’s all hunky dory. 3 movies, 3 villains, no direct connections between them makes sense. It’d be bold to see a trilogy of films come out that are all basically stand alone movies that feature the same cast, episodically facing threats in each film. In fact, that’d be very appropriate for Star Trek, since that’s what the original films did anyway. I wouldn’t be surprised if they tried to tie them all together, or do some fancy retcon to connect all 3 alaDark Knight Rises, but if they did it wouldn’t be that bad really.
Altogether though, this teaser has done exactly what it set out to do, which is to get me and other Trekkies all guessing at what the hell is going on, who it is that’s doing all the destruction visible, and what’s going to happen to our favorite crew. In that regard, it’s a total success. Unfortunately I can see it also steering away some fans, but the final verdict will come when the movie hits theaters. Hopefully, it’ll be as awesome, new and yet as familiar as the first film.
And if it didn’t smart enough after seeing that first teaser trailer, for some reason there’s an extended japanese version that’s 10 seconds longer.
In those 10 seconds you get one more line and shot at the end, showing Kirk, as Cumberbatch’s voice says one last line that adds a weight and gravitas that almost changes the tone of the teaser entirely.
“Is there anything you would not do… for your family?”
What? Family? What family? His crew? Whose hand is that? What does he mean by family? God that sounds like Khan doesn’t it? Is it Khan? I’m so conflicted now, CRAP NUGGETS WHY CAN’T THIS COME OUT TOMORROW???
Grizzly Bomb 