Hobbit, Expendables 2 and Jack the Giant Killer

It's here; the official trailer for The Hobbit which comes out this December. For everyone who was not paying attention to movies for the last decade, The Hobbit is the prequel to the Lord of the Rings films. The novel by J.R.R. Tolkien leads into the next three books, each of which where made into films. Ian Mckellen is back as Gandolf, and Peter Jackson is back in the director's chair. I don't have much to say about this one other than the fans can't wait. For the rest of you rolling your eyes; go away! It's a million dollar movie franchise, so deal with it! I will commit the cardinal sin of internet marketing and say take your hits and explorations with you (only computer uber-geeks get that joke).




Do I call them, or do I call them? Last summer I speculated if Arnold Schwarzenegger would return to movies after the end of his political carrier and ugly divorce with his former wife Maria Shriver. Well, after the success of the high octane Expendables, in which Arnold had a cameo, he will return for possibly a bigger role in the film's sequel Expendables 2. The next film will feature an even longer list of action adventure legends and new stars including Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, Jean Claude Van Damme, Randy Couture (a surprisingly good actor), Jason Statham, Jet Li and Dolph Lundgren. Strangely, Yu Nan will join the crew as the first female expendable over the obvious choice, the pseudo famous Maggie Q of the fourth Die Hard movie, Naked Weapon, Priest and Balls of Fury. Yu's character will, interestingly enough, be named Maggie. I wonder if Miss Q backed out of a contract? Enjoy the trailer below.



So, on to an interesting new version of Jack and The Beanstalk. Yes, it does look good just watch the trailer below. Jack the Giant Killer is the name of a film coming out soon directed by Bryan Singer of the X-Men films. A relatively unknown film named Jack the Giant Killer was made in 1962, and it's unclear if this seeks to be both a retelling of Jack and the Beanstalk and a remake of that film, or to capitalize on a cult following of that movie with the title. The original Jack the Giant Killer featured then impressive stop motion effects, and seemed to copy the style of the legendary fantasy films of Ray Harryhausen. The original film starred Kerwin Matthews as Jack, whom had played Sinbad in Harryhausen's hit The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad.




Expendables is available for purchase at Amazon.com, as is the original Jack the Giant Killer. Jack the Giant Killer in it's day was clearly made to capitalize on the success of The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad. While that film is clearly superior, Jack is not a bad vintage movie with some clear downfalls. Some versions of it on television have really hammy songs cut into it though, making it a sadly laughable movie. I rented a DVD of it years ago from the public library sans crappy music years ago. As far as I know, The film that is available on DVD has no songs in it, so the film is left alone in it's slightly respectable integrity. The ironic thing is that with The Lord of the Rings franchise, Hollywood has turned to fantasy to increase it's bank account, and ended up with Jack the Giant Killer as they run out of ideas (eh, we remade Clash of the Titans and Conan, Tolkien stuff is gone what's next)?

Also as a reminder, please no concerned phone calls from friends and family about me blogging about Jack the Giant Killer. You all know I am happy and well beyond help.

Summer Classics are here!

One of my favorite times of the year in Tampa, Florida is summertime. The beach is one obvious reason, but another is the Summer Classic Series at one of our city's Historic
Treasures, The Tampa Theater. Tampa Theater is an old theater once used to display live performances, which currently is used to show classic movies and independent films. There are always some good genre favorites in the summer classic series, and sometimes in October. In the past, I have enjoyed The Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Metropolis, and The Phantom of the Opera in it's Gothic setting, accompanied by organ music no less. This summer, the science fiction classic, The Day the Earth Stood Still will show on August 14. I highly recommend fans of classic science fiction and monster movies check it out.

Please do not confuse my enthusiasm for the original Day the Earth Stood Still for the atrocious remake with Keanu Reeves. The original is a fun period piece of cold war paranoia. The remake could have adapted the idea of the fifties version beautifully into our times, with modern special effects. Instead, it botched the story, had crummy computer animation, and for some reason, Reeves acting talent was absent from this film. Today the special effects in the fifties version are laughable. However, Day the Earth Stood Still has a really interesting story to it if you give the film a chance.

Tampa Theater's Summer Classic Series will also feature some great mainstream favorites such as The Godfather, The Wizard of Oz, and The African Queen. I highly recommend to any casual movie fan to watch a film at Tampa Theater. The experience of watching a classic film in this cultural treasure is something almost any movie lover should experience at least once.

Lastly, thanks to my friend Scott Johndrow, I think he took that picture of the Theater's exterior.