Man of Steel

Superman's Epic Restart
by Reymundo Salao

The last Superman movie "Superman Returns" was, in so many ways, a failure. The problem was that it followed the formula of the old Christopher Reeve Superman movies; a formula that is already severely outdated.

When Christopher Nolan, director Zack Snyder, and writer David Goyer were assigned to work on a new Superman movie, they focused on rehashing the entire Superman franchise, identified the flaws, avoided the corniness of the previous movies, and never ignored the source material. [the rest of the article after the jump]

Sucker Punch

Sucker Punch is Fantastically Insane But Never Impressive
by Reymundo Salao

The story of Sucker Punch revolves around the facade of mental patients who live in an imaginary world filled with vivid fantasy. While the storyline originally is set in a mental institution, the audience are taken in to view things from the main characters’ point of view; instead of mental patients plotting to be free, we see them as showgirls trying to escape the club. The mind-bending does not stop there, whenever the main character dances, she is transported to another imaginary world where she fights different creatures and go on various adventures; where she and her friends are an elite force of bad-ass hot-chick fighters.

Sucker Punch is a very stylized movie. A bit too overstylized at times. I’m sure director Zack Snyder has some really intelligent intentions with the film's prolific undertones in the story. He tries to inject something deeper amidst the visual thrills. Unfortunately , that message drowns out in all the visual style, and ends up undelivered. what is delivered though is a great big “Huh?” for those who crave for creative satisfaction. I could not go so far as to say that the movie was pretentious (although, it sort of is), but I can say that it simply fails on what it intends to tell.

READ THE FULL REVIEW

The New SUPERMAN & the leading lady yet to be announced

Warner Bros. Pictures has announced that Henry Cavill will play Clark Kent/Superman in the Zack Snyder-directed Superman movie:

Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures announced today that Henry Cavill has won the coveted role of Superman, the iconic superhero.

The film will be directed by Zack Snyder, who stated, “In the pantheon of superheroes, Superman is the most recognized and revered character of all time, and I am honored to be a part of his return to the big screen. I also join Warner Bros., Legendary and the producers in saying how excited we are about the casting of Henry. He is the perfect choice to don the cape and S shield.”

Charles Roven, Emma Thomas, Christopher Nolan and Deborah Snyder are the producers of the film. The screenplay is being written by David S. Goyer based on a story by Goyer and Nolan. Thomas Tull and Lloyd Phillips are serving as executive producers.

Targeted for release in December 2012, the new Superman movie will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.

So how about the Female Lead?
Alice Eve, Diane Kruger and Rosamund Pike have emerged as the three actresses being considered for the unknown character, says the trade.
Variety is reporting that these three actresses are in contention for the role - though it's not Lois Lane.

Not Lois Lane? Latino Review's insider information states that Lois Lane will still be in the movie but perhaps a smaller role? They're probably saving her up for a sequel. Since this Snyder-directed movie is under the watch of Chris Nolan, it's possible that they're having the same route with Nolan's Batman Begins, where they created the character Rachel Dawes, a character made only for this movie version, to play off the main hero's character development in the origin movie. But Latino Review says that the three actresses cited were auditioning for the role of Ursa, who Superman fans will remember from the 1980 sequel Superman II as General Zod's second-in-command. Snyder has mostly denied that General Zod would appear in his movie although that may have changed since he was last asked, and the choice of a European actress would follow in line with her casting in the earlier sequel in which she was played by British actress Sarah Douglas. I personally think that's borderline ridiculous, but hey, if Nolan is involved there's that assurance that it wont be all that bad.

Filming is expected to start this summer for a December, 2012 release.

Zack Snyder is directing SUPERMAN: THE MAN OF STEEL

Zack Snyder has been chosen to direct  the new installment of Superman for Warner Bros and Legendary Pictures. Snyder was on a short list of directors, as was recently revealed, who met with the studio as well as producers Chris Nolan and Emma Thomas. Other choices at the time included helmers Tony Scott, Matt Reeves, Jonathan Liebesman, and Duncan Jones. I think Snyder is a great choice. He is the visionary director who directed the films 300, Watchmen, Legend of the Guardians, and the upcoming Sucker Punch. Deadline revealed back on February 9 that the DC Comics stalwart Superman became a priority project when Nolan agreed to godfather it. He and David S. Goyer hatched the story and Goyer wrote the script. The new Superman's producers also include  Charles Roven and Deborah Snyder while co-financer Legendary Pictures' Thomas Tull will serve as executive producer.

Superman is one of those superheroes/superhero stories that require somebody who can really make it, not only one with a great storyline, but one hell of an action-packed movie. In my personal opinion, all the previous Superman movies failed because they diminish the action aspect and give too much weight on the love story aspect. And with the last Superman movie that completely diminishes the action aspect to almost zero content (all because its director wanted to pay homage to the old Superman movies), the franchise sealed its doom and was immediately set for a major overhaul (yet again). With Snyder on the helm, David Goyer on the pen, and Chris Nolan as its godfather; this certainly now looks immensely promising. 

source: Deadline New York

Zack Snyder's SUCKER PUNCH, posters, trailer, & synopsis

Zack Snyder, the director of such visually super-spectacular movies such as 300, Watchmen, and the 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead has a new project that looks like it has the potential to cause such an epidemic when it comes out next year, the title of this latest movie of his is SUCKER PUNCH. This action-adventure sci-fi is set in an alternate and ultra dark fantasy version of the 1950s.

The film will have an ensemble cast of gorgeous sexy ladies as its main characters; Emily Browning, Vanessa Hudgens, Abbie Cornish, Jamie Chung and Jena Malone.
[check out the character posters and the trailer]

In February 2009, Snyder released a short synopsis of Sucker Punch  which states: "Set in the 1950s, it tells the story of Baby Doll (Browning), who is trying to hide from the pain caused by her evil stepfather and lobotomy. She ends up in mental institution in Brattleboro, Vermont, and while there she starts to imagine an alternate reality. She plans to escape from that imaginary world but to do that she needs to steal five objects before she is captured by an unknown adversary. She has 5 days to escape before being lobotomized. In order to cope with the situation, she enters the hyper-real world of her imagination, and the lines between reality and dream begin to blur. She is joined with friends who are inmates from the institution. Lessons learned in the said fantasy world could help the girls escape their real-world fate."

In addition, Snyder had this to say about SUCKER PUNCH: "A while ago I had written a script for myself and there was a sequence in it that made me think, 'How can I make a film that can have action sequences in it that aren't limited by the physical realities that normal people are limited by, but still have the story make sense so it's not, and I don't mean to be mean, like a bulls--t thing like Ultraviolet or something like that... It's as crazy as anything else that I have ever done. It's a movie that nobody can get made with the ending that it has and the subject matter."

This movie was originally set for am October 8, 2010 release but it was pushed later. SUCKER PUNCH is scheduled to be released on March 25, 2011