As any fan of the Green Lantern comic series knows, the plots concern the clash between fear and will. And for star Ryan Reynolds (The Proposal), who plays Hal Jordan in the film Green Lantern, there was a great deal of will needed while making the movie because his role of a test pilot turned intergalactic superhero required he overcome his own fear of flying, beginning with his transport to the Lantern home planet of Oa.
“Top gear and full throttle” is a phrase that most speed demons only dream of in our 65-mph world, but the romance of speed fuels The Fast and the Furious films. In the fifth installment of the roaring franchise, Fast Five, the stakes are even higher and the stunts more awe-inspiring. At the heart of the speed-driven film is the 1970 Dodge Charger that Dom (Vin Diesel) drives. It killed Dom’s father and was totaled twice, but, like the Terminator, it keeps coming back. Picture car coordinator — yes, a film like this needs someone with that title — Dennis […]
By Jay Bobbin Only now, a decade after 9/11, would a network attempt a drama series such as Homeland. Another threat of terrorism on U.S. soil informs the purposely intense, grim Showtime drama series, which premieres tonight and airs Sundays at 10pm ET/PT (Showtime has already posted the pilot episode online, however). Executive producers Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa invoked a post-9/11 world in their work on FOX’s 24, but they draw a much more direct bead on the theme as CIA agent Carrie Mathison (played by Temple Grandin Emmy winner Claire Danes) pursues just-rescued American POW Nicholas Brody (Damian […]
Writing in The Milwaukee Journal prior to the theatrical release of Transformers: Dark of the Moon, film critic Duane Dudek wrote, “Neither the Milwaukee Art Museum nor any lakefront real estate was harmed during the filming of Transformers: Dark of the Moon there last year. Chicago was not so lucky.” Milwaukee sees a bit of filmmaking action, but only rare action films the magnitude of Transformers. During one of Milwaukee’s morning commutes during the filming, cars were lined up at the end of the freeway ramps at the lakefront, their drivers standing beside them watching helicopters circle over the […]
Terra Nova, the epic new sci-fi/action/drama series premiering this Monday, Sept. 26, at 8pm ET/PT on FOX with a two-hour pilot, has a storyline that straddles both a future world about 150 years from now, and an alternate world 85 million years in the past, where the brunt of the action takes place. In reality, the show has sometimes felt like it’s taken a million years to get here, with premiere date postponements and rumors of out-of-control production flying over the last year and a half. But judging by what I’ve seen from the pilot, it looks like it could […]
One of the reasons we had to wait until the Star Wars prequels before we saw any underwater denizens of George Lucas’ universe on their home, um, terrain — aside from story considerations — may likely have been that the special effects technology simply didn’t exist during the original trilogy to effectively present such a world to viewers. And even when we finally did see one of these societies in the form of Jar-Jar Binks and his fellow Gungans in Episode I, it was for a few minutes. But the two-part Season 4 premiere of Star Wars: The Clone Wars […]
Following a recent trend of networks posting pilot episodes online in advance of their fall premiere dates (as FOX recently did with New Girl), Showtime has uploaded the full pilot (although a note at the beginning indicates it has been edited, perhaps for content) for its new thriller series Homeland, which premieres Oct. 2 and stars Claire Danes and Damian Lewis.
The title character of this adventure thriller, Hanna (played by Academy Award nominee Saoirse Ronan, Atonement), is a teenage girl. Uniquely, she has the strength, the stamina, and the smarts of a soldier; these come from being raised by her father (Eric Bana), an ex-CIA man, in the wilds of Finland. Living a life unlike any other teenager, her upbringing and training have been one and the same, all geared to making her the perfect assassin. The turning point in her adolescence is a sharp one; sent into the world by her father on a mission, Hanna journeys stealthily across […]
Sometimes the demands of successive film roles can be their own kind of hell. Before playing the title role in Priest, actor Paul Bettany had put on “about 45” pounds to portray Charles Darwin in the film Creation, a bit of bulk he couldn’t afford when it came to doing most of his own stunts in Priest. With plenty of hand-to-hand combat, intricate wire-rig sequences and intense motorcycle scenes, Bettany had to slim back down to fighting physique and then some. He’s glad he went through it all, even if it was difficult and, at times, downright insane. “I was […]
By Stacey Harrison Follow @ChannelGuideSRH Along with the announcement that Cinemax would be venturing into original programming came the snickers and speculation that the resulting shows would be in the vein of the network’s reputation for late-night adult fare. In other words, Skinemax with explosions. As the first show out of the gate, Strike Back, which premieres Friday night, doesn’t do much to counter that assumption, although the acting and production values are admittedly a lot better than your average Deviant Desires or Sinful Temptations. But the “high octane entertainment” banner the network is going for — with this and […]
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