Thursday, July 30, 2009

Tron Legacy Director Joseph Kosinski Goes Into the Oblivion

kosinski oblivion

Commercial director Joseph Kosinski (TRON Legacy) is developing a new feature film project for Radical Pictures titled Oblivion. You might recognize the title because it is the same title of a "illustrated novel" announced back in February, written by Kosinski with art by newcomer Tae Young Choi. For those of you who don't yet know Kosinski's work, check out some of his commercials, and the VFX concept footage that he directed to convince Disney to greenlight Tron 2 — all of which is very impressive. What is Oblivion about? Details and artwork after the jump.

Kosinski has been developing the idea for the last four years, which he had initially hoped to make his directorial debut with the story before Tron came along. He had conceived the idea as a "very spare science fiction film with a small cast but big ideas and big landscapes" that could be made on a medium budget.

oblivion

Described as a "big sci-fi epic" set in a "post-apocalyptic Earth," where "civilization lives above the clouds and scavengers illegally collect artifacts from the polluted and destroyed surface below." The story follows one young scavenger, a soldier who's been court-martialed and sent to patrol this planet and maintain "a fleet of droids and probes that comb the surface, searching out this primitive alien race that's been defeated." One day, he "discovers a crashed spacecraft planetside- and a beautiful women within," "who left on a science mission 60 years earlier. When she wakes up, she knows who he is, which doesn't make any sense to him and together they have to unravel this mystery. It's in the same realm as "12 Monkeys."

Sounds like a pretty awesome concept. The book sounds equally as cool — 125-130-page 11×14-sized hardcover featuring painted art, some of which will span 2 pages (ala 300?). Right now Kosinski has a 25-page treatment, which will be fleshed out by one or two writers for the graphic novel, which is due out in 2010. A screenwriter will then be brought on board to help adapt it for the screen.

source: The Hollywood Reporter

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[Forum] Teenage Worries About Weight

From Diet Blog Share:

I'm at the welcoming age of 14, now entering the "wonderful" world of teenagers. My current height is 5ft 4in, and I weigh approximately 120 pounds.

After many hours of research I do realize that this is a healthy weight for my age, however I can't help but feel uncomfortable about my appearance.

Of course, I try to lose weight by eating healthy and excercising, but I need to know if I have anything to worry about when it comes to what kids my age think about me - everyone knows that your piers opinions are much more meaningful than your doctor's "correct healthy weight."

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Geek Deal: Futurama Volumes 1-4 on DVD for $43

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Chances are, if you're a Futurama fan, you already own the series on DVD, but I thought I'd pass along this deal for the few who might not yet have the show in their dvd collection. Today's Amazon Gold Box Deal of the Day is the four volume dvd set of Futurama for $42.99, 64% off the $120msrp. As always, the deal is only good until midnight, so get it while it is still available.

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Obesity and Urban Planning: Bronx Vs. Manhattan


Flickr: @marco

If New York is the city that never sleeps, then the Bronx is an insomniac that raids the refrigerator at midnight for a late-night snack.

When the CDC's Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System analyzed data from 2003, they discovered that of NYC's six boroughs, the Bronx had the highest percentage of overweight and obese citizens at over 62 percent.

Continue reading...

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Demi Lovato Reigns Hot 200 With 'Here We Go Again'

Demi Lovato's newly-released album 'Here We Go Again' tops Billboard Hot 200, while Jordin Sparks' 'Battlefield', which is also a newcomer on the chart, can only land at number 7.

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Men's Websites Plan Megan Fox Media Blackout

Megan FoxMegan Fox has failed to work her charm on all red-blooded men - several editors of America's biggest male websites have decided to boycott news and pictures of the siren for one day.

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Russell Crowe to Star in Paul Haggis’s The Next Three Days

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We all love Paul Haggis around these parts (and by love, I mean mock and ridicule as much as possible), so we try our best to keep close tabs on his projects just to make sure we don't miss a single thing. It looks like his next film is The Next Three Days, a remake of the 2008 French film Pour elle, and he's tapped Russell Crowe to star. Crowe plays a high school teacher whose wife is falsely accused of murder, and he comes up with a plan to free her at all costs.

The original film starred Diane Kruger as the wife, so I wouldn't be surprised if we catch wind of her joining this remake a la Vanilla Sky. Haggis, who is also writing the script, said he chose Crowe because of his tested ability to play the Everyman, in addition to his more traditionally heroic roles.

Haggis had the following to say on the underlying aspects of the film:

The deeper theme here is, would you save the woman you loved if you knew that by doing so, you would turn into a man that woman could no longer love?

I'm hoping that we can see a Crowe performance along the lines of The Insider, and that Haggis has matured as a director since In the Valley of Elah and Crash. Haggis most recently contributed to the script for Quantum of Solace, a film that amazed me by the amount which it pales in comparison to Casino Royale. At the very least, I'm thankful for this news because Pour elle sounds like a pretty cool French film along the lines of Tell No One, and I'm glad more people will probably check it out regardless of how the remake ends up.

Source: Variety

Discuss: How much do you love Paul Haggis? Be honest.

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Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Sony Sets The Lords Day As Clancy-esque Thriller With Franchise Potential

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The Michael Dobbs novel The Lords Day is being set up at Sony as an action thriller that could launch a franchise, says THR. The novel is a high-stakes story of political kidnapping in the British House of Parliament that leads into a deeper web of intrigue. Taken writer Robert Mark Kamen has been set to script, but no other talent is yet on board. Hit the jump to see why this makes me think of an amalgamation of Jack Ryan and Die Hard movies.

Amazon has the following synopsis:

Once a year, the Queen, the Prime Minister and Cabinet, the judges, the bishops, leaders spiritual and temporal, assemble in the House of Lords for the State Opening of Parliament. On this day, the Lords' Day, the gathering is still more impressive, for sitting beside his mother is the heir to the throne and up in the galleries are the sons of both the US President and the British Prime Minister. But they are all about to be taken hostage.

The key, as THR points out, is Harry Jones, a Member of Parliament who is also a former military officer. He's the guy who has to stop the terrorists and in doing so uncovers a (insert dramatic music here) global conspiracy. The trade says the studio is eyeing this as the potential first chapter in a character-based franchise. Keeping that in mind, it's not difficult to see why Kamen was brought on board to hopefully help replicate the success of Taken (and couldn't you so easily picture Liam Neeson in this role?) and, for me at least, the Jack Ryan and John McClane comparisons leap very quickly to mind. There aren't a lot of smart action heroes around anymore, so if Sony and Kamen can make this work I'll be right there.

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Scarlett Johansson & Ryan Reynolds Dismiss Fight Claims (Video)

Scarlett Johansson & Ryan Reynolds Dismiss Fight ClaimsMarried Hollywood stars Scarlett Johansson and Ryan Reynolds have shot down reports a blazing fight between the pair was to blame for the actor's absence from California's Comic-Con event over the weekend.

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Jude Law To Be A Dad Again; Mother A Mystery

Jude Law To Be A Dad AgainJude Law is to be a dad again - a former lover is expecting the British star's fourth child. Law's publicist has confirmed the actor is no longer "in a relationship" with the mother of his unborn child.

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