Quick Post: Laeta Kalogridis (co-writer of Avatar, Battle Angel, The Dive) Profile

Michael here. It's long been known that Laeta Kalogridis has been working on Battle Angel and The Dive for James Cameron, and her work on the Avatar script has also recently come to light.  Kalogridis has been a very well-respected screenwriter, but until now it seems she hasn't had much luck getting her screenplays produced.  Well, that's about to change - Kalogridis' career is really heating up.  Later this year, along with a little movie called Avatar, she has Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island.  She is also working on the script for the action-comedy Witchita, which will star Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz.

The Los Angeles Times has an interesting profile of Kalogridis, including this quote about her collaboration with Cameron: "The whole reason I came out to Hollywood was the influence of [Cameron's] work, his transformation of how we think of action, and how we think of female heroes in action."

I can't wait to see what she does with Battle Angel, which has insane action along with a complex female protagonist.

2012

Roland Emmerich has made ONE truly terrible film, "Godzilla." He's also made a couple of average films, "Day After Tommorrow" and "10,000 B.C." I'm prepared to argue that "The Patriot," "Independence Day," "Stargate" and "Universal Soldier" are all nearly-perfect examples of EXACTLY what they wish to be - generally, old-fashioned B-movies executed with A-budgets and not a HINT of irony, insincerity or post-modernism. Yes, even "Patriot," which is basically the closest anyone has ever gotten to capturing the feel of "Classics Illustrated" on film (the relative worth of the goal itself is, of course, debateable.)

True, he doesn't explore his material very deeply and he's not known to surround himself with the most complex of screenplays, but in terms of capturing impossibly large-scale action he is surpassed only by Spielberg, Cameron and (now) Peter Jackson among Hollywood filmmakers. He's Michael Bay with something resembling a soul. One need only watch ID4 opposite Transformers, or Patriot opposite Pearl Harbor, to see the difference between Pair his talents with a genuinely GREAT script and I'm convinced you'd have a modern classic.

A great script he probably DOESN'T have for his newest, 2012, but he DOES seem to have set himself the logical challenge of following up his previous action/disaster films: This time, he's LITERALLY filming The End of The World. Here's the trailer:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3Wucar1vxQ

Yes, I know... we're all supposed to snicker at how innevitably schlocky the "drama" in this will be, but still... HOLY SHIT.

There's at least 10 "money-shots" in this that could EASILY be the ultimate scene of a lesser action film individually... but they're all in one movie!

A tsunami... drops the USS JFK... onto the White House! An entire city... sinking!!! The Vatican... falls over... and CRUSHES ALL THE PEOPLE PRAYING TO STOP ARMAGEDDON!!!!!!

Plus, it's got John Cusack! I'm callin' it right now... this is going to be this year's "wait... this is GOOD!!??" equivalent to Rambo 4.

New AVATAR In Game Screen Caps!!

**ANOTHER SAME DAY UPDATE: Jim here - Yet another trusted source says the smaller aircraft is a Scorpion and the chopper landing in the rainforest is a Samson - which are featured heavily in the final cut!

**SAME DAY UPDATE: Jim here again with confirmed names for these beasts and more info from a trusted AVATAR source.

Here is what he/she said:
"The 'panther' is a Thanator, which was called a 'manticore' in the scriptment. The tan/orange animals being shot from the air are 'Sturmbeasts', which the Na'vi hunt like buffalo. The scriptment's 'titanothere' is in the movie too, but with a new name. Since I haven't seen an image of it online yet, I can't talk about it. The comment about everything being brightly lit is only partially correct. While there are some scenes in the movie like this, much of the action take place in dimly-lit rainforests, and at night."

Be sure to keep clicking to MarketSaw no matter what AVATAR related material emerges on the Interwebs - 'cause we have the sources to explain what is going on in them. Again, no real spoilers here - just damn interesting info! :-) Some more surprises in store for us I am sure...

Jim here. Wow - some great new shots from the Ubisoft authored AVATAR game that everyone is buzzing over. These photos come from news.com.au and reveal quite a bit about the creature design on Pandora. Have a look!

Click to enlarge.

I have a good idea what we are seeing - but perhaps someone else would like to chime in on what you think we are seeing here? You guys wanted more photos on the flora - here they are! How true they are to the movie is anyone's guess, but I see no reason to deviate much when it comes to these designs. The only real differences between the movie and the game is that they take place at different points in time (no movie spoilers as far as plot - but introduces everyone to the alien ecosystem) and of course the graphics will be FAR superior in the movie.

Looks like stunning gameplay! Can't wait to see this in action. Thoughts?

Quick Post: Pre-order Your AVATAR 2010 Wall Calendar

Jim here. Quick note from Mirza (thanks!) in my inbox had me pre-ordering the official AVATAR 2010 Wall Calendar from Amazon. You can check it out here - the price is $13.99. Sorry, no pics up yet!

What better way to count how many days AVATAR stays number one at the box office than a calendar? Gutsy move my Cameron and crew :-) heh.

INTERMISSION:

As Catholic Media Review made note of, the Year of the Priest kicks in on June 19 and to help celebrate it the National Catholic Register has offered up some suggestions for movies to watch which contain positive portrayals of our collared clerics. Here’s the top ten good priest movies according to NCR:

1. The Scarlet and the Black (1983)
2. The Bells of St. Mary’s (1945)
3. The Mission (1986), mature audiences
4. Going My Way (1944)
5. The Keys of the Kingdom (1944)
6. On the Waterfront (1954)
7. I Confess (1953)
8. Boys Town (1938)
9. Molokai: The Story of Father Damien (1999), mature audiences
10. The Exorcist (1973) mature audiences

Now that’s a pretty strong list and it contains some all time classics, priests or no priests. But, you know, as good as that list is, we think it could stand to have a few more movies added to it. The American Catholic has already made his suggestions, but here at The B-Movie Catechism, we were thinking more specifically that it could use some of OUR KIND of movies added to it. This is actually harder than you might think. Bad or fallen priests are a dime a dozen in B-Movies and the few good ones you run across usually only get a scene or two, like say Father McFerrin in Teenage Exorcist. But we’ve come up with a handful of low budget celluloid clergymen we think make the grade.

1. FATHER MCGRUDER from BRAINDEAD aka DEAD-ALIVE (1992): Okay, so like in Teenage Exorcist, the good Father McGruder really only has a bit part in this early Peter Jackson gore-comedy, and he does become something of a cad once he joins the legion of the undead. But watch the film (if you have a strong stomach) and you’ll agree McGruder had to be on the list if for nothing else than the scene where he transforms from pastor to pugilist, raining a storm of priest-fu on the zombie hordes as he yells out his battle cry, “I kick ass for The Lord!” (Come on, you have to know at least one priest who would want that on a T-shirt for his birthday.)

2. FATHER SANDOR from DRACULA, PRINCE OF DARKNESS (1966): There’s no way you can convince me that Father Dwight Longenecker didn’t see this film at a young impressionable age. I can just picture little Dwight looking up at the big screen as the English sounding take-no-prisoners priest barrels through villages and mountainsides with a rifle strapped to his back and thinking to himself, “You know, I think I could that for the rest of my life.” Father Sandor is the alpha male when it comes to priests in movies. He’s the only one I can think of who ever took out Dracula with a gun?

3. REV. MIKE HILL from THE NORTH AVENUE IRREGULARS (1979): Okay, this one’s a cheat as the reverend is actually Presbyterian, but what the heck, he spends most of the movie in a collar. Loosely based on a true story, this comedy tells the story of how the new pastor in town assembles a group of ladies from his church to take on the local mob and their numbers racket. It’s old school Disney goofiness from back in the day when they could actually make a live action movie without loading it with pre-manufactured pop idols designed to suck every dime out of the pockets of 13 year olds. Plus you get to roll your eyes knowingly as the preacher struggles to reinvigorate his congregation with some decidedly “Spirit of Vatican II” style techniques.

4. FATHER MICHAEL from THE UNHOLY (1988): The American Catholic already mentioned Chariots of Fire’s Ben Cross’ turn as a priest in The Assisi Underground (1985), but Ben returned to put on the cassock again in this lesser known (for good reasons) late 80s horror outing. After miraculously surviving a fall from a skyscraper, Father Michael is sent to New Orleans to battle a demon who targets priests for temptation and murder. The flick is mediocre and the tempting more often than not involves disrobed women (so stay away if that’s a problem for your chastity), but it’s still nice to watch a film where, for once, the priest actually makes it to the finale with his vows intact and is portrayed as a hero for doing so.

Anyway, that should give you a good start if you’re in the mood for something cheesy but would still like to see some charitable portrayals of priests. If you think of some we missed, be sure to let us know. Happy viewing.

Ninja in Chief

I like President Obama. Like. He's alright by me, thus far.

That said, I've never really "gotten" the "whoooaaa... Obama is coooool!" thing until right here:

EXCLUSIVE: Bloody New Spy Photos From The Set Of Alexandre Aja's PIRANHA 3-D

Jim here guys. Got some recent exclusive photos from the set of Alexandre Aja's PIRANHA 3-D sent to me and of course you are the first to know! :-)

Click on images to zoom.

Here is what my source had to say about the photos: "These were taken with a cell phone, security was pretty tight. There is a great one with a half body laying on an overturned boat. You'll see the boats covered with blood, and a couple good pics of the hydraulic sound stage."

I don't think there are any spoilers in these photos to speak of, so have fun taking a look! Again, I love seeing behind the scenes (BTS) photos and set shots - gives me a really good feeling for the quality of the production and of course with Aja at the helm it is going to be awesome. Bloody awesome.

The top photo is obviously with someone missing a lower appendage no doubt bitten off in some gruesome fashion! The next photos are of the bloody decks of boats used in the movie. Finally we have some shots of the Soundstage complete with boats sinking and BTS hydraulics used in the movie. Seeing these scenes in 3D is going to be wicked.

I am super stoked for this movie guys. I am definitely an Aja fan and that could color how I am viewing this project, but heck - it looks good. And a blast to be on this production! Wish I was there! Just how much blood do you think Aja is using in this? :-)