Finally!
A film version of JRR Tolkien’s novel The Hobbit is to go ahead after its producers settled a legal row with the author’s heirs.
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Its settlement, for an undisclosed sum, paves the way for director Guillermo del Toro’s two films based on the book.
New Line plans to release The Hobbit in 2011, followed by another movie drawing from other Tolkien works.
Coming to a theater near you…some time in the future: Blue Like Jazz: The Movie.
The “From the Director” video on the movie website is pretty funny. Check it out. If you haven’t read Blue Like Jazz or any of Donald Miller’s other books, I highly recommend them.
Remember the book Where The Wild Things Are from your childhood (or maybe more recently)? The movie is coming out later this year. Here’s the trailer. Looks pretty good…
Looks pretty good.
I think I’ve seen more movies in the past three months than I have the past 2 years. On tap this weekend was Get Smart. I was hesitant to see this, thinking it would be one of those movies where all the funny parts were shown in the trailers that saturated the airwaves leading up to the release. Once again, I was pleasantly surprised. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying this was a stellar movie by any stretch of the imagination, but I did laugh a lot more than I expected. While he wasn’t a Don Adams, I think Steve Carell was good in the role of Agent 86, and the casting of Masi Oka (Hiro on Heroes) and Nate Torrence (Studio 60) as techies were also good choices. I wasn’t sold on the choices of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson or Anne Hathaway, however, and the plot was old, the recycled typical bad-guys-try-to-blow-up-the-world-good-guys-stop-them routine. But like I said, there were some good laughs sprinkled throughout and some nice nods back to the basis for the movie, the TV series that aired in the mid-60s. I remember seeing a few episodes of the television series Get Smart when I was younger, and while I don’t remember the specifics, I do remember liking what I saw. The movie seems to be missing the feel of the TV series, though, and almost tries too hard to replicate it, forcing in these references rather than letting them flow naturally.
The movie is good for some laughs if nothing else in the theatres appeals to you right now. Some will like the movie, most probably won’t. The movie could have been much, much worse. I’ll give it a C.
From Stuff Christians Like – How well do you know Indiana Jones and the Bible?
1. When the ark was opened up, everyone’s face melted.
A. The Bible
B. Indiana Jones2. When the ark slipped and someone tried to steady it, that person died instantly.
A. The Bible
B. Indiana Jones3. In a plot twist, the hero is thrown into a pit full of lions.
A. The Bible
B. Indiana Jones4. In a plot twist, the hero falls into a pit full of snakes.
A. The Bible
B. Indiana Jones5. Someone is rescued by an eagle.
A. The Bible
B. Indiana Jones
C. The Lord of the Rings (ohhh trick question)6. Poisonous snakes come out of no where and a brass snake must be made to help ward them off.
A. The Bible
B. Indiana Jones7. The natives are restless and in a fit of worship pull the still beating heart out of a human sacrifice.
A. The Bible
B. Indiana Jones8. The natives are restless and tell their king they’ve turned into cannibals.
A. The Bible
B. Indiana Jones9. The ark is mistreated, forgotten and lost somewhere no one will find it.
A. The Bible
B. Indiana Jones10. As if by a miracle, a character is able to walk across a terrifying expanse as if on an invisible sidewalk.
A. The Bible
B. Indiana Jones11. As if by a miracle, a character is able to walk across a terrifying, watery expanse as if on an invisible sidewalk.
A. The Bible
B. Indiana Jones12. Through selfish greed, the villain falls to an unexpected death, essentially killing herself in a canyon.
A. The Bible
B. Indiana Jones13. Through selfish greed, the villain falls to an unexpected death, essentially killing himself in a field.
A. The Bible
B. Indiana Jones14. One of the main characters receives a painful scar on his hand when he gets burned.
A. The Bible
B. Indiana Jones15. One of the main characters receives a painful scar on his hand so we won’t get burned.
A. The Bible
B. Indiana Jones16. A tag team of bears kills more than 40 people when they make fun of a bald guy.
A. The Bible
B. Indiana Jones17. An angry man disarms a bad guy with a whip.
A. The Bible
B. Indiana Jones18. An angry man clears out some bad salesmen with a whip.
A. The Bible
B. Indiana Jones19. A huge boulder chases the main character down a hill.
A. The Bible
B. Indiana Jones20. A giant whale swallows someone and pukes them up a few days later.
A. The Bible
B. Indiana Jones21. A hooker with a heart of gold helps the good guys escape out of a window.
A. The Bible
B. Indiana Jones22. At dinner, someone brings in a monkey head on a platter.
A. The Bible
B. Indiana Jones23. At dinner, someone brings in a human head on a platter.
A. The Bible
B. Indiana Jones
Some spoilers ahead…you’ve been warned 
I’ve been waiting for the next chapter of Indiana Jones for years. Rumors about a fourth installment of Indiana Jones started in earnest about 4 or 5 years ago, back when I first put together my Indy costume for Halloween. I was really looking forward to it and crossing my fingers they wouldn’t ruin it like Star Wars Episode I.
Unfortunately, I had read some pretty negative reviews of the movie leading up to the release, so I went in with my expectations set pretty low. I’m happy to say that it’s actually not that bad! It’s definitely not a Raiders or Last Crusade, but it’s still an enjoyable movie. There were some rather lame parts, even by Indy standards, but it also had some pretty funny moments as well. All the adventure of an Indy movie was there, with some tips of the hat back to scenes from the previous Indy movies.
Things I didn’t like? The first 10-15 minutes and the last 10 minutes specifically. When the movie started, my first thought was “the negative reviews trashing the film were right” but a few minutes later, it was all good. I was also disappointed with some of the plot choices, specifically the alien aspects. They could have done without the UFO ending and I wish they hadn’t physically put aliens into the movie. I’d be okay if they just alluded to them rather than featuring them so much at the end.
Overall, I found it an enjoyable movie, fitting for the Indiana Jones series. Have you seen it? What did you think?
Saw Prince Caspian this weekend… Overall, pretty good movie, with plenty of action and adventure and good special effects. You may be disappointed if you’ve read and are a fan of the book, though. While it didn’t deviate drastically from the book, there were some liberties taken (such as a bit of a romance) and they choose to leave out quite a bit in order to throw in more battle scenes. What bugged me the most, though, was the wannabe Lord of the Rings aspects of the film – such as the Ent-like trees in the final battle. The big screen adaptation wasn’t close to the “movie” I had formed in my head while reading the book, but it was still an enjoyable movie. I’m really looking forward to the next movie, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Dawn Treader is my favorite book of the seven and could make a really great movie. It’s scheduled to hit the big screen in May 2010.
This is turning into quite a summer for movies. Ironman has been a blockbuster (haven’t seen it yet, but heard nothing but rave reviews about it), Indiana Jones is released this week (heard it’s awful, but I’ll see it anyway) and Get Smart is coming in June (looks hilarious). I was very surprised to see a trailer for Journey to the Center of the Earth, starring Brenden Fraser. This movie is based on the Jules Verne novel of the same name, which is one of my top 10 favorite books. Fantastic read – be sure to check it out! The book has been adapted to the big screen before, almost fifty years ago, but the reason this version surprises is me is that it aired as a made-for-TV movie on SciFi ION earlier this year.
Last bit of entertainment news – Muppet Show Season 3 hits stores tomorrow!
On a side note, I added a few new pics to the gallery.
[Oops, new gallery pics were broken. They're fixed now.]
Transformers, G.I. Joe, The Greatest American Hero and now – a MacGyver movie! My childhood is coming to the big screen. And I love it!
Holy cow! Awesome! This made my day!
Believe it or not, a Greatest American Hero movie
Yes! Peter Jackson, producer of the LOTR trilogy, and New Line Cinema, who owns the rights to The Hobbit, have worked out their differences.
PETER JACKSON AND NEW LINE CINEMA JOIN WITH MGM TO PRODUCE “THE HOBBIT”
Expected release dates are 2010 for the first Hobbit movie, and 2011 for the “sequel.” Woohoo!
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