Cinema Loses One Of Its Greats - Tony Scott Dies Aged 68

Some truly shitty news comes out of California this morning.

Director Tony Scott has died by apparent suicide at the age of 68. According to sources, Scott left a suicide note in his car before jumping from the Vincent Thomas Bridge near Long Beach (apparently without hesitation) at around lunchtime on Sunday.

Tony Scott (left) And The Vincent Thomas Bridge (Right)

Born in Newcastle in 1944, the younger brother of director (and some time business partner) Ridley Scott, he graduated from the Royal College Of Art with dreams of being a painter, but was tempted into film and TV by his brother.

After spending the early part of his career making adverts, his first full feature came in 1982 with The Hunger. The movie flopped and Scott returned to making adverts for a few more years until he caught the attention of producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer who approached him to make Top Gun after being impressed with an advert he had recently made for Saab showing one of their cars racing a fighter jet. The movie landed in cinemas in 1986, making a star of Tom Cruise and a household name out of Scott.

Scott directs a young Tom Cruise on the set of Top Gun

Scott would go on to direct the likes of True Romance, The Last Boy Scout, Beverly Hills Cop II, Crimson Tide, Enemy Of The State, The Taking Of Pelham 123 and, most recently, runaway train drama Unstoppable, starring Denzel Washington.

As well as directing, the Brothers Scott also tried their hands as producers, helping young filmmakers get their own projects off the ground.

Talking to Empire magazine in 2005 Scott said, “I’m getting younger as I get older. It's also a fear of losing the touch, which is why I keep fucking going. Whether you like the movie or don't like it, as long as people continue to pay me to continue to experiment, I'll keep doing that. I do a lot of research and I get paid to touch these other worlds and I want to keep trying to touch these new worlds and bring them to the screen, whether it's the 18th Street Gang or the Vietnamese Gang, or bounty hunting or whatever it is. I love what I do.”

At the time of his death, he had several projects in varying stages of production including a planned Top Gun sequel and a movie version of the comic book "Nemesis".

Scott is survived by his wife, Donna, and two children.

Thoughts go out to his family and friends at this difficult time.

A Thousand Kisses Deep - Not An Underground Romcom

If I had to guess what type of film "A Thousand Kisses Deep" was without knowing anything about it, I would probably think it was some sort of saccharine sweet Romcom. Something starring the standard girl next door/greasy douche bag combo who spend an hour and a half gawping at each other as the standard "will they? wont they?" horse shit plot unfolds to its soppy conclusion. Maybe it takes place deep underground...

Something like this.
Don't you just want to punch them?

Well I'd be wrong. Turns out it's a British made psychological thriller, directed by Dana Lustig (Wild Cherry, Stranger Than Fiction) starring Emila Fox, Jodie Whittaker and Dougray Scott.

I'll put the trailer before the plot run down because it gives quite a bit away in terms of the stories twists & turns, and you might think it a bit spoiler-y.

Batman + Lego = Awesome! Dark Knight Rises Trailer Recreated With Lego

If you ask me there is nothing in this world that can't be made better with Lego.

Unless it's Glee.

Nothing can save that "twee as a Baby riding a Unicorn over a rainbow" garbage. Not even a story arc involving a serial killer with sensitive ears and a dislike for catchy pop songs, but I digress.

I'd rather eat all these Legos
than watch 5 minutes of Glee

The internet is full of awesome people doing awesome stuff with Lego, as the custom BTTF Delorian I posted about the other week goes to show; but what's better than building something cool out of Lego? Building something cool out of Lego then making stop motion animations with it! There are a lot of these on Youtube, some are good, some... not so good, but this trailer for "The Dark Knight Rises" made entirely out of those little plastic foot killers is absolutely amazing.

Bane even looks awesome as a mini-fig!

Made by Forrest Fire Films, this has to be one of the most impressive Lego animations I've ever seen, not to mention the most accurate when compared to the "real-life" version.

Check out the 1 minute 30-odd seconds of all plastic awesome below:

Now watch the original trailer:

Pretty impressive right?

I'd love to see a full length Lego Batman movie, but I guess I'll have to make do with "The Dark Knight Rises" (filmed with boring humans) when it hits cinemas this summer.

Head over to Forrest Fire Films Youtube channel here to see some more of the awesome Lego animations they've done.

Bioshock Movie Flushed?

So it seems the Bioshock film has been shelved. Again. 

Gore Verbinski had already recently stepped down as producer, leaving Juan Carlor Fresnadillo sat in the directors chair with his thumb up his ass, and now its seems he's had enough of waiting and is off to butcher The Highlander.

Done right this film could be awesome!

While its the general consensus that films based on videogames generally suck pixelated wang (excluding Mortal Kombat, of course) gamers & movie fans alike are excited about an adaptation of "Bioshock." 

The game and its sequel are both beautiful, brutal, and disquieting tales of mystery & Science fiction that take place in the abandoned underwater Utopia of Rapture; stories that, with the right director (and budget) could really be something special.

But they said that about Resident Evil, and look how much that sucked.

Its hardly even got any Zombies in it...

Let Sleeping Turtles Lie

When I read last week that they were going to be making a new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film, I knew not to expect much.

Then I found out Michael Bay was producing it & Jonathan Liebesman (the guy responsible for Battle: Los Angeles) was directing it, I figured that makes sense, who better to ruin another childhood memory than the guy who butchered Transformers & his explosion loving, plot hating friend?

This is not a Transformer

THIS is a Transformer

Then I saw the short video below & I lost my shit.

Aliens? Are you fucking kidding me?

Awesome New Prometheus Trailer!

UPDATE


New full HD UK Trailer now available on Youtube, now with extra added "HO-LY SHIT!"

A new full trailer for Ridley Scotts "Prometheus" hit the internet today, & I'll be honest, I got so excited watching it I think a little wee came out.

Ridley Scott returns to the Alien franchise.
Sort of...

Prometheus could be considered a prequel of sorts to Alien - also directed by Scott, but according to the director: Although it shares "strands of Alien's DNA, so to speak", and takes place in the same universe, the film will explore its own mythology and ideas.

Call it whatever you want but the crew all work for Weyland Industries, its got the "Space Jockeys" we see a glimpse of in Alien in it, & it uses the same eerie music in the trailer, that's enough of a connection for me. 

Iron Sky: Or "Space Nazis From The Dark Side Of The Moon!"

I only heard about this film a few weeks ago but as soon as I saw the trailer I couldn't wait to see it.


The basic plot here is Nazis set up a secret base on the moon in 1945 where they hide out and plan to return to power in 2018. Now I'm not really too fussed about plot, as they had me at "Space Nazi" but looking at the trailers it actually looks pretty good. Daft, but good. Kind of like Dead Snow or Shaun of the Dead.

Whatever will those pesky Nazis think  of next?

This Sci-Fi/Action/Comedy is directed by a guy called Timo Vuorensola. I have no idea who that is but according to his IMDB page, he's the lead singer in a Finnish black metal industrial noise band called Älymystö so he must be pretty cool (if not a little moody?).


Check out the trailer below:

Looks pretty awesome eh? 


Hit the jump for another trailer & the first four minutes of the film.

We Can Remake It For You Wholesale

An International Promo Trailer for Total Recall, the latest movie "reboot" Hollywoods big brains thought would be a good idea, hit the internet today and surprisingly enough it doesn't fill me with overwhelming nerd rage.

Nerd Rage: No laughing matter

Although it's only short, it gives you a good idea of what the film will look like when it finally gets its ass to Mars sorry, cinema's in August.

Memory of a life time or instantly forgettable?
We'll have to wait till August to find out.