Category: News

Deadline reports that Milla Jovovich, star of the Resident Evil franchise and a number of other action heroine entries (The Messenger, Ultraviolet) is “in advanced negotiations” to star in an adaptation of some non-Game of Thrones stories by George R.R. Martin. The film, called In the Lost Lands, will be based on three stories taken from Martin’s short story anthology Dreamsongs, and prodiction will begin in Germany during the last quarter of 2015, with Justin Chatwin also starring in the film. The bad news? The script was written and the film will be directed by Constantin Werner, who did The Pagan Queen, which was pretty freaking terrible.

The titular story will have Jovovich playing a witch called Grey Alys, who has the power to grant your wishes, whatever they may be. But, as anyone who has played D&D knows, that’s not necessarily a good thing for the recipient. So when a powerful noblewoman, Lady Melange, asks Alys for the ability to shape-shift, she is given a white wolf pelt that fulfills Melange’s request, but not in the way desired. The story’s focus is on Alys’s journey to get the pelt, and based on this review, she seems an interesting character. “Her quiet, almost unassuming ways speak of untapped depths and dark secrets, and her calm detachment is far more chilling than outright malice. There is no open cruelty in her actions: she hastens other people’s demise, or observes their unavoidable misfortune, with the same aloof calm she would display in accepting her own.”

The other stories are no less gynocentric, so in terms of content, this looks like it should be right in our wheelhouse. Another part will be based on The Lonely Songs Of Laren Dorr, about a woman, Sharra, who has the ability to move between different worlds. Deadline says she “must fight a dragon that serves as the gatekeeper of seven worlds to reunite with her lost lover.” I’ve read the story. There’s no dragon fighting to be found in it, but apparently there will be by the time it hits the silver screen, because you can’t have George R.R. Martin without dragons. The final tale, Bitterblooms, dates from 1977 and is a story in which “a young barbarian girl gets spellbound by a lonely witch in a spacecraft, who shows her beauty and love, which turns out to be a net of lies and deceit.”

Deadline also claim it’s the first time George RR Martin’s stories have been adapted for the screen outside of Game of Thrones, but they would appear to have forgotten about Nightflyers, a 1987 film based on his novella of the same name. starring Catherine Mary Stewart and Michael Praed. I can’t say I blame them. Hopefully, In the Lost Lands, will turn out to be somewhat better.

There have been rumblings about a live-action version of iconic anime/manga series Ghost in the Shell for years, with Dreamworks picking up the rights to Masamune Shirow’s creation as far back as 2008. However, things appear to have moved forward significantly in the past year, with director Rupert Sanders, who helmed Snow White and the Huntsman, named as on board last January. Rumblings in Septemner had Margot Robbie (Wolf Of Wall Street) interested in the lead, but she stepped aside the following month, and Johansson’s name moved into the frame instead. This has now become a firm commitment, with Variety reporting yesterday that the actress has now agreed to take on a role, presumably one based on Major Motoko Kusanagi, the heroine in many of Shirow’s stories.

Set towards the middle of this century, both manga and anime focus on Public Security Section 9, a Japanese special-operations task-force made up of former military officers and police detectives. In this future, mixing flesh and technology is commonplace, with many humans enhancing or replacing their abilities with so-called “cyberbrains” and prosthetic mechanical enhancements. While conferring obvious benefits, it also opens the door to a wide range of new criminal activities, and countering these is where PSS 9 comes in. Kusanagi is one of its officers, and a childhood accident left her almost entirely cybernetic. One review described her as having “the body of a Baywatch babe, the face of a beauty queen and the soul of a machine.” Johansson’s performance in unexpected global success Lucy, playing a similarly enhanced human, may have helped open the door for her here, and there was also Under the Skin, where she portrays an alien who seduces men.

However, not everyone is impressed. Forbes wrote a scathing critique of the announcement, calling her “not a good fit” for the role of the Major. There is admittedly, the obvious question of race here: do they change the lead from being Japanese, or make Johansson wear yellow-face? Neither would seem particularly credible, though the cybernetic nature of the heroine does open the door to the possibility of whatever look you want. Since she’s almost entirely an artificial construct, she could wear any face – or even no face at all. But there’s still the potential for disaster here, on an almost unmitigated scale: you only have to look at the last big budget, live-action movie inspired by Japanese animation. That would be The Last Airbender, almost universally regarded as one of the worst films in the last five years, which Rotten Tomatoes gives a 6% approval rating, with an average score of 2.8/10.

It’s reported that Johansson will get $10 million for her work, which would put her into a very exclusive club of actresses. Certainly, between Lucy and her roles as Black Widow in the Marvel universe, her credentials are as robust as anyone currently working in Hollywood, so I’m cautiously optimistic for this film. It’s certainly good to see studios prepared to make an investment in a high-profile action film with a female lead character. But the critical and commercial success which resulted will depend heavily on the script. Given the extremely large amount of money that this will need to spend to create a futuristic universe, there’s genuine reason to fear that the more subtle and metaphysical aspects of both the anime and manga versions, may be set aside in favour of less interesting but more bankable aspects e.g. giant fireballs. This certainly is not a certain success.

Break out the bunting, because we have the first bona-fide action heroine movie of 2014 to top the US box-office. Luc Besson’sSF flick Lucy, starring Scarlett Johansson, crushed both projections and the competition, opening with an estimated $44 million over the weekend. It’s the first “true” action film led by an actress to take the #1 spot since The Hunger Games: Catching Fire spent two weeks there in November and December last year. [Unless you count 300: Rise of an Empire, and though we reviewed it here, the female presence there was as an antagonist more than the protagonist. Though on further review, maybe Maleficent should also be considered?]

This is a great result for both Johansson and Besson. To take the latter first, his previous best-performing picture in North America was The Fifth Element which grossed the equivalent of $113.3 million in inflation-adjusted dollars, when it came out in 1997, with an opening weekend of about $30.2 million, again inflation-adjusted. It’s also Johannson’s best performance outside of the Marvel universe, beating out 2009’s He’s Just Not That Into You, which bowed in 2009 to $27.8 million. It’s miles ahead of other original action-heroine works, such as Colombiana ($10.4 million) or Haywire ($8.4 million). as first weekends go, it slots in at #6 all time for our genre, behind two Hunger Games films, another pair of adaptations in Divergent and Tomb Raider, and the Jolie/Pitt vehicle Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Speaking of Angelina, it’s slightly ahead of Salt, though that was better reviewed, and likely will possess better legs at the box-office.

Still, somewhere around $125 million in the US is likely, which would give it a place in the all-time top 10 for GWG flicks – and likely twice as much overseas. Considering it cost only $40 million in total, one imagines the possibility of a sequel is already being pushed around the drawing board. It’s particularly impressive for Lucy to come out on top of Hercules, which cost about 2.5 times as much and had a well-established action name front-lining it, in Dwayne Johnson. It also had more venues and 3D ticket pricing on its side. Of course, with Guardians of the Galazy opening on Friday, this is certain to be a one-weekend wonder, but with Lucy having taken in more than its entire budget in just three days, I doubt anyone involved will mind too much. For now, I guess Scarlett Johansson just kicked The Rock’s ass. :)

But was it any good? You’ll have to wait for our review to find out…

The Colorado town of Rifle was founded in 1882, and took its name from the Rifle Creek which flows through the town – that, in turn, was named after a trapper left his weapon on its banks around the time. Given that, it seems reasonable for a town restaurant to be called “Shooter’s”, though it isn’t quite what it sounds like. Said co-owner Lauren Boebert, “I consulted with my Christian friends and everyone said ‘Shooters’ sounded like a bar or a strip joint. But I thought, this is Rifle — it was founded around guns and the Old West. We called it Shooters and started throwing guns and Jesus all over the place.” And what do they mean by that? To quote the AP report: “As she takes your order, waitress Ashlee Saenz carries a pad, pen and a loaded Ruger .357 Blackhawk revolver holstered on her leg, Old West style. It’s loaded, and she knows how to use it.” One imagines no customer ever dares stiff a waitress on her tip in this establishment.

It’s a theme Shooters carries beyond their armed serving-staff, also hosting classes that qualify attendees for a concealed carry permit – the one in May drew 25 people, paying $75 (which also included dinner). And local police chief John Dyer is entirely fine with it, perhaps in part because the town hasn’t seen a shooting death in well over a decade, the last such being in 2001. “If it was a bar, I might be saying something different.” [The restaurant doesn’t serve alcohol –  not even shots, hohoho] “But I have no problem with it. And besides, they make a really good burger.”

I’ll admit, some aspects of this seem a little strange: girls with guns, fine, but girls with guns and Jesus? That’s a new one on me, and none of the reports delve further into that aspect, which I’d have thought would have merited additional inquiry.  While not exactly an expert on the Bible, I seem to recall Jesus being rather more into loving thy neighbour, though on the other hand, he never expressed any particular opinion on the topic of the Second Amendment. But I’m still down with the idea, even if personally, I think they could improve on it by having the waitresses dress to match the theme as well: cowgirl, policewoman, Milla Jovovich, etc. When the zombie apocalypse happens, between the good burgers and the girls with guns, there would probably be no better place to take refuge!

According to PageSix.com, the reason given for the ban was “for nudity” — which probably falls into the category of “Well, duh…” – and specifically, “curve of under breast and dark nipple/areola circle visible through sheer gown.” Can’t see why. I quite like it…

The film is out on August 22 [I mention this in case you missed the information on the poster, which would be fairly understandable]. My interest certainly increased.

No, it’s not a real show. Not yet. But after the Tweet below from Zoe Bell this afternoon, showing her and Kristanna Loken wielding their weaponry, I’m fully on board with the concept. We can all dream, can’t we?

Entirely convinced this photo should spawn the baddest show ever. #chicksofhazard #bonny&claudine @LokenKristanna pic.twitter.com/873AsQm1fU

— TheRealZoëBell (@TheRealZoeBell) March 13, 2014