Screenhead

The trades report that Angels & Demons is both Ron Howard’s and Tom Hank’s second highest opening day compared to The Da Vinci Code that scored $28 million.

Okay, a confession before I start off today’s romp, folks–I never got around to seeing The Da Vinci Code.  Frankly, I never had a huge interest in doing so–from what I DID see of it, mostly some trailers and bits on the news and such, it looked spectacularly dull.  Tom Hanks running around solving puzzles while being chased by a psychopathic albino?  Great…sounds like Myst, only I don’t get to play.

Though I had to admit, Angels And Demons, the sequel to The Da Vinci Code (which was technically first in the series of books) looked a lot more exciting than its predecessor.  And indeed, it performed as advertised.

Professor Robert Langdon, played once again by Tom Hanks, has been called to Rome following a bizarre death threat–someone’s going to start killing cardinals in the wake of the recent death of the sitting Pope.  And in a bid to stop it, Langdon’s going to have to unravel a mystery that’s now several thousand years old–who are the Illuminati, and where did they keep their churches?  Along the way, he’ll run afoul of intrigue both within and without the Vatican, and no one is anywhere near as trustworthy as you’d hope men who purport to be of God would be.

There’s one further complication: the entirety of Vatican City is under the threat of annihiliation by, get this, a CHUNK OF ANTIMATTER created by the Large Hadron Collider. And, as everybody who’s seen an episode of Star Trek in the last thirty years probably knows, when antimatter comes into contact with REGULAR matter, it goes plooie.  A LOT.

Everyone was afraid these guys were going to rip open a black hole right in the middle of Europe, but no one really saw THIS coming.

Anyway, like I said, I really never got to see The Da Vinci Code, and frankly, that’s a good thing because Angels and Demons really doesn’t depend on the first story much at all.  Oh, sure, there’ll be some bad blood between Langdon and the Vatican, but it’ll be only mentioned in passing before the whole thing is swept under the rug while they try to keep themselves from not dying in a massive fiery explosion.  And indeed, as thrillers go, this sucker is a beauty.  Some scenes are sufficiently gruesome to elevate them to horror status, and there will be plenty of twists, turns, and second-guesses to keep everybody well in suspense until the very end, and chances are, no one will really see the end coming unless they’ve read the book, which again, I have not.

It’s a beautiful movie, with lots of great sights to see and lots of wild action going on all around.  There was one strange moment where the audio sounded a bit off, while Langdon’s in a spiral staircase, but your mileage may vary on that and chances are you’ll barely notice.

The way they’ve set this up is especially worthy of mention, as it’s basically set on a series of timed events–a new cardinal is going to get killed in a new and surprisingly messy fashion once an hour, every hour, until Vatican City goes up in a fire of antimatter.  This ensures that there will be very few moments for the audience to catch its breath and for Langdon to demonstrate his mastery of thoroughly useless information (except of course in situations like this exact one) long enough to figure out where to go next.

One thing is perfectly clear, however: Angels and Demons is a thriller par excellence, and if you’re even vaguely into this kind of jacked-up mystery movie, then there’s no doubt that you need to get out and see this one.  Like today, if you can.

Everyone is anxiously awaiting the release of this new Tom Hanks movie, Angels and Demons. While the official release date is scheduled for May 15, trailers are driving us crazy on what to expect. To further compound your anxiety, here is a new promo ad spot for the much anticipated sequel of “The Da Vinci Code”.

The team behind the global phenomenon “The Da Vinci Code” returns for the highly anticipated “Angels & Demons,” based upon the bestselling novel by Dan Brown. Tom Hanks reprises his role as Harvard religious expert Robert Langdon, who once again finds that forces with ancient roots are willing to stop at nothing, even murder, to advance their goals. Ron Howard again directs the film, which is produced by Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, and John Calley. The screenplay is by David Koepp and Akiva Goldsman.

Cast:
Tom Hanks, Ewan McGregor, Ayelet Zurer, Stellan Skarsgard, Pierfrancesco Favino, Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Armin Mueller-Stahl

(Source) ComingSoon.net

Where the Wild Things Are new poster was just released this week.  The movie looks like so much fun for the kid in all of us.

Universal is all set to develop Major Matt Mason, a live-action feature film based on the vintage Mattel action figure. The film is being developed to star Tom Hanks with Graham Yost in place to write the script.

The toy line originated in 1966, during the time the United States was planning to put a man on the moon. Mason led an astronaut team that worked on the moon and lived in a space station. The toy was popular during the buildup to the first manned moon mission. Mattel retired the line in the 1970s.

Check out the 1968 Major Matt Mason commercial. “How Far Will You Go with Major Matt Mason?”

I have a handful of actors whom I know if I go to the movie theaters to see their movies, I will be entertained.  I never feel cheated. Tom Cruise is one of those actors and for good reason. He puts integrity into his work. It shows through the way he promotes his films.  Even in his interviews with talk show hosts he’s there 200%, making sure the interviewer is engaged in the interview just as much as Cruise is. One example is Oprah’s interview at Cruise’s home in Colorado. He was genuine and very honest and open.

It is no wonder that at least five producers are vying to get Cruise to say yes to their projects.

The trades are reporting a strong courtship of Cruise comes at a time when studios are thinking long and hard about which actors deserve to be paid superstar gross deals.  I agree, Cruise deserves it like Denzel Washington, Tom Hanks, Will Smith and Ben Stiller.

There are those who might say otherwise but producers are enthusiastic for the actor after the success of Valkyrie. The Bryan Singer film did better than expected around the world, and that no major star except Will Smith works to promote a movie as hard as Cruise.

Variety reports the top three candidates for Cruise’s next opportunity:

Matarese, which also has Denzel Washington attached, and will soon get a rewrite by Cronenberg.

The Tourist, the Spyglass remake that would co-star Charlize Theron. A rewrite was turned in this week by Christopher McQuarrie, who co-wrote and produced “Valkyrie” with Cruise, and whose script work was informed by long talks with Cruise as they barnstormed publicity on the UA WWII film.

Motorcade, the Len Wiseman-directed DreamWorks thriller that pits the U.S. president against terrorists who commandeer his motorcade on the streets of Los Angeles. Billy Ray is racing to complete a rewrite of the script, with Cruise’s input.

Personally, I hope it’s with David Cronenberg and Denzel Washington in Matarese. I’d love to see these three work together.

I was enthralled with the book,”Angel & Demons.” It was a real page turner for me.  The Illuminati and Galliao aspect of the story interested me the most.

I am very excited about Ron Howard and Tom Hanks bringing  the book to the big screen with Ewan McGregor also starring.

This behind-the-scenes featurette about the Illuminati makes me want to see the movie even more.  The movie opens May 15, 2009.

The adaptation of David Wroblewski’s novel The Story of Edgar Sawtelle has got itself two powerhouse producers – Tom Hanks and Oprah Winfrey.

The movie tells the story of a mute teenager who lives on a farm in Wisconsin with a family that has raised a coveted breed of dog for generations. When his father dies mysteriously after his uncle comes to stay with the family, he flees to the woods with three of his dogs.

Oprah’s Book Club had selected the title as a featured book. Hanks’ Playtone and Winfrey’s Harpo Films are collaborating on the project for Universal Pictures.

I came across this production still from the movie Where The Wild Things Are directed by Spike Jonze.