Taylor Kitsch – Cinefantastique

Battleship & Lovely Molly: The Cinefantastique Spotlight Podcast – 3:20

Posted on May 21, 2012 by Dan Persons

Stub Text — Aloha, Stranger: Taylor Kitsch and Rihanna are somewhere down there beholding the might of an alien invasion force in BATTLESHIP.

The aliens have landed! Yes. Again. This time they’ve invaded off the coast of Hawaii, so it’s just like Pearl Harbor, if the attack on Pearl Harbor had included such devastating weaponry as Giant Exploding Pegs and Hot-Rodding Robot Fireballs. Can slacker sailor Alex Hopper (Taylor Kitsch), finding himself in command of the lone, surviving ship and assisted by crewmate Rihanna and visiting captain Tadanobu Asano (just to prove we’re all over Pearl Harbor), find a way of defeating the enemy? Can Hopper’s fiancee Brooklyn Decker, with the help of (actual) double amputee Greg Gadson, destroy the island-based satellite substation before the invading force can signal their cohorts, even as her father, the Admiral (Liam Neeson), stands on the sidelines, shaking his fist and screaming, “Hopperrrrrr!!!” (not really, but close enough)? C’mon, it’s a movie based on a board game — are these really questions?
Come join Cinefantastique Online’s Steve Biodrowski, Lawrence French, and Dan Persons as they debate whether director Peter Berg might have been better served doing a film called CROCODILE DENTIST. Also: Dan gives his capsule review of LOVELY MOLLY, the new exercise in ominous horror by BLAIR WITCH’s Eduardo Sanchez. Plus: What’s coming to theaters.

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John Carter; A Thousand Words & Silent House – CFQ Spotlight Podcast 3:10

Posted on March 11, 2012 by Dan Persons

Do you have a lee-zance for zose minkeys?: Taylor Kitsch gets a bonus in simians in JOHN CARTER.

Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon, James Kirk, Luke Skywalker. Bleep those guys; as an interplanetary adventurer, John Carter has ’em all beat by at least ten years. Bringing the star of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ series of Barsoom novels to the screen has been a long-sought-after passion project for a number of filmmakers, including Bob Clampett, Ray Harryhausen, John McTiernan, and Robert Rodriguez, but it was Andrew Stanton — previously known for his work at Pixar, including directing FINDING NEMO and WALL-E — who finally got the chance, with Disney as his generous backer. Now his big-budget, live-action debut (laced with a healthy portion of computer-generated characters) JOHN CARTER, based on the debut tale A Princess of Mars, has come to the big screen, with Taylor Kitsch, Lynn Collins, and Willem Dafoe starring.
beabetterbooktalker.com‘s Andrea Lipinski joins Cinefantastique’s Lawrence French and Dan Persons to to soak in the magnificent vistas of Mars and see whether the adventure matches the scenery. Also: Andrea gives her thoughts on the Eddie Murphy comic fantasy, A THOUSAND WORDS, and Dan talks about the real-time horror film SILENT HOUSE, the surreal Swedish musical fantasy THE SOUND OF NOISE, and the borderland whatsit TIM AND ERIC’S BILLION DOLLAR MOVIE. Plus: What’s coming to home video.
Technical Note: The long running time for this show means we’ve had to settle for lower audio quality. Just imagine it’s 1933 and you’re listening to Little Orphan Annie. Keep drinking your Ovaltine!

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'Battleship' Trailer #2

Posted on December 9, 2011 by Tom Powers

BATTLESHIP’s new trailer looks like it has great CGI FX (it should for what it cost), but still I have to say: What, other than having much of it’s action being set at sea on Naval ships does this alien attack film have to do with the Hasbro board game?
BATTLESHIP stars Liam Neeson (THE PHANTOM MENACE), Taylor Kitsch (JOHN CARTER), Alexander Skarsgard, Brooklyn Decker and Rihanna.
Directed by Peter Berg (HANCOCK) from a screenplay by Jon & Erich Hoeber, this $250 sci-fi actioner is due out May 18th, 2012 from Universal Pictures.
I live between hope and dread that someone will indeed say “You Sunk My BATTLESHIP!”

Trailer via Joeblo’s Youtube page.

'John Carter' Poster & Pics

Posted on November 29, 2011 by Tom Powers

In these pictures from Walt Disney Studio’s JOHN CARTER, we see Carter (Taylor Kitsch) with Dejah Thoris (Lynn Collins) as well as the CGI versions of Tars Tarkas (voiced by Wilem Dafoe) and Carter’s Martian”calot” Woola, a sort of cross between a six legged reptile and a guard dog.
Kitsch and Collins both appeared ing X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE (as Gambit and Silver Fox, respectively).
Directed by Andrew Stanton (WALL-E) from a screenplay by Stanton, Mark Andrews and Michael Chabon, JOHN CARTER is based on Edgar Rice Burroughs’ A Princess of Mars.
The film, orginally to be called JOHN CARTER OF MARS, is due in theaters in 2-D and 3-D March 9th, 2012.

Personally, I think the settings and character/creature designs are extremely mundane and disappointing, considering the cost of the production and the the fact that they seem to basically ignore Burrough’s vividly described versions.

JOHN CARTER & Tars Tarkas — Tars Tarkas looks like a pin-head, rather sporting than the novel's spherical cranium.

I realize a Disney film (and any general audience version) couldn’t feature essentially nude characters, but other than Kitsch’s bared chest, you’d expect to see more skln in a wholesome 1960’s Beach Party movie than the released stills and trailer seem to suggest.

'Battleship' To be Sci-Fi, Casting

Posted on August 17, 2010 by Tom Powers

Deadline.com announced that model-turned-actress Brooklyn Decker has been cast by director Peter Berg (HANCOCK) to join the cast of BATTLESHIP.
Yes, Battleship — Hasbro’s long-popular boardgame, is being set up as a big-budget (rumored in the $200 million range) science fiction film by Universal Studios. Don’t remember a SF aspect to the venerable two-player game of hidden, but stationary battle fleets? Neither do I.
It seems that screenwriters Jon Hoeber and Erich Hoeber re-envisioned the mundane premise of two terrestial forces in a wargame into a scenario in which a Earthly naval fleet must combat an armada of ships of extraterrestrial origins.
Brian Koppelman and David Levien are said to be currently at work on re-writes.
BATTLESHIP will star Talyor Kitsch (X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE) as a naval officer, Decker as his love interest, Alexander Skarsgard (TRUE BLOOD ) and singer Rihanna.
Production is expected to begin in September in Hawaii, with an intended release date of May 18th, 2012.
Note: Battleship was orginally a Milton Bradley game. The company was absorbed by Hasbro in 1984.