Shoulda Seen It Coming

Stephenie Meyer fans, another reason to rejoice!

Comingsoon.net is reporting that The Host has been picked up by producers Nick Wechsler, Steve and Paula Mae Schwartz to be made into a full-length feature film!

This is sort of a no-brainer after the success of the Twilight films, but The Host is a very different book from those... I found myself unable to get into it until the last 200 pages, but now I can't wait for a sequel. It's a really deep inquiry into what it means to be human, something that's rather unexpected after the fantastical tweenie girl appeal of Twilight.

Meyer plans on making a whole series of "Host" books, so maybe this just means another multi-million dollar payout for the Mormon housewife and author.

What do you think of this move, Meyer fans??

GRIZZLY BEAR to Be On "New Moon" Soundtrack

Another reason (or not?) to look forward to Grizzly Bear's performance on campus!

According to StephenieMeyer.com, the band will have a track titled "Slow Life" on the Twilight Saga: New Moon soundtrack!

It remains to be seen whether their song will actually be in the feature film.

xoxo
spire

What I'm Listening To

Has anyone heard the new Fergie song?



Yea, that's a sample of the Sex and the City theme. The song's titled "Labels or Love" and it's being used for the upcoming film's opening credits. Didn't like it at first, but after several listens, I'm hooked. It's infectious.

Thoughts?
muah! sprink.

The Tragedy of Hollywood

Is it possible for Hollywood to leave a good film alone these days? Let me give you a great example of why sequeling NEEDS to stop:

This is not a mockup or photoshop; this is the ACTUAL teaser poster for S. Darko, the sequel to, you guessed it, Donnie Darko. Now, Donnie Darko is, in my opinion, one of the greatest films ever made. It's one of those films that you either love or you hate, and I love it.

Thing about it is it didn't make a lot of money when it was released. It came out just after 9/11, and many people just weren't in the mood for crazy psychotic rabbits and a time warp story. The film did well in DVD sales, and started a cult following.

So in my opinion, this move is odd - Donnie Darko wasn't the most successful film ever - it wasn't even a blockbuster. So my guess is Velvet Octopus (the production company) is banking on the cult following of the original to go see this one. Except the cult following doesn't want a sequel. Nothing could ever possibly live up to Donnie Darko.

Oh, and Richard Kelly, the writer and director of the original, ISN'T EVEN INVOLVED.

What kills me even more is a member of the production team, Simon Crowe, said: "Donnie's not in [the new film] but there are meteorites and rabbits." METEORITES and RABBITS? REALLY? Is that was Donnie Darko was about? PLANE TURBINES and RABBITS? Come on!

You can go read the article here, and then go gouge your eyes out with other Donnie Darko lovers at the Comingsoon.net forum here.

Sprink.

"Twilight" Rising

I know there are more than a few Twilight fans on campus - Entertainment Weekly recently hailed Stephanie Myers as the next J.K. Rowling. Her latest book in the series was the one that knocked Deathly Hallows off the top spot. And the first book is about to become a major motion picture, to be released in December.

Today the trailer was released. Check it out!



Sprink

It's Coming

As I'm sure you've heard, High School Musical 3: Senior Year will be released October 24 exclusively in theaters. Principal photography starts Saturday, May 3, and all the chief actors will be back to reprise their roles!

If I've learned one thing about HSM, it's that you either love it or you hate it. As for me? I LOVE it. Sure, it can be corny and that sugary-sweetness that is Disney, but I like taking refuge from the evils of the world in a quality Disney movie every once in a while. Oh, and Zac Efron is HOTTTT.

Anyway, the poster was released today - check it out!
Sprink.

CONFIRMED: HP7 Will Be TWO Films

IT'S OFFICIAL!

What was originally speculation is now reality: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will be released as two separate films, one in November 2010, the other May 2011.

Also confirmed today was the rumor that director David Yates will be returning to helm the final films.

According to an article in the LA Times:

"I swear to you it was born out of purely creative reasons," Heyman said during an interview in a converted airplane factory outside London that has been home base to all of the "Potter" productions. "Unlike every other book, you cannot remove elements of this book. You can remove scenes of Ron playing quidditch from the fifth book, and you can remove Hermione and S.P.E.W. [Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare] and those subplots . . . but with the seventh, that can't be done."

Complete article here.

SPRiNKLES's Take: This is great news, primarily because it means that they shouldn't have an excuse to cut anything from the film that's in the book. They'll have at the very least four and a half hours to tell the story now. On the downside, it'll be the longest wait ever between Potter films - with HP6 coming out this November, it'll be two years before the first part of HP7 debuts. In addition to this, it means that current college and high school freshmen will graduate around the same time the final movie comes out. Personally, I think that's fitting.

Academy Awards Winners

All of the Oscars for the 80th Annual Academy Awards have now been announced!

The big winner was No Country For Old Men, which won Best Picture.
Blog9 readers' pick, Juno, won one award for Best Original Screenplay.

Winners in other categories include:

Joel and Ethan Coen
Best Director - No Country For Old Men

Daniel Day-Lewis
Best Actor - There Will Be Blood

Marion Cotillard
Best Actress - La Vie en Rose

Ratatouille
Best Animated Feature

A full list of nominees and winners can be viewed here.

People Like You...

...Are the reason people like ME need medication.

So says Charlie Bartlett's fave shirt in the movie that's named for him.

I went to go see it last night.

Overall, I'd give it 3 out of 5 stars.

It took me awhile to warm up to Charlie, a figure who (according to critical consensus) you have to either love or hate. I think the main reason I didn't like him at first was because some critics were calling him the "new Ferris Bueller".... I mean..... HOW can ANYONE be the NEW Ferris Bueller??

Fact is, this movie is nothing like Ferris Buller's Day Off.

The general plot goes that Charlie is basically a spoiled-rich (literally) kid who is treated like an adult by his mother ever since his father left. As such, he gets a lot of great responsibilities, but sometimes he bites off more than he can chew. Because of this, he gets into A LOT of trouble at the schools he's been too. He's been kicked out of a bunch of private schools and lands himself at the local public high school, where Hollywood conveniently turns back all the great work done in The Breakfast Club and High School Musical and decides that everyone is in separate social groups and thinks everyone not in their social group is weird. Charlie even gets the proverbial head-dunk-in-the-toilet by one of the bullies. Original, this is not.

Eventually, Charlie is "diagnosed" with ADD (go see the movie to find out why this is in quotes) and is prescribed Ritalin, which he subsequently ends up getting high on. After an "incident" because of this, he stops taking Ritalin, and starts helping other kids in school by setting up an "office" in the Boys' Bathroom, listening to their problems, and "prescribes" them medication. He gets this medication by going to his psychiatrist and listing the symptoms his patients have to get the meds they need.

That's as far as I'll go with plot summary.

As far as the movie itself goes, the acting is very well-done for the most part. One of the main issues I take with this movie is that, like Charlie, it doesn't really know what it should be yet. There are at LEAST three different main plotlines in the movie, each getting resolution at a different time. The diverging stories sometimes make it hard to keep track of what exactly's going on, especially when they have huge twists and turns. The point of the story goes from "I want to matter to someone someday," to "I want to matter to someone now," to "I'm just a kid and I can't handle mattering to anyone right now."

Watching it made me feel like I needed a bit of Ritalin.

Overall, though, the movie was an enjoyable, just-long-enough hour-and-a-half of time well-spent. I recommend seeing it.

<3sprinkles

80th Annual!

The 80th Annual Academy Awards (better-known as the Oscars) airs at 8:00 p.m. tonight on ABC!

What's your pick for best picture?
Vote in our poll!

The nominees are:
Atonement
No Country For Old Men
Juno
Michael Clayton
There Will Be Blood

Toy Story 3 Plot Outlined

That's right, the company that hates doing sequels, PIXAR, is at it again!

An extremely short plot synopsis for Toy Story 3 has been revealed:

In Pixar's coming movie "Toy Story 3," Woody the cowboy and his toy-box friends are dumped in a day-care center after their owner, Andy, leaves for college.

Note that the last time we heard from Andy and the toys, he was in Elementary school. Yea. That was 1999.

Toy Story 3 is gearing up for a June 18, 2010 release - ELEVEN YEARS after Toy Story 2!

To date, the first two Toy Story films have grossed over $842 million. Toy Story 3 will undoubtedly put the franchise past the $1 billion mark.

Source: Comingsoon.net

Scene Added to Harry Potter 6

According to producer David Barron:

"But this was brought in because Jo (Rowling) was able throughout the quite lengthy book to keep dropping little snippets of what was happening in the outside world - there'd be people reading newspapers and talking about how somebody's parents had been killed, or somebody had been withdrawn from school because their parents didn't think it was safe. And we're making aware that the Muggle world is also experiencing these disasters, but thinks they are disasters rather than the work of Voldemort. The book is peppered with those moments, but we couldn't do that quite so easily in the film. So (the extra scene) comes in the middle of the film and it just reminds us the world is no longer a safe place. Even in what would normally be considered the safe haven of the Burrow, nobody's safe. I think you'll like it. It's quite effective."

The scene is reportedly going to take place at the Burrow.

Source: Snitchseeker.com

Harry Potter 7 Director Confirmed?

According to children's author Lois Lowry, it appears to be true:

Bad news from The Giver Movie front. David Yates, the director currently working on the next Harry Potter film, was supposed to begin The Giver film next. But he has just decided he wants to do the final Harry Potter first, thereby postponing The Giver by several years. Maybe the opening of this film could be held simultaneously with my celebration-of-life service after I succumb to old age? Or the producers will decide to get a different director. Stand by. But without holding your breath.

If true, this would mean that Yates will have helmed the final three Harry Potter movies, the most out of anyone.

Director Chris Columbus took on HP1 and 2.

This hasn't been officially confirmed by Warner Bros. Pictures, which is planning a 2010 release date for the film.

Source: Comingsoon.net