MGM calling for extras in remake of “Red Dawn” in Michigan

 UPDATE: The production has chosen Pontiac as one of the sites to shoot scenes for the remake of “Red Dawn”.  The Oakland Press reports that the production will spend two weeks at the end of September and a few days in October in Pontiac.  Crews will transform “the area along Saginaw Street, just north of Huron, into a movie set depicting Spokane, Washington.

Also, Connor Cruise (Tom Cruise’s son) and Edwin Hodge have joined the rest of the cast listed below.

According to various other sources, Cruise is playing Daryl, the mayor’s son and best friend of tech geek and Hodge will play Danny, the coolest kid in school and star wide receiver who helps establish the resistance.

The cast reportedly is going to military training in an undisclosed location for a few weeks and then shooting begins after that.  MGM hopes to release the movie September 24, 2010.

 Originally posted August 8th:

Earlier this week, WXYZ reported that the production crew for the remake of  ”Red Dawn” (1984) will be coming to Michigan, mostly in the Southeast part of the state, but some scenes may be shot in northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula from September through December.

Information from casting websites and Facebook say that there is a call for hundreds of extras (18 and older), many of which will be needed for consecutive days, some for multiple weeks.   They are ALL PAID positions.  (more…)

“Clash of the Titans” remake casting news

I’ve made it clear before… my disdain for the latest Hollywood trend of remaking old movies instead of coming up with  new content… but the casting news surrounding the “Clash of the Titans” remake is showng some promise.

Variety reports that Ralph Fiennes is in advanced negotiations to star as Hades, the lord of the underworld in the reimagining of the Greek myth of Perseus.

The cast already includes Liam Neeson as Zeus, Gemma Arterton, Mads Mikkelsen, Alexa Davalos and Sam Worthington.

 Here’s another remake to add to the list of movie remakes that only the visuals are better than the original.

Its been 57 years since the original doomsday alien invasion movie came out… and since then movie making technology has grown in leaps and bounds, and we’ve seen some pretty good movies in the sci-fi genre, including “The Matrix” that put Keanu Reeves – the main character of this movie – on the worldwide map.  ”The Day the Earth Stood Still” is pretty good, it just isn’t a GREAT sci-fi movie.

Visually, the movie is really good, but the storyline is not stunning.  It really shouldn’t be classified as a thriller, because although I was wondering what they would do next, I was never worried what would happen next – the movie was flat.

Reeves as the alien messenger Klaatu was typical Reeves in Sci-Fi – he’s good playing those stoic pale looks with limited lines and even though the movie starts with a sort-of backstory of his character, there still isn’t much depth to this character.  Reeves’ Klaatu is very similiar to the “agents” of “The Matrix”.

Jennifer Connelly is good as the female lead, scientist Helen Benson, but her performance doesn’t jump off the screen either… even as she tries to get control of her step-son played by Jaden Smith (Will Smith’s son).

The movie’s message is actually not as heavy handed as it could be and is actually lost at some point… that humans are destroying the environment and they must make a change before the earth dies.  Its a clearer message in the original for the people of earth to stop their wars and fighting.  And at the end of this version, Connelly points out how humans can change – but it doesn’t have anything to do with the environment… its more about human nature.

THE BOTTOM LINE: There are much better sci-fi alien invasion (”Independence Day” (1996), “Signs” (2002), “War of the Worlds” (2005)) or sci-fi disaster movies available (”The Day After Tomorrow” (2004), “Deep Impact” (1998))… I give it 6.5 out of 10… the visuals are great but the story and the acting and/or the writing just wasn’t amazing.

“The Day the Earth Stood Still”

(2008) (rated: PG-13 for some sci-fi disaster images and violence)
(1 hr, 43 min)

Starring: Keanu Reeves, Jennifer Connelly, Kathy Bates, (more…)

(RE-POSTING FROM 7/6/08)

“The Invasion” a decent remake, a decent rental
 

 Its almost been a year since “The Invasion” hit theaters (August 2007), and its one of those movies I wanted to see, but just kept putting off… for one thing, it didn’t do so well at the box office (only making $15 million with a budget of $80 million)… and it didn’t get a lot of buzz after it hit theaters… but it was also overshadowed the weekend it opened against “Superbad” and by four other movies still playing and winning at the box office “Spider-Man 3″, “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End”, “Transformers”, and “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix”… needless to say, I finally saw it and… it was a pretty good rental.