Author Archives: Candace Ramirez

About Candace Ramirez

"Sun is bad for you. Everything our parents said was good is bad. Sun, milk, red meat... college." -Woody Allen Accomplished wearer of dresses.

First Look At Tom Cruise In Jack Reacher Adaptation

The first photo featuring Tom Cruise in the big-screen adaptation of Lee Child’s bestselling 2005 crime saga Jack Reacher, has been released and you can see it above. Cruise will play the titular character in the film, an ex-military policeman turned vigilante drifter, who is drawn into the case of a sniper who randomly targeted civilians.

The film, due in theaters Dec. 21, was adapted from the ninth novel in Child’s series, “One Shot.”

Cruise’s character in the film will differ from his usual ambitious, highly-stressed and charming roles, according to Entertainment Weekly, as this film’s protagonist is a darker and more stoic personality. Christopher McQuarrie, the film’s screenwriter and director, pointed out the dark aspect of Reacher.

“Someone asks him at one point in the story about the difference between a military policeman and a regular cop,” McQuarrie said. “Reacher points out that [for military police], every suspect is a trained killer.”

McQuarrie also told EW that Reacher has very little invested in the present.

“He is free from any sort of anxiety. He is truly not encumbered by all the bulls–t that makes up our daily lives,” he said. “He literally and figuratively has no baggage.”

Reacher does have one valued possession- his 1970 Chevelle SS, which is featured in the film’s just-released promotional photo. In the image, Reacher has just battered the car while escaping from police, who wrongfully suspect him of a murder.

Some fans of the Reacher book series have been quite vocal with their dissatisfaction with the choice of Cruise as their hero. The 5-foot-7 actor is physically far from the massive Reacher described in the text, but Cruise addressed this issue in a video aired at CinemaCon in April.

“For those of you who know the books, I’m obviously not 6-foot-5, like Jack Reacher,” Cruise said. “But Lee felt that I was the right guy to drive fast cars and kick the s–t out of people on-screen.”

Whether or not Cruise is able to pull of the character has yet to be seen. However, he may surprise everyone with his portrayal. We will just have to wait and see.

New Kick Ass 2 Details Released

Several new details have been released for Jeff Wadlow’s upcoming project Kick-Ass 2. It has been confirmed that all of the core cast members will return, including Aaron Johnson, Chloe Moretz and Christopher Mintz-Plasse. Negotiations are currently underway for Garrett M. Brown’s return to the role of Roswell (Dave’s dad), according to Moviehole, and it has been announced that he will have a more active role in the sequel.

Auditions for the role of Uncle Ralph, the guardian of Chris/Red Mist, will also begin soon. Fans can expect this role to be filled by someone of a Mark Strong-esque stature.

As for the film’s story, part of the plot will revolve around someone discovering the hero’s identity, with both Dave and Mindy possibly being found out.

Much of the storyline will also focus on Hit Girl and what happens to her after the events of the first movie. After her identity is released, she begins to be teased and bullied and given a less than classy nickname of “Captain Muffin-Muncher.” But don’t expect Hit Girl to cower in the face of the teasing. She is always ready to take charge in confrontation and self defense.

More details on the film are slowly being released, but with all the main cast returning it seems it will definitely fall in line with previous installment.

The Human Fly Buzzes Towards The Big Screen

Marvel Comics continues to dominate at the box office lately, with The Avengers breaking records and the highly anticipated The Amazing Spider-Man about to hit theaters. To continue their streak, Marvel may be venturing into theaters yet again with a film based on comic series “The Human Fly.”

“The Human Fly” comic, based on real-life stuntman Joe Ramacieri, was licensed and published by Marvel from 1977-1979. It ran for 19 issues, and the character also appeared in various other Marvel comics. During his run of adventures, the character encountered various other superheroes and Marvel characters such as Spider-Man and Daredevil.

The Human Fly’s origin story is similar to that of the Six Million Dollar Man and the life of Wolverine in which he was severely injured in an accident and in an attempt to rebuild him, scientists infused him with a steel skeleton. The man, whose real name is never mentioned, begins to wear a consume and fight crime with his super biologic awesomeness.

Alan Brewer and Steven Goldmann picked up the reverted rights on the property recently, according to Deadline. Eisenberg-Fisher Productions will executive produce the proposed independent film. Deadline reported that financing for the project will likely come from private equity sources.

Goldmann will direct, and Brewer will produce along with James Reach. Tony Babinski, Cirque Du Soleil’s in-house historian, wrote the screenplay.

There is no word just yet on who will play the titular superhero, or when they film is expected to be completed.

Ridley and Tony Scott Bringing “Coma” To A&E

Fresh off the heels of mega production, Prometheus, Ridley Scott is at it again. He recently announced his newest project which will see him teaming up with his brother Tony Scott to bring Robin Cook’s novel “Coma” to the small screen in the form of an A&E series.

Coma is Cook’s first published novel and ws written in 1977. The book was a hit, landing on the New York Times best seller as well as being voted as the number one thriller of the year by The New York Times.

The Scott brothers will produce the series which will star Lauren Ambrose (Six Feet Under) as Dr. Susan Wheeler. Geena Davis, James Woods, Richard Dreyfuss, Ellen Burstyn and Steve Pasquale will co-star.

The plot involves a medical student who discovers strange happening at her hospital after a few routine procedures lead healthy patients into comas on the operating table.

Coma was previously made into a feature film in 1978 under writer/director Michael Chrichton and MGM. The cast of the Chrichton film includes Geneviève Bujold, Michael Douglas, Elizabeth Ashley, Richard Widmark, and Rip Torn as well as Tom Selleck and Ed Harris in minor roles. The film was a commercial success with its overwhelming sense of paranoia presented in the film praised as being a major drawing point for audiences.

Black Swan writer John J. McLaughlin, and “Band of Brothers” director Mikail Salomon are also attached to the project, which is set to premiere on September 3.

The Lego Movie Will See Both Batman and Superman

It was confirmed yesterday that comic book heroes Batman and Superman will both appear in the upcoming Warner Bros film LEGO: The Piece of Resistance, according to Variety.

This news comes just days after the highly anticipated release of Lego Batman 2, which features Superman and several other DC Comics heroes. Channing Tatum and Will Arnett are rumored to be up for the roles of Superman and Batman respectively.

Chris Pratt (Parks and Recreation) will voice the lead character in the movie, Emmet, an ordinary, law-abiding, Lego mini-figure, who is mistaken for the most extraordinary MasterBuilder, is drafted into a fellowship of strangers on a quest to stop an evil tyrant from gluing the universe together. However, there is no confirmation on Batman and Superman’s roles in the movie.

Phil Lord and Chris Miller, the team behind Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs will work with Robot Chicken’s Chris McKay as co-directors, with Lord and Miller also taking on screenwriting duties.

The movie will be an action/adventure movie, but also a comedy, explaining how Gob Bluth actor could end up portraying The Dark Knight.

In March 2012, Lord and Miller revealed the film’s storyline, saying: “It involves many worlds. Basically, the least qualified Lego characters in the universe having to keep the world from being frozen together.”

The project has been in development for three years and is set to hit theaters February 28, 2014.

Paddington Bear Movie Poster Revealed

Be prepared to see a lovable childhood character come to live in a brand new way. The first promotional poster for David Heyman’s big-screen adaptation of Michael Bond’s Paddington Bear has been released. The poster features Paddington standing on the platform at the Paddington train station in London, from which he takes his name.

Check out the poster here, and be sure to share your thoughts below.

Heyman, who produced the massively successful Harry Potter films, as well as  I Am Legend and Yes Man, has partnered with France’s StudioCanal to produce a live-action/CGI hybrid version of the British children’s series.

Paddington began in 1958 with the series’ first entry, “A Bear Called Paddington,” about a clever bear from Peru who is found at London’s Paddington train station and adopted by humans.

Paul King (The Mighty Boosh, Bunny and the Bull) will direct the film, so viewers may be in store for a particularly quirky experience. In a report from Empire Online, King assured Paddington enthusiasts that the new film will differ from Bond’s work only in style.

“There will be a mishap in the bath,” King said. “There will be hard stares, and he will be dressed correctly in a Peruvian bush hat and blue duffle coat.”

King also said there would be an origin story involved. I twas also reported that the film will not be an adaptation of an existing story, but “will draw inspiration from the whole series” and will feature a computer generated Paddington Bear interacting with a live-action environment.

The film, from Heyday Films and Warner Bros. Pictures,  is set to be released sometime in 2014. There is no word yet on who will star in the adaptation.

Buzz Bissinger’s “Father’s Day” Heads to the Big Screen

Peter Berg (Friday Night Lights) recently announced that he will direct a big-screen adaptation of Buzz Bissinger’s “Father’s Day.” Currently, no studio is attached to the project, but according to ComingSoon, Universal Pictures has expressed interest. The company has a first-look deal with Berg who most recently worked with Universal on the big-screen sci-fi/action film Battleship.

“Father’s Day” is a memoir by the bestselling author of “Friday Night Lights” and “Three Nights in August.”

The summary from Bissinger’s website follows.

Buzz Bissinger’s twin sons were born three and a half months premature in 1983. Gerry weighed one pound and fourteen ounces, Zachary one pound and eleven ounces. They were the youngest male twins ever to survive at that time at Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia, the nation’s oldest. They were a medical miracle, but there are no medical miracles without eternal scars.

They entered life three minutes–and a world–apart. Gerry, the older one, is a graduate student at Penn, preparing to become a teacher. His brother Zach has spent his life attending special schools and self-contained classrooms. He is able to work menial jobs such as stocking supplies. But he’ll never drive a car, or kiss a girl, or live by himself. He is a savant, challenged by serious intellectual deficits but also blessed with rare talents: an astonishing memory, a dazzling knack for navigation, and a reflexive honesty which can make him both socially awkward and surprisingly wise.

One summer night, Buzz and Zach hit the road to revisit all the places they have lived together during Zach’s 24 years. Zach revels in his memories, and Buzz hopes this journey into their shared past will bring them closer and reveal to him the mysterious workings of his son’s mind and heart. He also hopes it will help him to better come to grips with the radical differences in his beloved twin boys, inverted mirrors of one another when defined by the usual barometers of what we think it means to be successful.

As father and son follow a pinball’s path from Philadelphia to LA, they see the best and worst of America and each other. Ultimately, their trip bestows a new and uplifting wisdom on Buzz, as he comes to realize that Zach’s worldview, as exotic as it is, has a sturdy logic of its own, a logic that deserves the greatest respect. And with the help of Zach’s twin, Gerry, Buzz learns an even more vital lesson about Zach: character transcends intellect. We come to see Zach as he truly is—patient, fearless, perceptive, kind, a sixth sense for sincerity. It takes 3,500 miles, but Buzz learns the most valuable lesson he has ever learned.

His son Zach is not a man-child as he so often thought, but the man he admires most in his life.

Jim Parsons and Rihanna Head To “Happy Smekday!”

Emmy and Golden Globe winner Jim Parsons (“Harvey on Broadway,” “The Big Bang Theory”) and pop singer Rihanna (Battleship) will star in the animated feature film Happy Smekday!.

The film is based on the critically acclaimed book The True Meaning of Smekday, by Adam Rex.

In the novel, aliens invade Earth hoping to hide from their mortal enemies. When one alien accidentally shares their whereabouts with the enemies, he is forced to go on the run with a teenage girl. The two become friends and set out to fix the mistake. Along the way, the alien protagonist learns what it really means to be human.

DreamWorks Animation plans to release the film during the fourth quarter of 2014. It will be directed by Tim Johnson (Over the Hedge, Antz). Chris Jenkins (Rio, Surf’s Up) and Suzanne Buirgy (Kung Fu Panda 2) will produce and DreamWorks Animation’s Head of Development Gregg Taylor is overseeing the project.

Tom J. Astle and Matt Ember (Get Smart) are writing the screenplay.

Bill Damaschke, DreamWorks Animation’s Chief Creative Officer, said the book is hilarious, and will provide the perfect recipe for a compelling animated feature. He also said the film will “show the world just how fun an alien invasion can be.”

Johnson said he can’t wait to introduce audiences to the unique world and characters of the story.

“When I read Adam Rex’s remarkable book, I knew it would make an amazing film,” Johnson said.

Read the official plot summary of The True Meaning of Smekday below:

“It all starts with a school essay. When twelve-year-old Gratuity (“Tip”) Tucci is assigned to write five pages on The True Meaning of Smekday for the National Time Capsule contest, she’s not sure where to begin. When her mom started telling everyone about the messages aliens were sending through a mole on the back of her neck? Maybe on Christmas Eve, when huge, bizarre spaceships descended on the Earth and the aliens – called Boov – abducted her mother? Or when the Boov declared Earth a colony, renamed it “Smekland” (in honor of glorious Captain Smek), and forced all Americans to relocate to Florida via rocketpod? In any case, Gratuity’s story is much, much bigger than the assignment. It involves her unlikely friendship with a renegade Boov mechanic named J.Lo.; a futile journey south to find Gratuity’s mother at the Happy Mouse Kingdom; a cross-country road trip in a hovercar called Slushious; and an outrageous plan to save the Earth from yet another alien invasion.”

While the entire cast has not yet been determined, the roles of Rihanna and Jim Parsons have been revealed. Rihanna will be portraying Gratuity Tucci and Parsons will play J.Lo.

Adaptations At Comic Con 2012 – Panel Updates

Comic-Con 2012 is right around the corner and if you are planning to attend there are some definite panels you will want to visit.

HBO’s “Game of Thrones” and “True Blood” has recently announced their panels for this year. “Game of Thrones” will be presented in the Large Hall H, a major upgrade for the series. Hall H is traditionally reserved for movies and the most popular of television series and “Game of Thrones” definitely fits the bill. The Thrones panel will take place at the San Diego fan convention on Friday, July 13.

The “True Blood” panel will be Saturday, July 14 in Ballroom 20. The ballroom where True Blood will present, seats about 4,000.

Fans will also be able to view the panel of the favorite fictional serial killer as Showtime’s “Dexter” will be a first-day panel with a Q&A session with the show’s stars, Michael C. Hall (Dexter) and Jennifer Carpenter (Deb).The panel is sure to be a hit given the events of the last season, and fans should know to get there early as it is sure to be packed early on.

According to Showtime, before the panel’s guests arrive, fans will be treated to a first-look at the new season of the animated webisode series Early Cuts: All in the Family – which is narrated by Hall. The animated webisode series will depict the events of Dexter’s often murky past that will reveal new information that will relevant to the upcoming season. It will also focus on Deb when she felt, even early on, that there was something dark about her brother.

Not surprisingly, “The Walking Dead” will be the largest Comic-Con panel of the year sure to amp up the anticipation of the upcoming 16-episode third season. Panelists include veteran actors Andrew Lincoln, Sarah Wayne Callies, Laurie Holden, Norman Reedus, Steven Yeun and Lauren Cohan. Season 3 newcomers Danai Gurira (Michonne) and David Morrisey (The Governor) will also join, much to the excitement of fans. In addition, executive producers Glen Mazzara, Gale Anne Hurd, Robert Kirkman and co-executive producer and special effects make-up supervisor Greg Nicotero will round out the sizable panel, which will be held in Hall H (the convention’s largest venue) at 1:25pm on Friday, July 13. The hour-long session will be moderated by Talking Dead host Chris Hardwick.

Several movie previews are set to air at the convention including The Hobbit and Iron Man 3. 

Arrow and 666 Park Avenue To Make An Appearance At Comic-Con 2012

Comic-Con 2012 is roughly a month away and Warner Bros. Entertainment has announced their creation of a set of limited-edition collectible hotel keycards, which will be used at top San Diego-area hotels during Comic-Con 2012.  This will be the fifth consecutive year of the room key program, which gives fans instant access to artwork for upcoming shows like “666 Park Avenue” and “Arrow.”

More than 40,000 branded keys will be available at 38 participating hotels.

“666 Park Avenue” will star Terry O’Quinn (Lost) and Vanessa Williams (Desperate Housewives).  The show, featuring the provocative tagline, “Anything you desire can be yours… for a price,” is being touted as a seductive drama from Alloy Entertainment.

In it, the owners of a Manhattan apartment building recruit a young couple to manage the historic site with a dark history. The series will also star Rachael Taylor (Charlie’s Angels), Dave Annable (Brothers & Sisters), Robert Buckley (One Tree Hill), Mercedes Masohn (The Finder), Helena Mattsson (Iron Man 2) and Samantha Logan (Law & Order: SVU). Matthew Miller (Chuck), David Wilcox (Fringe), Leslie Morgenstein (The Vampire Diaries), Gina Girolamo (The Secret Circle) and Alex Graves (Fringe) are the executive producers.

“666 Park Avenue” is based on the book series by Gabriella Pierce and is set to air Sundays at 10/9c on ABC this fall. The full-length pilot will be aired at Warner Bros. Television’s Preview Night screening at Comic-Con on Wednesday, July 11, and during the “666 Park Avenue” session on Friday, July 13.

“Arrow” will star Stephen Amell (Private Practice), Colin Donnell (Pan Am), Katie Cassidy (Supernatural), David Ramsey (Dexter), Willa Holland (The O.C.), with Susanna Thompson (Dragonfly) and Paul Blackthorne (The River). It is an action series reinvents the DC Comics hero.

After being stranded on a remote island for five years, billionaire Oliver Queen returns home with a mysterious agenda and a lethal set of new skills to use against crime. Greg Berlanti (Green Lantern), Marc Guggenheim (Green Lantern), Andrew Kreisberg (Fringe) and David Nutter (Smallville) will executive produce.

From Bonanza Productions Inc. in association with Berlanti Productions and Warner Bros. Television, Arrow will air Wednesdays at 8/7c on The CW this fall. The full-length pilot will air at Warner Bros. Television’s Preview Night screening at Comic-Con on Wednesday, July 11, and during the Arrow session on Friday, July 13.