Author Archives: Sarah Sommer

About Sarah Sommer

Sarah is a journalist and an artist who lives in the city. She loves movies and television. She reads early and often. Sarah also helps out over at BSCkids.com and our other sites!

The Secret World of Arrietty Heads To DVD and BLU-RAY

One of the years most gorgeous films, The Secret World of Arriety, a film from Studio Ghibli, is heading to a special DVD and Blu-ray combo back in May.

The film is based on the book series, “The Borrowers” written by Mary Norton. The film includes timeless themes such as friendship, courage, and determination.

Finally, on May 22, 2012 Walt Disney Studios and Studio Ghibli will release The Secret World of Arrietty on Blu-ray™ Combo Pack and DVD.

The voice cast includes stars such as Will Arnett, Amy Poehler, Bridgit Mendler, Moises Arias, David Henrie and the iconic and much beloved Carol Burnett.

The two disc combo pack includes tons of bonus features such as:

·       Storyboard presentation of the film

·       Original Japanese Trailers and Television Commercials

·        “Summertime” Music Video – Performed by Bridgit Mendler, the speaking voice of Arrietty.

·       The Making Of “Summertime” Behind the Scenes – Bridgit Mendler hosts a look at the making of themusic video.

·       “Arrietty’s Song” Music Video – Experience the movie’s theme song, performed by innovative singer and harpist Cécile Corbel, who also wrote the lyrics.

1-Disc DVD: (1 DVD)

·       “Summertime” Music Video

·        The Making Of “Summertime”

The official film synopsis is as follows:

Residing quietly beneath the floorboards are little people who live undetected in a secret world to be discovered. Arrietty (voice of Bridgit Mendler), a tiny, but tenacious 14-year-old, lives with her parents (voices of Will Arnett and Amy Poehler) in the recesses of a suburban garden home, unbeknownst to the homeowner and her housekeeper (voice of Carol Burnett). Like all little people, Arrietty (AIR-ee-ett-ee) remains hidden from view, except during occasionalcovert ventures beyond the floorboards to “borrow” scrap supplies like sugar cubes from her human hosts.

But when 12-year-old Shawn (voice of David Henrie), a human boy who comes to stay in the home, discovers his mysterious housemate one evening, a secret friendship blossoms. If discovered, their relationship could drive Arrietty’s family from the home and straight into danger. From the legendary Studio Ghibli (“Spirited Away,” “Ponyo”) comes “The Secret World of Arrietty,” an animated adventure based on Mary Norton’s acclaimed children’s book series “The Borrowers.”

Leonardo DiCaprio To Live By Night

Warner Bros. is having a field day lately buying the film rights to various novels. They have now begun the process of bringing the upcoming Dennis Lehane prohibition-era novel Live By Night. Deadline has reported that the project has already asked Leonardo DiCaprio to star in the film.

The novel is the second book in a trilogy written by Lehane. It is the sequel to his 2008 book, The Given Day. 

Lehane is already an award winning novelist. He has also already had some of his novels adapted for the big screen. He wrote Mystic River which became an Academy Award-winning film. Another novel, Gone, Baby, Gone became an Academy Award-nominated film. DiCaprio also starred in a big screen adaptation of a Lehane novel, Shutter Island. 

I has also been reported that DiCaprio will produce the film adaptation.

There is no word on when the adaptation is projected to release or when it will begin production.

Old Boy Adaptation Casting Update

News has been slow coming for the reboot of the Park Chan-wook film Oldboy which is based on the manga of the same name. Casting news has changed drastically over the last few months for the Spike Lee directed reboot. Colin Firth was originally offered the role of the villain, however he has decided against it and now Sharlto Copley has been offered the part.

Copely, most known for staring in the film District 9, will appear opposite Josh Brolin and Elizabeth Olsen as the main characters.

The reboot will follow Joe (named Dae-su Oh in the original) who will be played by Brolin as he is captured and imprisoned in a hotel room for over two decades (it was 15 years in the original). But Joe has no understanding why he has been imprisoned. When he is suddenly released, he is told he has just four days to determine the reason for his detainment.

Originally a late ’90’s manga series by Garon Tsuchiya and Nobuaki Minegishi, the American version will apparently, as in that series, go by that two word title rather that the single world Oldboy that Chan-wook’s version used.

I have seen the original film (but have not read the manga) and there are some pretty heavy themes from live and love, to the psychology of being imprisoned, incest, family ties, and not to mention the brutality. I am not to sure American audiences are totally ready for what the film entails, and I am curious to see what they keep and what they change slightly to make more appropriate for the less open-minded audiences.

Oh yeah, and the scene where he eats a live octopus alive… will probably make you sick. This probably won’t be included in the American reboot as eating live octopus is not a delicacy here as it is in Korea.

First Official Poster For The Host Revealed

The Host, the upcoming adaptation of the 2008 novel written by Twilight author, Stephenie Meyer, has finally revealed its official poster which you can see above.

Meyer’s novel and the upcoming film is a little more sci-fi than her previous multimillion dollar franchise, Twilight. Here is an official description of the novel:

“The Host” is a riveting story about the survival of love and the human spirit in a time of war. Our world has been invaded by an unseen enemy. Humans become hosts for these invaders, their minds taken over while their bodies remain intact. Most of humanity has succumbed.

When Melanie, one of the few remaining “wild” humans, is captured, she is certain it is her end. Wanderer, the invading “soul” who has been given Melanie’s body, was warned about the challenges of living inside a human: the overwhelming emotions, the glut of senses, the too-vivid memories. But there was one difficulty Wanderer didn’t expect: the former tenant of her body refusing to relinquish possession of her mind.

When outside forces make Wanderer and Melanie unwilling allies, they set off on a dangerous and uncertain search for the man they both love.

The film is being produced by Open Road Films and is being directed by Andrew Niccol.

The Host cast, headed by Saoirse Ronan as the main character, includes:

  • Saoirse Ronan as Melanie Stryder/Wanderer
  • Max Irons as Jared Howe
  • Diane Kruger as The Seeker
  • Jake Abel as Ian O’Shea
  • Chandler Canterbury as Jamie Stryder
  • William Hurt as Jeb Stryder
  • Boyd Holbrook as Kyle O’Shea
  • Frances Fisher as Maggie Stryder
  • Scott Lawrence as Doc

The Host is expected to hit theaters on March 29th, 2013.

You can also see the trailer for the film below:

First Look at Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper in Serena

The Hunger Games star, Jennifer Lawrence, has begun shooting her new project Serena in Prague. The film comes from 2929 and Studiocanal Productions, and she will star opposite of Bradley Cooper. Serena is based on on Rash’s acclaimed novel of the same name, which was a finalist for the 2009 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction.

We only have one photo from the adaptation, but frankly she looks gorgeous. I love the 1920’s look and she pulls off flawlessly.

The film follows newlyweds George (Cooper) and Serena Pemberton (Lawrence) who travel from Boston to the mountains of North Carolina where they begin to build a timber empire in 1929. Serena soon shows herself to be the equal of any man: overseeing crews, hunting rattle-snakes, even saving a man’s life in the wilderness. Together, this king and queen rule their dominion, killing or vanquishing all who stand in the way of their ambitions. But when Serena learns that she can never bear a child, she sets out to murder the woman who bore George a son before his marriage. And when she starts to suspect that George is protecting his illegitimate family, the Pembertons’ intense, passionate marriage begins to unravel as the story moves toward its shocking reckoning.

Serena is being directed by Susanne Bier with a screenplay from Christopher Kyle.

Along side Lawrence and Cooper, the film also features Toby Jones and Rhys Ifans.

We are very happy to be partnering with 2929 again,” said Olivier Courson, Chairman and CEO of Studiocanal. “Susanne Bier is a director we all greatly admire at Studiocanal, so to be able to finance and distribute her next film is a great pleasure for us. And like any filmgoer, we are very excited to see Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence together in this epic film.”

The film is produced by Ben Cosgrove, 2929 co-owners Todd Wagner and Mark Cuban, Chockstone Pictures’ Paula Mae Schwartz and Steve Schwartz, and Nick Wechsler via his Nick Wechsler Productions banner. Studiocanal co-financed the project with 2929 and is handling all foreign sales.

Discover Young Sherlock Holmes in Audio With Rebel Fire

The second installment in author Andrew Lane’s Young Sherlock Holmes series, Rebel Fire, is being released in an audiobook version by Macmillan Audio. The audiobook is narrated by Daniel Weyman, who has received glowing reviews for his emotional readings such as his work on the first novel in the series. The audiobook program provides listeners with a delightful combination of emotion and action, and is a brilliant way to introduce younger fans to Sherlock Holmes and his legendary sleuthing.

Young Sherlock Holmes, a  teen series is the first ever endorsed by the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Estate.

Readers follow fourteen-year-old Sherlock as he discovered that Amyus Crow, his American tutor, is hiding some dark secrets. However, he doesn’t anticipate how deeply entangled those secrets are and that Crow is omehow mixed up in the incredible reappearance of John Wilkes Booth, the notorious American assassin supposedly killed by the U.S. Army.

This second novel takes our hero across the Atlantic to The United States where  a horrendous fiend awaits and a defeated army threatens to rise again.

This teen series has received glowing reviews from all over the world.

This adventure with a 14-year old Sherlock Holmes is as fascinating as Doyle’s brilliant original stories. Stage actor Weyman is able to convey both the emotion and the action adding to the sheer pleasure of the yarn itself.” – Parade

Author Andrew Lane works for the British government but has been a fan of Sherlock Holmes since he was ten giving him to ability to infuse his writing with knowledge and passion.

Rebel Fire will be available April 24th, 2012.

Producer Alex Kurtzman Talks Adapting Ender’s Game

We love the Ender’s Game production blog, but its sometimes-updated ways are making us anxious for more information. Apparently, MTV felt the same and recently talked with producer Alex Kurtzman about the project.

Written by Orson Scott Card, the story is set in a future utopian version of Earth. It follows a young boy who is a strategist of the genius level who becomes drafted by the International Fleet to battle and destroy to Formics. Formics are a dangerous alien race that threaten mankind. And if Ender fails, then Earth will be gone forever.

“I’m really proud of the work everybody’s done on ‘Ender’s.’ Particularly because it’s a very complicated sprawling book that a lot of people have tried for a very long time to figure out how to make,” Kurtzman said.

He also talked with them about the difficulties of taking the original book, written by Orson Scott Card, and successfully transferring it to the big screen in a way that is understandable for all audiences.

“[Director] Gavin Hood, the minute that we read his script we realized that in a miraculous way he’d managed to distill down the essence of the book and the big moves to a very understandable clear format. He had made changes that were I think totally protective of the novel, he hasn’t changed any of the plot, it’s just about not being able to put all of it in one movie. He really distills it down to its essence in a beautiful way and that was an amazing thing to see. It’s an amazing thing to see the movie come to life because it’s such a special and different movie.”

It is not just the director, Gavin Hood, getting praised by Kurtzman. He also has nothing but great things to say about the cast of the adaptation which includes Asa Butterfield, Harrison Ford, and Abigail Breslin.

“Asa [Butterfield] is unbelievable in it. Hailee [Steinfeld] and Abigail [Breslin] are incredible. Harrison [Ford] and Viola [Davis] are just, they’re weirdly exactly what you imagined when you read the book, or at least I did,” he admitted. “It’s really going to be a special movie. We’re about halfway through it, maybe close to halfway but it’s been a wonderful shoot so far.”

“We’re just happy to support the vision of the book,” he added. “It’s such a treasured novel and it’s very rare that you get an opportunity to work on something like that so we were very psyched.”

Kurtzman definitely seems thrilled about the way the film is turning out. It will definitely be interesting to see how the film as a whole turns out as well as how scenes set in the Battle Room come together.

Upcoming Adaptations for April 2012

Friday, April 20

The Moth Diaries

Rated: R

Rebecca (Sarah Bolger), is a young girl who, haunted by her father’s suicide, enrolls in an elite boarding school for girls. Before long, Rebecca’s friendship with the popular Lucy (Sarah Gadon) is shattered by the arrival of a dark and mysterious new student named Ernessa (Lily Cole). Lucy falls under Ernessa’s spell and becomes emotionally and physically consumed by her glamorous new friend. Rebecca, whose overtures of concern are rejected by Lucy, finds herself lost and confused. She begins to develop a crush on her handsome English teacher, Mr. Davies (Scott Speedman) and immerses herself in the Gothic vampire novel Carilla for his class. Rebecca starts to suspect that Ernessa is a vampire, but, despite the suspicious deaths that begin to occur, her fears are treated as simple girlish jealousy. As the bodies of young girls pile up and the line between reality and the supernatural starts to blur, Rebecca decides to take matters into her own hands and get rid of Ernessa.

Cast: Lily Cole, Sarah Gadon, Sarah Bolger, Scott Speedman, Judy Parfitt

Director: Mary Harron

Based on a novel by the same name by Rachel Klein.

 

Think Like a Man

Rated: PG-13

Think Like a Man follows four interconnected and diverse men whose love lives are shaken up after the ladies they are pursuing buy Harvey’s book and start taking his advice to heart. When the band of brothers realize they have been betrayed by one of their own, they conspire using the book’s insider information to turn the tables and teach the women a lesson of their own.

Cast: Steve Harvey, Gabrielle Union, Kevin Hart, Michael Ealy, Taraji P. Henson

Director: Tim Story

Based on Steve Harvey’s book Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man.

Friday, April 27

The Raven

Rated: R

The macabre and lurid tales of Edgar Allan Poe are vividly brought to life – and death – in this stylish, gothic thriller starring John Cusack as the infamous author. When a madman begins committing horrific murders inspired by Poe’s darkest works, a young Baltimore detective (Luke Evans) joins forces with Poe in a quest to get inside the killer’s mind in order to stop him from making every one of Poe’s brutal stories a blood chilling reality. A deadly game of cat and mouse ensues, which escalates when Poe’s love (Alice Eve, She’s Out of My League) becomes the next target. Intrepid Pictures’ The Raven also stars Brendan Gleeson (In Bruges) and Oliver Jackson-Cohen (Faster).

Cast: John Cusack, Luke Evans, Brendan Gleeson, Alice Eve, Oliver Jackson-Cohen

Director: James McTeigue

Based on the stories written by Edgar Allen Poe

 

The Pirates! Band of Misfits

Rated: PG

Accompanied by his ragtag crew, an enthusiastic pirate captain (Hugh Grant) sails the high seas and dreams of besting his bitter rivals, Black Bellamy (Jeremy Piven) and Cutlass Liz (Salma Hayek), in a quest to win the coveted title of Pirate of the Year. The captain’s quest takes him and his comrades from the exotic shores of Blood Island to Victorian London’s foggy streets. Along the way, they battle an evil queen (Imelda Staunton) and join forces with a young scientist (David Tennant).

Cast: Hugh Grant, Brendan Gleeson, Martin Freeman, David Tennant, Imelda Staunton

Director: Peter Lord

The film is based on the first two books from Gideon Defoe’s The Pirates! series, The Pirates! in an Adventure with Scientists and The Pirates! in an Adventure with Whaling.

6th Annual BSC Book Tournament Winner Revealed!

Congratulations to author Sara Grant who’s novel, Dark Parties has come out on top as the winner for the 6th Annual BSC Book Tournament!

We started the contest out with 32 entries into the March Madness style competition. We called this years tournament “A Taste of the Hunger Games” given that all the novels were ones that fans of the Hunger Games trilogy would enjoy.  Each novel in the tournament took a look at dystopian futures.

After weeks of voting by our readers, Dark Parties has come out as the winner of it all.

Dark Parties follows Sixteen-year-old Neva who has been trapped since birth. She was born and raised under the Protectosphere, in an isolated nation ruled by fear, lies, and xenophobia. A shield “protects” them from the outside world, but also locks the citizens inside. But according to the government, there’s nothing left on the outside, ever since the world collapsed from violent warfare. Neva and her best friend Sanna believe the government is lying and stage a “dark party” to recruit members for their underground rebellion. But as Neva begins to uncover the truth, she realizes she must question everything she’s ever known, including the people she loves the most.

Grant’s dystopian novel has caught the attention and love of readers all over the world making it this year’s winner!

I would also like to thank everyone who participated in the tournament this year as well. They were truly all fabulous books. You can see the list of novels included in this years tournament here.

Ender’s Game Release Date Delayed To November

 

Summit Entertainment has moved Ender’s Game way back from March 15th 2013 to November 1, 2013. They haven’t said why the massive move happened despite the fact that the film was without competition on both release dates, and filming has already begun. However, November 2013 already has some big name films premiering such as Singularity, Marvel’s Thor 2 and the already highly anticipated The Hunger Games sequel Catching Fire all arriving within weeks of Ender’s Game. 

Written by Orson Scott Card, the story is set in a future utopian version of Earth. It follows a young boy who is a strategist of the genius level who becomes drafted by the International Fleet to battle and destroy to Formics. Formics are a dangerous alien race that threaten mankind. And if Ender fails, then Earth will be gone forever.

The cast, which includes several award winners, is as follows:

  • Asa Butterfield – Ender Wiggin
  • Harrison Ford – Colonel Hyrum Graff
  • Abigail Breslin – Valentine Wiggin
  • Hailee Steinfeld – Petra
  • Aramis Knight – Bean
  • Moises Arias – Bonzo
  • Jimmy Pinchak – Peter Wiggin
  • Suraj Parthasarathy – Alai
  • Conor Carroll – Bernard
  • Khylin Rhambo – Dink
  • Brandon Soo Hoo – Fly Molo
  • Ben Kingsley – Mazer Rackham
  • Viola Davis – Major Anderson
  • Caleb J. Thaggard – Stilson
  • Stevie Ray Dallimore – John Wiggin
  • Andrea Powell – Theresa Wiggin
  • Nonso Anozie – Sergeant Dap