Category Archives: Optioned Books

The Walking Dead Game Pulls a Redeker Plan

The Walking Dead franchise splits off again, this time becoming a video game adaptation. Originally a graphic novel series, The Walking Dead has since been adapted by AMC into the most watched cable show currently in the history of television.

The franchise is hot and there are lots of merch already out there for The Walking Dead. Not many television series inspire action figures of their characters or melee weapon sets like machetes and knives. Yes, the stuff television Carl finds in the show is a product placement.

So if the franchise is so hot, why isn’t the game out yet?

Well first off, a quality game takes time to develop. Especially for high graphic consoles that don’t want the feel of a 1980’s side scroller or a generic flash game. Development of a game can take years for a console and is at a disadvantage when compared to say, a social media game found on Facebook.

Secondly, investors don’t care about any reason you give them. The franchise is almost at it’s apex of popularity and Telltale needs to come up with a solution to their dilemma. You know, aside from putting the game out there to begin with.

Enter the webs how, “Playing Dead” a web series designed at looking into the development of the game. Is it meant to be a take on playing possum, pretending you’ve ceased to be and joining the choir invisible? Or can it be taken as someone playing the walking dead video? Honestly the title itself is a bit unsavoury. I’m almost cranky over it for no explicable reason. I thought, “Talking Dead” was a good show name; a show that examines the series and thoughts on zombie survival. Playing Dead just invokes my ADHD to look at other things.

The show is actually by Telltale. It’s a stall tactic to reassure potential customers that this hasn’t gone away yet, and they’re oh so close to getting it done. Don’t leave yet!

In the show, developers and designers are asked what appears to be scripted questions about the game. They talk about the tone, progress and how everything ties in with the comic book. That’s time they could have been using to actually make the game.

Here is the official description of the game from Telltale’s official website:

“Learn about the game by watching PLAYING DEAD, a video series that takes you behind the scenes of the creation of the upcoming The Walking Dead video game based on Robert Kirkman’s award-winning comic series. Playing Dead is the online source for exclusive looks at The Walking Dead video game and interviews with the talent responsible for bringing the world of The Walking Dead to life. Check this space for new episodes of Playing Dead regularly.”

In the novel World War Z written by Max Brooks, a plan was enacted to give humanity the best chances of survival. This was called the Redeker plan, an intentional sacrifice of a human population in favor of a more defensible location. This is what Telltale is doing right now. Playing Dead tries to keep the interest alive and bring focus to a game that’s unavailable.

The game is touted as a adventure game but it seems it’ll be more of a Choose Your Own Adventure type as you’re not given free reign of the world unless it’s part of the puzzle or quest. In the interview with lead designers Jake Rodkin and Sean Vanaman, they discuss how the game will be split into five episodes and any decision a player makes will carry through month-to-month. So a character saved or abandoned might come back to haunt you later. This seems to be more like Telltale’s Back to the Future game, with it’s decision tree type gaming. I certainly hope their Walking Dead game isn’t as cartoon like in appearance.

The next episode of Playing Dead promises an talk with The Book of Eli writer Gary Whitta. Yes, a movie about a blind man who’s deadly with a blade. I saw the movie too, it was called Zatoichi when I last saw it reincarnated.

The Hunger Games Becomes an Adventure Game

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In an associated pairing of entertainment mediums, a new social media game will be released the same day The Hunger Games hits theaters. The game, like the film is based on the popular young adult book series by Suzanne Collins. It’s called The Hunger Games Adventures; Games-Game would have been silly; and will be launched on March 23 of this year with the movie.

It used to be Saturday morning cartoons, action figures and cereal. Social media games are now the new ploy to capitalize on something that is popular right now.

Funtactix, an independent game developer is no stranger to movie tie-in games. Previously they’ve put out online games based on the animated movie Rango and Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol.

This focus on creating games based on movies comes at a time when others in the industry are wary of touching that game genre.

Which doesn’t come to me as a surprise. Games based on movies have never been good, unless it’s sub-based on Lego. Then it’s cool. Yes, the children do make certain titles popular, but it’s only because parents buy these games for them, hoping it’ll shut them up or win them points with child services. My nephew for example will go absolutely nuts for anything based on the animation Cars. He’ll play a Cars game, but then he’ll drop it after five minutes in favor of angry birds. Anything beyond the age demographic of 6 – 12 is reaching for a developer hoping to make a movie based game.

THQ announced last month that it will no longer work on kids licensed games like Kung Fu Panda 2 or Up. Which makes sense as the initial market was for child fans of the movie back in 2008. It’s been 4 years since, so they might have upgraded to murder simulations and car jacking.

Two years ago, Take-Two Interactive Studios’ then-CEO and president Ben Feder declared to attendees that “Licensing content is dead.” according to Gamasutra. Well the same can be said about movies based on games. Take the Super Mario Bros. Movie of 1993 up to Prince of Persia: Sands of Time in 2010; How was Jake Gyllenhaal Persian?

Funtactix doesn’t think movie tie-ins are dead though. Sam Glassenberg, the CEO of Funtactix had this to say to Gamasutra about the problems with games based on films:

“The console-based film games business is rapidly disappearing. The game quality has fallen for years, and consumers have come to realize this, resulting in a collapse of the console-movie-games market.”

“The production cycle for a good console game has grown to two to three years, which is longer than the production window for a film… Hitting day-and-date on a quality game is a near impossibility.”

Glassenberg however points out that social game developers; say games for Facebook; can bring a Facebook title to market in months, instead of years. This makes it possible for those developers to put out; what is considered high-quality for social media; games at the same time with a movies debut.

Console games are at a distinct disadvantage due to product shipping, selling and review. Social media games on the other hand are instantly available online and free; so long as you don’t buy the credits to give you the needed advantage over others.

Game development is a tricky business overall and requires knowledge of trends, cost analysis, marketing and great workers. Then maybe a decent game on top of all that. I should know. I beat Dev Story, the 8-bit simulation where you manage your own game company and try to create a million-selling game.

Magic Kingdom for Sale – Sold! To Warner Bros.

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Warner Bros. Pictures has bought a magic kingdom, and it isn’t Disney Land. Terry Brooks, the author of the Shannara fantasy novel series also wrote a series called the “Magic Kingdom of Landover”. The first of the series is Magic Kingdom for Sale – Sold! Had it’s film rights optioned by Warner Bros. reports Variety.

First published in 1986’s, the story follows a talented but depressed trial lawyer who finds an advertisement in an upscale Christmas catalog; reminiscent of those huge Sears catalogs with a massive toy section I used to fawn over as a kid. The advertisement offers a magical kingdom for a million dollars by a man named Mr. Meeks.

As most lawyers have been brought up to crush the dreams of others, he buys this otherworldly magical land and hijinks ensue.

Publishers Write-Up includes:

“Landover is a genuine magic kingdom, complete with fairy folk and wizardry, just as the advertisement promised. But after he purchases it for a million dollars, Ben Holiday discovers that there are a few details the ad failed to mention.

Such as the fact that the kingdom is falling into ruin. The barons refuse to recognise a king and taxes haven’t been collected for years. The dragon, Strabo, is laying waste to the countryside, while the evil witch, Nightshade, is plotting to destroy the world. And if that isn’t enough for a prospective king to deal with, Ben soon learns that the Iron Mark, terrible lord of the demons, has challenged all pretenders to the throne of Landover to a duel to death – a duel no mere mortal can hope to win.

But Ben Holiday has one human trait that even magic can’t overcome. Ben Holiday is stubborn.

Magic Kingdom for Sale – Sold! is the first book in a gripping fantasy of mystery, magic and adventure from the author of the world-famous Shannara series.”

This almost sounds like a reboot of The NeverEnding Story 1984, “A troubled boy dives into a wonderous fantasy world through the pages of a mysterious book.” says IMDb. Except it’s a big shot lawyer with money instead of a whiny kid with wishes. I can almost imagine this movie will be Iron Man to the Batman like Never Ending Story. Light and funny about the antics of real people abusing their power, instead of dark, serious and brooding. Hmmm… The book also came out two years after the NeverEnding Story. Coincidence?

The movie will be produced by Akiva Goldsman’s Weed Road Pictures; I Am Legend, Hancock; Andy Cohen’s Grade A Entertainment, and Weed Road’s Kerry Foster and Alex Block.

Universal Pictures has previously tried to adapt the story back in 2005 with a script by Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel, while Stephen Sommers was attached to direct. I guess the magic just wasn’t there anymore.

Romance-Horror Genre Leaves More Warm Bodies

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Summit Entertainment, the force behind the Twilight Saga films isn’t done yet with the Romance-Horror genre. Though television, film and especially novels have seen a drastic increase in the last two years, there’s apparently still a lot left to milk, and milk it they will! Next year get ready for Hollywood’s finishing move with the adaptation of Isaac Marion’s novel, Warm Bodies.

The film will star a pretty boy, Nicholas Hoult, with Teresa Palmer, Rob Corddry, Dave Franco, Analeigh Tipton and John Malkovich.

I’m going to break it to you right now. Warm Bodies in a nutshell is a Zombie-Romance story.

The first existing demographic that producers hope to feed upon are the ones that liked Twilight. That’s an easy sell. The movie which was originally slated for August 10^th, 2012 release has since been moved to February 10^th, 2013. This means that the the film is no longer going to ride off the wake that World War Z will leave behind. As the film is expected to debut February 2013, that should give Twilight fans just enough time to go into withdrawal.

The second demographic are for the nerds that enjoy the zombie genre. The only problem is that not all zombie fans are necessarily Twilight fans and vice versa. So why would some zombie fans that have a hate on for Twilight, subject themselves to such a movie?

In one word: Addiction. We’re gluttons for punishment. We’re the ones that see a bloody car accident and know we shouldn’t look but we do anyways. Yes, we’re a subculture that will watch almost any type of zombie related film. I’ve watched zombie stripper films to Italian zombie films I didn’t understand. We’ll sit through it and make comments like, “My survival plan is better.” “Get rid of him, they’re a threat to your survival!” and “Why is that zombie proficiently using a gun?! We’re dead! Game over man! Game over!” If we were to have an Olympic Sport, it would be Speed Bitching. It could be about the movie, plot, or how we would have done it better.

I myself don’t want to see this film, knowing full well that I would help perpetuate a wheel of romantic nonsense bridged by faux-horror. Yet, I need to know how bad it’s going to be!

Here is the official description of Warm Bodies from Isaac Marion’s website:

“R is a young man with an existential crisis–he is a zombie. He shuffles through an America destroyed by war, social collapse, and the mindless hunger of his undead comrades, but he craves something more than blood and brains. He can speak just a few grunted syllables, but his inner life is deep, full of wonder and longing. He has no memories, noidentity, and no pulse, but he has dreams.

After experiencing a teenage boy’s memories while consuming his brain, R makes an unexpected choice that begins a tense, awkward, and strangely sweet relationship with the victim’s human girlfriend. Julie is a blast of color in the otherwise dreary and gray landscape that surrounds R. His decision to protect her will transform not only R, but his fellow Dead, and perhaps their whole lifeless world.

Scary, funny, and surprisingly poignant, Warm Bodies is about being alive, being dead, and the blurry line in between.”

R, the Prettiest , well done up zombie.

I read this out loud and near the end, felt bile rising in my chest. My friend whom I was reading this to at the time was outraged. She was nearly frothing at the mouth shouting things like, “Twilight is to blame!” It was like I got hit by a drunk driver, so many thoughts collided in my mind that I can’t even list them all. I was pissed with the author. It’s like Marion had said to himself, “I’ve decided to name my version of Juliette, Julie. Now all I need is a name for the Romeo zombie. Oh well, I’ll just type R for now and fix it later when I come up with a good R sounding name.” I was upset at Summit for unleashing this upon the world. Why do this when there is so many better written works of fantasy that appeal to nerds and romantics. What about Patrick Rothfuss’ “Name of the Wind”?! Huh? HUH!?!

(Calms himself down)

Though it nearly made my physically ill, in the darkest recesses of my mind, a ghost of a thought whispered to me. It said that I should acquire the novel and read it. Even though I’ve already passed judgment on it, I should read it to truly ensure the complete destruction of my psyche. Only then could I stand to be reborn, to transcend to the next level.

Vampires that sparkle. Pretty zombie boys. These were the portents of the end of days.

This must be what going mad feels like.

Alfred Hitchcock Presents: A Hollywood Reboot of Rebecca

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Hollywood seems to still be on its “reboot” phase as they add yet another classic to the list to be remade. Daphne du Maruier’s 1938 novel Rebecca is reportedly on the upgrade hit list which will be re-adapted by Steven Knight who is responsible for providing the 2002 screenplays Dirty Pretty Things and Eastern Promises. Rebecca was first brought to the silver screen by Alfred Hitchcock in 1940.

The story is about a young woman who is never named, attempt to fill the role of Maximilian de Winter’s deceased wife, Rebecca. When Maxim takes his new bride to Manderley, his country house located in Cornwall, England, the servants accept the new Mrs. de Winter as the lady of the house. One exception is the housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers who was fiercely loyal to the first Mrs. de Winter. Mrs. Danvers unleashes psychological warfare and backhanded pettiness on the second wife, drawing comparisons between her and Rebecca, indicating that she would never have the style and sophistication that Rebecca had. In the update, I somehow picture the maid saying “slut” in between coughs. The torment nearly drives Lady de Winter Mark II to suicide. And that’s just the first half of the movie. The rest of the mystery of Rebecca is unraveled as Maxim finally tells his wife what really happened to his previous one.

Hitchcock’s version opened the first Berlin Film Festival in 1951, and starred Sir Laurence Olivier as Maximilian de Winter, Judith Anderson as Mrs Danvers and Joan Fontaine as the second Mrs. de Winter. The film was nominated for eleven Academy awards, winning two, one of which was Best Picture. Du Maurier’s story has had many stage and TV adaptations and has inspired two Bollywood movies – 1964’s Kohraa and Anamika, directed by Anant Mahadevan and released in 2008.

Despite the success of Hitchcock’s version of Rebecca, it looks like fans are not anticipating the remake of this classic. With comments such as, “For the love of God! Why are they even attempting this? Haven’t they learned you can’t replicate or out do Alfred Hitchcock’s original film versions. They tried it with “Psycho”, “Rear Window” & so forth. It’s pointless,” and “Why take a movie that is a classic (definition: Judged over a period of time to be of the highest quality and outstanding of its kind), and pretend it can be improved upon? If they know they can’t improve it, why waste the time and money? Terrible idea,” its seems as though fans are readying themselves for Hollywood’s favorite gift to the people, “disappointment.” The one comment I whole-heartedly agree with is this “Trying to think of someone with as much grace, innocence and beauty as Joan Fontaine. Hmm no can’t really come up with anyone.” Which is why I won’t be surprised with Hollywood goes for the like of Megan Fox to play the role.

As Hollywood continues on this trend of recycling and rebooting, one can only hope they don’t destroy Rebecca in their Invader Zim like attempts to make it “better”. I can’t think of one remake of a classic that ever turned out well. Remember, I said classic. Not redo a horrible movie.

There really is only one thing that can be said about this. You cannot outdo Alfred Hitchcock. He is one of the masters of horror and suspense. He pioneered many of the techniques used today in horror and psychological-thriller genres. Hollywood relies to heavily on computer graphics and wires to achieve the visual and emotional content for a scene, Hitchcock used lights, cameras and, whats that? Oh, he used actors! He knew exactly what he wanted from his scenes and his actors and was able to achieve it often in one or two takes. The man was a genius when it came to movies and plots. Let’s see you do that with CGI!

Billy Connolly Goes to Middle-Earth in The Hobbit

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Actor-Comedian Billy Connolly joins the cast of Peter Jackson’s highly anticipated film The Hobbit. Adapted from J.R.R. Tokien’s books of the same name, The Hobbit serves as a prequel to the Lord of the Rings series which Jackson also directed.

The Hobbit which has been split into two films, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: There and Back Again are currently in production and being shot back-to-back in New Zealand.

Connolly is known for his roles in Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, The Last Samurai and of course as Il Duce; the one man army; in The Boondock Saints. In the Hobbit, he will play the role of Dain Ironfoot, the warrior dwarf who is lord of all dwarves and second cousin to Thorin Oakenshield; maybe he’ll even become crowned King under the Mountain one day after Oakenshield.

Director Peter Jackson welcomed this news of Connolly bringing the firefight to Middle-earth:

“We could not think of a more fitting actor to play Dain Ironfoot, the staunchest and toughest of Dwarves, than Billy Connelly, the Big Yin himself. With Billy stepping into this role, the cast of ‘The Hobbit’ is now complete. We can’t wait to see him on the Battlefield!”

Connolly’s presence as a warrior will be greeted with just as much excitement as other notable members of this eclectic cast.

There’s the healing aura of Sylvester McCoy who is known for his role as the seventh Doctor in the Doctor Who series; The last lead to have his face in the Doctor Who opening titles. McCoy will play the role of Radagast the Brown, a member of the order of wizards specializing in animal lore.

Aidan Turner; the non-sparkly vampire from the original U.K. version of “Being Human”; will be playing the role of Kili. Kili is one of the nephews to Oakenshield and is one of the youngest Dwarves in the Company who is always seen with his brother Fili.

The central role of Bilbo Baggins will be played Martin Freeman; Arthur Dent in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and Dr. John Watson on the BBC show of Sherlock.

Ian McKellen returns as Gandalf the Grey from the Lord of the Rings trilogy; which is just another overpowered character that Mckellen plays like Dumbledore and Magneto.

I knew that the Hobbit was coming out but I never took a look at the cast until now. Even if we were to remove the Tolkien Fantasy element; a most appropriately used description; a handful of the cast alone generates so much geek cred that it could band together to defeat Peter Jackson’s ego once and for all.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is slated to be released beginning December 14, 2012. The second film, The Hobbit: There and Back Again, is planned for release the following year, beginning December 13, 2013.

A Shakespearean Night With One For The Money

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Why are you interested in this adaptation?

Elena-

Pick the reason I am interested:

(1) Katherine Heigl is my favorite actress and I watch everything she does;

(2) The Stephanie Plum series is one of my favorites so OF COURSE I’m going to see the first movie even if it’s totally different from the book;

(3) I was overdue for going to a bad movie with the intention of drunk heckling it.

If you guessed (3)…you are one for the money! And if you guessed either (1) or (2) then you haven’t read one of our columns before, have you? Oh, honey, you are in for a treat!

Also I should add that I am going with a friend who has read the series and enjoys it for the fun, ridiculous Jersey fist-pump of chick-lit that it is, and while KH is not a favorite I actually don’t mind her the way a lot of people do. So there’s that.

Rachel-

THE SCENE: It is nighttime in Brooklyn. The buses are making their endless journeys, the bums are settling in for a nap in my garbage and my hipster neighbors have finally stopped their band practice. There are a few drunken couples coming home from an evening out at the bar and their screaming match is fading into the distance of horns and the occasional police siren. If I try really hard, I can almost imagine the sound of chirping crickets (who am I kidding, I mean the droning of cicadas) on this unseasonably warm winter evening.

And I tell you, dear reader, I would rather run naked out into that endless, terrible night than watch a Katherine Heigl movie.

I blame Elena, she let me believe this was some sort of Urban Fantasy Mystery adaptation. And then I googled it.

What would make it suck?

Rachel-

I REALLY hope this isn’t some weird anti-feminist bullshit like all of KH’s other movies. That one she made with Gerard Butler (Side Note: Have you ever seen Dear Frankie? I actually weep to think Butler used to be that guy, and now he’s a steroid filled mush mouth actor… IT’S TRAGIC) and the entire movie was about him treating her like crap and her learning to find his sexist and disgusting behavior endearing? UGHHHHHHH!!!!

However, I expect a ridiculous train wreck of Jersey Shore stereotypes and cringe-worthy acting in One for the Money. I mean…the title is lame. It sounds like a Sweet Valley High volume. I would label it a trash novel, but I think that would be an insult to Harlequin.

Elena-

If it’s a totally unrealistic “badass yet beautiful and approachable” female role-playing/wish fulfillment fantasy. Also if they treat her possession of and use of firearms either irresponsibly or as a joke. Not because I hate or fear guns but rather because I hate and fear the lobby that would take them away and don’t want to provide them any ammunition—no matter how tongue in cheek it was meant—for that cause.

What would make it awesome?

Elena-

Um…my expectations are kind of starting in the gutters, so I think I will consider it an awesome time at the movies if I walk out with a smile. That can be either because the movie is so patently terrible that my friend and I just MST3K it the whole time, or if it’s better than I expect—you know, actually funny and witty and sexy and adventurous.

Rachel-

Please god let there be some self-aware and hilarious co-star that has decided that in addition to collecting a paycheck they will keep the audience in on the joke that this movie suuuucks.

I mean, I didn’t think I’d like Bridesmaids either (purely on the fact that it had to do with a wedding, and that is always boring and stupid), but I ended up nearly peeing myself with laughter. Maybe Melissa McCarthy can be in this film too?

Additional thoughts on casting or production?

Elena-

Well, I’ve already mentioned that I don’t mind Heigl despite her being a love-to-hate-her actress.

I have been told grandma is the best part of the series, so I am expecting that character to be hilarious and will be disappointed if she is not.

This is set in Jersey, right? Does that mean it’s going to be full of a bunch of Jersey Shore types? If she tries to fall in love with a dude calling himself “The Shenanigan” I am fucking out, y’all.

Rachel-

TOO LATE. Whatever troll-type they’ve got cast as the romantic interest will now forever be dubbed “The Shenanigan.” He can be half Irish, half Italian—all whack.

I don’t know who this grandma is. I only know what Wikipedia tells me and it tells me that Isabelle is a bounty hunter and she sells bras. (Speaking of Isabelle, remember how she ended up marrying that stupid random character they brought on last-minute because Tom Hanks’ nephew quit Roswell but we all knew they were supposed to be together? And Isabelle was the most supremely uninteresting alien posing as a high school student in the history of the genre? (Because bitches aren’t interesting!!!!) And even when they did the whole Bewitched homage she STILL wasn’t interesting and we just wanted Isabelle to maybe die and take stupid Tess with her? DO YOU REMEMBER THAT GUYS?)

I’m going to go watch the movie now. Pause for Effect.

Reaction to Film?

Rachel-

……….

That was… that was…. .

Well that was a Katherine Heigl movie.

One for the Money was everything I feared it would be. A stereotype-laden piece of trash with writing that can only be described as…chewy. So, instead of abusing my brain by trying to digest the word vomit, I mentally replaced the entire film with Shakespeare. It was what kept me sane.

For example, when Stephanie Plum starts her new job as a “bounty hunter” and it just so happens that an early assignment is an old douchey flame, I blocked out the rage-inducing couple talk with hilarious insults from the Bard. (Hey, look, it’s The Shenanigan. He…looks exactly how I pictured he would. How terrifying.)

Or when the bounty hunter mentor guy decided that he was going to break the law and purchase our intrepid heroin her own weapon of destruction I decided maybe everyone in this movie was on drugs.

Or.. mayhaps I was on drugs? Drugs that made everything in the universe not funny.

Nay! This movie was just… horribly unfunny.

Like the whore jokes… whose idea was that?

Yea… let’s laugh at horrible bigoted caricatures of people. HILARIOUS.

Or when Heigl’s character decided that people LOVE funny whores and her bounty-hunting tactics would revolve around double entendres and copious shots of her bra?

I decided maybe I was being tortured for something terrible I had done? Heigl’s career certainly deserves the punishment she’ll get from this latest resume star of a film. She produced this one herself, isn’t that nice? People with money are idiots. Stop paying this woman to do a damn thing. JUST. STOP.

Alas, had this film ended when it should have…we would have been spared rank tripe. Here’s your grade Ms. Heigl. Enjoy as thou wilt.

Elena-

So…that wasn’t actually as bad as I thought it would be. I mean, it was not great cinema. It was not profound storytelling or deep characterization. There were a lot of stereotypes, and several really questionable gun scenes. But I kind of enjoyed it. Maybe I was just drunk enough on the cheap corporate-chain-restaurant margaritas I sucked down by the bucketful in advance to appreciate the level of cheapness on display.

Maybe that was why I spent the entire film having flashbacks to that college production of Taming of the Shrew?

Dear readers, I present to you Elena’s Notes for this movie—a handy visual and alternative-textual summation of the film that will tell you everything you need to know about what happened in it with only the cast of Katherine “The Curst” and “The Shenanigan” to tell the tale.

Firstly, the unhappy lovers reunite:

Round one to The Shenanigan.

Katherine the Curst meditates upon scorned women and hell-fury.

The Shenanigan vows he will beat her by hook or by crook.

There are handcuffs and a shower involved, which she doesn’t mind nearly as much as she ought to.

She points out she’ll get further working with him than against him.

He is dumb enough to not realize she said “I” and not “we” when she spoke of winning.

He did not at any point during the final scenes of the movie use the word “shenanigan.” I feel fucking cheated.

The End.

Upcoming Adaptations for February 2012

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February is definitely a slow month for the book adaptation world. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t any. It seems like everywhere you look a new book is being remade into a movie (or a show) and you might not always hear about them, even the good ones. So because every month there are new and exciting remakes of books into movies and television, we will try to keep you updated.

You can see their release dates for all the new upcoming remakes for February 2012.

February 3^rd

The Woman in Black

Starring:

Daniel Radcliffe, Ciaran Hinds, Liz White, Janet McTeer, Alisa Khazanova

It follows a smart young lawyer named Arthur Kipps who must travel to a remote and slightly deserted village and handle a deceased clients papers and files. However, as he toils over the work, he begins to unravel tragic secrets of the village and the client. This is accompanied by a mysteriously woman in black who he glimpses more and more. When he questions the locals he gets no answers. He is forced to set out on his own to figure out the true identity of the woman and stop her from her true intent.

Based on the novel of the same name by Susan Hill.

Big Miracle

Starring:

John Krasinski, Drew Barrymore, Kristen Bell.

Inspired by the true story that captured the hearts of people across the world, the rescue adventure ‘Big Miracle’ tells the amazing tale of a small town news reporter (John Krasinski) and a Greenpeace volunteer (Drew Barrymore) who are joined by rival world superpowers to save a family of majestic gray whales trapped by rapidly forming ice in the Arctic Circle.

Based on the 1989 book Freeing the Whales by Tom Rose

February 17^th

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance

Starring:

Nicolas Cage, Johnny Whitworth, Fergus Riordan, Ciaran Hinds, Violante Placido, Idris Elba, Christopher Lambert

Johnny is still struggling with his curse as the devil’s bounty hunter – but he may risk everything as he teams up with the leader of a group of rebel monks to save a young boy from the devil… and possibly rid himself of his curse forever.

Based on the Marvel Comics antihero Ghost Rider.

The Secret World of Arrietty

A 2010 Japanese animated fantasy film based on Mary Norton’s juvenile fantasy novel The Borrowers. The film was directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi, was written by Hayao Miyazaki and Keiko Niwa, and stars the voices of Mirai Shida as the titular character, Ryunosuke Kamiki as Sho, and Tatsuya Fujiwara as Spiller. The film tells the story of Arrietty, a young Borrower who lives under the floorboards of a typical household. She eventually befriends Sho, a human boy with a heart condition since birth who is living with his great aunt Sadako. When Sadako’s maid Haru becomes suspicious of the floorboard’s disturbance, Arrietty and her family must escape detection, even if it means leaving their beloved home.

5 Reasons That Woman In Black Is Scary As Hell

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On opening weekend, I went with my boyfriend to see the film, Woman in Black starring Daniel Radcliffe. The movie is based on the novel of the same name written by Susan Hill. After watching the incredibly creepy trailers and covering it over here at Optionated, I really really wanted to see this movie. Watching scary movies is one of my favorite past-times and as scary as the movie looked from the previews, I knew I had to see it in theaters and not just 3 months from now in my apartment (which by the way, I am about 84% sure is haunted).

Overall, this was a pretty scary movie. I definitely did not disappoint. So here are the 5 reasons that Woman in Black was scary as hell.

:::::Warning there are some mild spoilers ahead::::

1. Creepy Kids

I have a pretty irrational fear of children, in most respects. They are tiny, with big eyes and a unique position to be taken over by ghosts (I.E. Poltergeist, Insidious, really any supernatural horror movie at some point during the plot.) So generally children in horror films, freak me out. this movie had an abundance of dead ghost children. Not to mention a dead muddy children rising from the marshes only to sneak into the house and finds its way to his bedroom to be even creepier there. One of the weirdest things about the children was the soulless look on their faces as they walked (or jumped, or burned, or drank lye) to their death. It was incredibly unsettling.

The unsettling stare of death in a child…. shiver.

Towards the end of the film, we got some great glimpses of all of the towns dead children just chillin’ following Arthur Kipps around, which would throughly freak me out if I was him. (Personally, At the first site of the titular woman’s eye in that spinning thing would have sent me running home).

2. Creepy Toys

This is a big one. Whoever the prop team was, did a freaking fantastic job making the house this film takes place in creepy. I don’t know why old toys always look weird and unsettling. I mean I can’t think of a better adjective than creepy for the toys that were prevalent during this time period. And whoever found (or made) the toys for this movie found he creepiest ones of all. From the oddly painted clowns to the dolls with teeth appearing to be filed down to look like a mouth full of fangs (and we can’t forget the incredibly racist african monkey toys).

All the toys in the movie were downright disconcerting. It made me wonder who the hell would play with these as a child and NOT get nightmares from the very sight of them?

Seriously… So weird.

It also didn’t help that they toys in the film would inexplicably move on their own and start moving. The cat playing the violin becoming sinister looking, the jovial clowns beating on their drums were all together terrifying. Even the racist african toys move and play on their own to create their own horrifying backdrop for a ghostly encounter.

3. Creepy Scream

The titular Woman in Black was pretty scary. I will definitely admit that. Whoever did her makeup to look all dead and cracked and decaying did a phenomenal job. But it wasn’t her far that sent shivers down my spine, no it was her scream. As the film got going, and she wasn’t just a woman standing around, but now a thoroughly pissed off woman, she did this piercing scream that can only be described as a scream of death (pretty similar to a banshee the more I think about it).

Often it was almost complete silence when she let out her impish shriek of impending doom, which added to the terror affect. However, while it was scary (and I kept expecting it to occur in my apartment in the dark while I slept) it was more of a shock terror as opposed to an actual unsettling moment like other parts of the film.

4. What You Don’t See Can Get You

There were several parts where the audience could only see something briefly, or barely. This technique is great because at the beginning you don’t really know who she is, what she wants, or where she is headed and that in itself is pretty scary. (This one of the reasons I love the Paranormal Activity series). This film really utilizes the “what you can’t see is what will get you” idea. Whether it is a wisp of black in a mirror during an uneventful scene, or an empty rocking chair that won’t stop rocking, I found myself clenching tightly in anticipation of what as about to happen, more so then what did happen (or in some cases didn’t happen). There was one scene where we see the woman heading for a sleeping Arthur but we don’t see her so much as see darkness heading for him. She gets so close she can almost touch him before he wakes up and she is gone. But that tense scene doesn’t even feature a fully visible woman to scare, just the idea that she is heading his way while he is vulnerable.

She is barely visible in this scene but it was still terrifying.

The great thing about this film was that, the filmmakers (and original story) didn’t have to rely on gore or cheesy setups to get scares out of the audience. It used a minimalist type of filmmaking for most of the first half and followed it up with the action shock scenes to bring the thrill home.

5. Darkness

I touched on this briefly in the section above, but the use of darkness in this film definitely added to its frightening moments. Having the character surrounded by darkness is always a goo technique because it forces the audience to feel the disorienting emotions of the scene right along with the character. This whole movie (almost) is shot in a dark house. Before the days of electricity. Yes, he lights like a million candles but those only give off light in like a 5 foot radius. Most scenes that takes place in the house are well lit in the front wherever the character is but the darkening background houses no light and no salvation (and often the woman just chillaxing watching Arthur in a slightly voyeur type of way.)

This scene is super dark, it is hard to tell what anything is other than himself.

Other than the darkly lit world this film takes place in, the film also uses darkness in another way. Obviously in portraying the woman in black. She is always in black and she is often just scene surrounded in by darkness. She also makes herself known to the audience by either just being a blur of black or a by blending into the shadows just to move and you realize she has been there the whole time. This is one of the best types of scares in the film. Where the audience and Arthur think they are safe or its an uneventful moment until you see a shift in the shadows behind him and realize that the woman has been watching him (and it kind of feels like she is watching you too) the whole time.

Over all this movie was pretty good. It definitely got some good jumps out of me (and my boyfriend). Even with the cheesy not book accurate ending, the movie still got a 4 out of 5 stars from me (this is partly due to the cutest dogs wearing sailor suits… seriously it was gold).

Mia Wasikowska to See Double

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Mia Wasikowska of Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland fame will star opposite Jesse Eisenberg the award-winning star of The Social Network in The Double, reports the Hollywood Reporter.

This film is being directed by Richard Ayoade; from TV comedy shows The IT Crowd and The Mighty Boosh. Ayoade who wrote the script with Avi Korine, draws this story from Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s novel of the same name. While the Russian novelist is not known for his humor, and more for being one of the greatest and most influential Russian writers of the 19th century; having written the popular classic Crime and Punishment; the film adaptation is being billed as a comedy.
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