Sports and Entertainment

After 5 years in the making, James Cameron’s Avatar teaser trailer finally hit today and let me tell you…..I am not all that impressed.  I know I know.  I sound like a fanboy. But after all the hype, this thing just didn’t impress me.  I wasn’t blown away.  My eyes weren’t violated.  I thought it just ‘meh’.  Tell me what you think.

Tim Falletti

This summer hasn’t been to kind to movie buffs.  Transformers sucked.  Wolverine sucked.  Terminator was meh.  Harry Potter was meh.  If you really think about it, there has only been one or two movies that have really been good this whole season. (Hangover and Hurt Locker)   I can remember as far back as being a kid in little league talking about Jurassic Park and as little as last year talking about The Dark Knight.  Each summer, there is one movie that just has to be talked about over dinner, with friends, and in your head over and over again.  This year really didn’t have that.   Until now.

District 9 is this year’s “Holy Shit” movie.  It’s like seeing dinosaurs on the big screen for the first time.  It’s like seeing Spider-Man swinging from web the first time.  It’s like seeing Heath Ledger’s Joker make a pencil disappear.  District 9 is like nothing I have ever seen before and seeing it for the first time is like a rejuvenation in my eyes.  I have faith in Hollywood once again.

OK this is going to sound like hyperbole, but seriously, you should really stop reading this review and come back later this weekend after you have seen this movie.   I am not going to give away ANY spoilers in this review, but the less you know about this movie going in is better.  Period.  OK, not that that is out of the way:

The basic premise is that aliens came to earth, and got stuck here.  (God, that’s all I really want to tell you)  There is no one in this movie you know.  But you will know them when it’s over.  The special effects in this movie are so good, it’s hard to believe they didn’t cost anything.  The movement and pace of this movie is so perfect, so wonderful, you will find yourself forgetting where you actually are.  The last 30 minutes….oh man the last 30 minutes…This movie is so good, you will seriously stand up when the movie is over and want to buy another ticket.

End spoilers. -

This is without a doubt the best movie of the summer.  It will be my top movie of the year.  It will blow you away.  Just go see it.

(Sorry this review isn’t really a review.  You will understand after you see it).

We all know that at Comic-Con, Gary Oldman let slip that the sequel to Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins and The Dark Knight is expected to start filming soon.  We also know that Oldman later retracted those statements for fear of his life.

Here are the facts:

Christopher Nolan is doing a movie right now.

Christian Bale is unsure if there will be another one, and he is really skinny from filming a movie with Marky Mark.

There is no script.

There isn’t a villian.

That doesn’t sound too promising am I right?  Well today, a very close source of mine that is sort of kind of in charge of the rental facility that Warner Bros. uses for the trailers for the actors and the makeup trailers etc., (basically it’s an empty parking lot) told me he got a call from Warner Bros or whoever is in charge of picking up that lot space.

Here’s the deal:  The lot in question is still empty, though they are planning on putting in a huge parking garage in the near future.  According to my source, they want the lot from (here’s where it gets kind of cool) the end of December of 2010 until April of 2011.  So pretty much the dead of winter in Chicago.  This is just speculation, but winter = Mr. Freeze as the villian.  (Granted, Catwoman and Penguin were in a wintery Gotham in Batman Returns).

The deal HAS NOT been finalized.  Warner Bros. pretty much just sent a querie about the lot.  It might not even be Batman related ( My source seems confident it is though because of previous dealings with WB.)

I’ll keep an ear to the ground in the meantime.  (I know this isn’t awesome super fantastic news, but it’s something!)

I have a confession to make:  I have never seen Tron.  I have seen bits and pieces here and there, but I have never actually sat down and watched it from beginning to end.  After watching this trailer, I think I just might need to put it on my Netflix ASAP.  Check out this badass trailer from Comic-Con (last year) that came out. (This year.)

Oh, did I mention it has Olivia Wilde in it?

Just a real quick shout out for White Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle.  Congratulations on a perfect game.  Fun fact:  I had tickets to this game but couldn’t go due to work related issues.  Thanks a lot work! Again, I am a Cubs fan, but have to tip my hat to one of the good guys in the game.

 Honestly, there’s not much to this poster.  I am not a fan of the font they used, and Megan Fox looks sleepy.  But, it’s still the first real image from the movie, and Brolin as Hex has me convinced.

Am I excited for this?  Yes.  I really dug the Friday the 13th reboot, and it seems I am really going to dig this one.  Check out the images!

Iron Man 2 is still a year away, but the first pictures of the Black Widow should hold you over until the teaser trailer!  Here they are in all their (small) glory!

Natalie Portman has been confirmed as part of the cast in Kenneth Branagh’s upcoming Thor movie.   She will star opposite Chris Hemsworth (Thor) and Tom Hiddleston (Loki). She’ll play Jane Foster, nurse to Thor’s human alter-ego Donald Blake.

I have no problem with this casting.  I do think Reynolds was more suited to be Wally West rather than Hal Jordan, but hey, I don’t get paid to make those decisions.  Either way though, the Green Lantern movie has its star and is set to shoot this year.  2011 is going to be a sick year for movies.