Director Ridley Scott is returning to the franchise he launched in 1979, Alien. The new film will be a prequel, which will presumedly look at how at relentless alien killing machines wound up on the crashed spaceship discovered by Sigourney Weaver and her crewmates in the first film.

Previously, Scott was only attached to produce an Alien prequel for studio 20th Century Fox, with commercials director Carl Erik Rinsch set to make his feature film debut with the project. However, Fox wasn’t happy with that arrangement and pressed for a personnel change.

While the news that Scott will be revisiting the Alien universe, I have to admit to some trepidation over the idea that the trip is for a prequel. A major portion of the terror generated in Scott’s original film was that there was virtually nothing known about the alien creature that leaps from the shadows, mercilessly decimating the unfortunates who got in its way. As we became more familiar with the aliens over subsequent films, some of their ability to scare us as an audience has diminished. Also, since the two Alien V Predator franchise crossover films take place in the present day, they could technically be considered to be prequels in their own right. There are even a few hints in them that point towards things since in the main Alien franchise. Since both Alien V Predator films are pretty much disliked by fans, they can be pretty much ignored by Scott though. (I call this the Highlander II option.)

On the plus side, the script is to be written by Jon Spaihts, after he successfully pitched both Scott’s production company, Scott Free Productions, and 20th Century Fox. While Spaihts has no produced credits on his resume, he has also written Shadow 19, which Keanu Reeves will star in for Warner Brothers, and Passengers, which has been purchased by Morgan Creek, also for Keanu Reeves. Both scripts are pretty good reads with some interesting ideas in them. Presumably, he has an equally interesting story in mind for this new Alien installment. It should be noted that Spaihts dance card is pretty full already – he is also rewriting The Darkest Hour for Fox, rewriting St. George And The Dragon for Sony and writing Children Of Mars for Disney – so what priority this receives remains to be seen.

Via Variety.

Despite an ending that promised more adventures, Back To The Future was never intended to be the first installment in a series of films. But as is the way of Hollywood, the film’s resounding box office success had director Robert Zemeckis and writer Bob Gale found themselves using the original film’s ending of Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) taking Marty (Michael J. Fox) and his girlfriend Jennifer (Claudia Wells) to the future to help their future children as the logical starting point for Part II.

There was just one problem, though. Actress Claudia Wells was unable to return to her role as she was taking care of her cancer-stricken mother.Casting Elisabeth Shue to take over the roll was the easy part out of the their dilemma. Recreating the first film’s closing moments for the new film’s opening ones was a little trickier. The clip below, in which someone has taken the two scenes and laid them side by side, shows that all involved did a pretty good job of replicating the end to the first film. And how about how both Fox’s and Lloyd’s performances are nearly identical though performed four years apart.

1. Aliens In The Attic (FOX, 3,106 Theaters, 86 Minutes, Rated PG-13): You know, I have a firm belief that just because something is a kids movie doesn’t mean that it has to be stupid. Pixar proves this on a yearly basis. You can entertain a kid with an intelligent plot and good story instead of relying on silliness and stupid antics. to get laughs.

I can’t really say I’ve seen many ads for this one (which is strange because it has the highest theater count for the week) but what I’ve seen it looks like it falls into the latter brand of kid movie, the stupid silly side.

The plot involves a family that must fight a group of pint-sized aliens who have invaded the attic of their summer home. Pretty simple plot there. The script must have taken a whole 30 minutes to write.

When the biggest star draw you have in the cast is Ashley Tisdale, you are in trouble. Thank gawd my daughter isn’t old enough to want to see this stuff.

2. Funny People (Universal, 3,008 Theaters, 146 Minutes, Rated R): Regular readers of these posts know that I am a fan of Judd Apatow. He has yet to put out a film that didn’t entertain me. Granted, he has only put out two films which he directed himself, 40 Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up, but both won me over with their mix of ribald humor and boatloads of heart.

This one is a more serious effort from Apatow. It involves a successful comedian who faces his own mortality when he finds out he has cancer. If the trailers are to be believe, the cancer goes into remission, and he decides to make the most of the second chance he gets.

As is typical, many of the Apatow Repertory Players are in the cast. While there won’t be as much laughs as in his previous films, there should be as much heart.

3. The Collector (Freestyle Releasing, 1,325 Theaters, 88 Minutes, Rated R): Horror movies are the one genre where a good hook can mean more than a big budget. All you need is something to set you apart from the rest of the genre and you have a shot at success.

Whether it be a possessed preteen, a killer that enters your dreams, or a faux-documentary about witches, once you have a hook, you possibly can bring in audiences in.

This one has a pretty interesting hook. A man intends to burglarize the house of an affluent family. When he gets there, he finds that someone else has already broken in and is torturing the family. Now, the man who wanted to steal their belongings is the only one who could save their lives.

Of course, this premise doesn’t really lend itself to sequels. So if this hook does bring the audiences in, it should be interesting to see what they do for a follow up. 

Late last night, Variety ran a story speculating that Steven Spielberg’s next directorial effort, his first since last year’s Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull, would be Matt Helm, based on the series of Donald Hamilton espionage novels.

This afternoon, they have updated their story with the news that Spielberg will not be directing Matt Helm, but will be producing the film.

Hamilton’s series of books were adapted into a series of breezy comedic romps featuring Dean Martin back in the 1960s. But the tone of the books was far edgier, with Helm a virtual unstoppable, merciless killing machine. The property has been in development for the last several years, with writers Michael Brandt and Derek Haas working on a script adapting Hamilton’s first novel in the series, Death Of A Citizen. Variety reports that a rewrite was turned into Paramount last week. The studio is hoping that the film will be the first in a franchise for the studio.

It still remains to be seen what project Spielberg will next slide behind the camera for. Among the possibilities are one of the two remaining installments in the Tin Tin trilogy he is producing with Peter Jackson, a bio-pic of Abraham Lincoln and a dramatization of the trial of the Chicago 7.

Interviews conducted in the 1970s with Three Stooges stars Moe Howard and Larry Fine that have gone unheard for nearly four decades will air tomorrow (Friday, July 31st) at 2 pm on one of the two Sirius-XM Satellite Radio channels programmed by life-long Stooge fan Howard Stern.

“The Three Stooges: Lost and Found Interviews” has its origins in an interview last May Stern did with Dancing With The Stars host Tom Bergeron, who admitted that he had interviewed Howard and Fine back in the 70s when he was a teenage radio disc jockey. Intrigued about what the two classic film comics had to say about their careers, Stern asked Bergeron if he still had the tapes and offered to air them on his channels. After some searching, Bergeron was able to locate the tapes and soon wheels were set in motion to bring them to the the public.

The special, hosted by Bergeron, will air on Sirius-XM channel 101.

While I’m not much of a Stooges fan, I am planning on tuning in for this. The interviews were done back in the sunset of their lives, Fine was just a few months away from his death, so it should be interesting to see how they look back at their careers. Accrding to a Sirius-XM press release, “[o]n the tapes, both Moe and Larry discuss the history of the Stooges plus the Curly/Shemp/Curly-Joe/Joe ‘third stooge’ evolution. Larry reminisces about working with Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, in one memorable moment, Moe takes a swipe at legendary comedians Jerry Lewis and Bob Hope.”

The special will also feature several of the Stooge-themed comedy bits that have appeared on Stern’s show over the years, so expect to hear several instances of voice artist Billy West’s dead on Larry Fine impersonation.

When I first reviewed Academy Award winning screenwriter Diablo Cody’s script for her dark comedy/horror film Jennifer’s Body, I liked many of the ideas in the script, but felt that some of the dialogue could use a polish to bring it up to the breezy standards of her Oscar-winning Juno.

We’re just a few weeks away from the film’s release, so we’ll soon how things play out. Perhaps the dialogue that falls flat on the screen springs to life when delivered by Megan Fox and Amanda Seyfried.

In the meantime, enjoy the film’s new poster. (Click to enlarge.)

With independent distributor Troma Entertainment being primarily known for its goofy exploitation fare like the Toxic Avenger series, it is likely that director Buddy Giovinazzo’s Combat Shock will come as a complete surprise and a bit of a revelation to most viewers. In fact, the serious intent of the film stands in sharp relief to the exploitative nature of Troma’s other output much in the same way that it stands in contrast to the exploitative way that Vietnam vets were being treated in mainstream film up to that time.

Frankie Dunlan (Ricky Giovinazzo) came back from service in the Vietnam War scarred. Having spent time as a POW, he now lives in a squalid apartment with a domineering, shrewish wife and a baby whose twisted features are the result of Frankie’s exposure to Agent Orange during the war. Forgotten by his country, thought dead by his father, unable to hold a job and with the cupboards bare, Frankie roams the streets trying to find a way, any way, to feed his family and keep a roof over their head. Along the way he encounters former comrades-in-arms turned junkies, an uncaring bureaucracy and worse of all, no escape from the his situation or the memories of atrocities he witnessed in Vietnam.

Combat Shock makes its way to DVD from Troma today, in a two-disc special edition which sports a never-before-seen longer, director’s cut of the film as well as numerous featurettes looking back at the making of this film.

An independent production, Combat Shock does betray its low-budget roots at times. It’s obvious that director Giovinazzo recruited whomever he could into the cast, while the synth-driven soundtrack has a New Wave feel that is out of synch with the film’s gritty, punk aesthetic. But despite its rough edges, Combat Shock succeeds in taking its audience on Frankie’s harrowing journey, right up to its shocking end. Much of that success, though, can be attributed to Giovinazzo’s performance, whose wide-eyed, bedraggled-haired Frankie is our tour guide through this urban nightmare.

Make no mistake, this is an ugly film. The Stanton Island locations are strewn with garbage.Shooting on 16mm, director Giovinazzo brings almost a documentary feel that lends a gritty rawness to the proceedings. The economically-depressed urban hellscape that Frankie wanders through represents the shattering of his own dreams and psyche. It is as much a prison as the bamboo cage the Vietcong held him in.

Although it only had a limited theatrical release, Combat Shock hit screens a good six months before Oliver Stone’s Platoon, marking it as the first serious treatment of the problems that many returning vets faced. While the film did gain a cult following over the years thanks to home video, I wonder if it has ever really been given serious critical reconsideration. Perhaps this new DVD release from Troma will spur a re-examination that the film desperately deserves.

Get Him To The Greek, the film being spun-off from last year’s comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall featuring Russell Brand’s obnoxious rock and roller Aldous Snow, has been filming in Manhattan for the last several days. Yesterday, the production was in midtown’s Rockefeller Plaza to film a segment where Snow performs on NBC’s Today Show. (Click on any picture for a larger view.)

Despite the sweltering high70s/low 80s heat beating down on the city, Brand-as-Snow is decked out for the scene in a pair of leather pants, a black t-shirt and a green velor jacket. A scarf completes the ensemble. The plaza is filled with just enough extras to fill the shots. Many of them are attractive young women, understandable giving Snow’s stallion-like reputation. Three girls near the front wear t-shirts on which is emblazoned “I F***** Aldous Snow.”

Joining Brand for the film is Jonah Hill as Aaron, a young record intern (and different character from the one Hill played in Forgetting Sarah Marshall) tasked with getting the hard partying Snow to an important show at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles, but of course, things do not go as planned. Based on what we observed at the filming yesterday, I would hazard a guess that the scene being shot comes close to the end of the film. Although shot out of order, here is an approximate reconstruction of how the scenes may fit together.

For some reason, Snow seems to have entered an experimental stage with his music, as a group of musicians with traditional African instruments. in a segment before the Today Show performance is to start, Hill’s character, with a stain on the right label of his suit jacket, approaches one of the musicians, asking if he knows the words to Snow’s song “African Dream.”

Later, Snow is beginning his performance on the Today Show, the aforementioned song “African Dream.” The tempo is slow and the music a mixture of psychedelica and African Rhythms. Aldous begins to sing-

I walked the mystic deserts to take pictures of the poor…

But for some reason, the song doesn’t seem to sit well with him and he signals his band to stop. He turns to the crowd and asks “Who wants to hear this song?” The crowd response indicates that they aren’t too enthused with this tune.

And with what seems to be a change of heart over something, Snow then tells the crowd ” I’d rather play a song from when I really liked what I did…”

With that, the band starts into a faster-tempoed rock number entitled “The Clap,” with lyrics that go something like this-

We got the clap!
You got the clap!
We took the rock,
And you took the crack!
Oh yeah—-!

We got the crack!
And you got the smack!
We got the yellows,
And you got the black!
Oh—-!

During the song, Snow bounces around on stage, at one point approaching a Today Show production assistant to have her sing “I got the clap!” on mic before she throws her cue cards in the air and dances around. Aaron also stands off to the side, dancing to the music and look far more relieved than he did in the previous scene with the musician from the band.

Below are several other pictures taken at yesterday’s filming-

Jonah Hill and GET HIM TO THE GREEK writer/director Nicholas Stoller share a laugh between set-ups.

Thanks to Derek McCauley for his help in assembling this story.

One of the biggest surprises at last year’s San Diego Comic-Con was the announcement that Disney was working on a sequel to their 1982 groundbreaking classic Tron. And they didn’tjust throw out a mention of it in the midst of a panel, they sprung a video of some test footage that director Joseph Kosinski had shot to show Disney execs his vision for the cyberspace world. As is typical for these things, bootleg versions of the footage showed up online almost immediately, only to be stomped out by the legion of Disney lawyers.

But this year, the footage makes a welcome return to COmic-Con, this time as a way to introduce the film’s official title- Tron Legacy. And this time around, Disney has seen fit to officially release the footage for everyone’s enjoyment. And here it is-

Yesterday, director James Cameron screened 24 minutes of footage from his highly anticipated film Avatar at Dan Diego Comic-Con, and it quickly became the dominate story out of the show. But there’s no need to be too jealous on the Con-goers, as Cameron has announced that on August 21, a 15-minute preview of Avatar will screen for free at Imax theater locations around the country.

While concrete details are forthcoming, this does sound like not only an incredibly gutsy promotion for studio 20th Century Fox, but an incredible display of faith in the film. Consider the expense required to rent out a number of IMAX auditoriums for a day to make this event happen. Granted, the cost is probably just a drop in the bucket of the film’s overall budget of nearly a quarter of a billion dollars, but it is still an expense that I question will have a profound return. Sure, Cameron fans who have been waiting for a new film from the director will of course flock to their nearest Imax to get a gander. The nearest IMAX to me is an almost two hour drive, and I’m sure I’m going to make the trip.

But will this promotional stunt draw in the average, non-genre fan moviegoer? That’s the crowd to whom Cameron really has to sell the concept of an IMAX 3-D science-fiction spectacular not based on a pre-existing book, comic book or toy to. Will people turn to each other on that Friday night and say “Let’s skip seeing a full movie and go see that fraction of a film showing at the IMAX?” Will the free preview get foot traffic from people coming out of a regular film at a cineplex with an IMAX screen, who duck in to see it out of idle curiosity or will they by pass it in order to go with their dates to grab a bite to eat or a drink?

No matter how it plays out, I have to give credit to Cameron and 20th Century Fox for thinking outside of the box. But by doing so, they may raised the level of expectations for Avatar too high. We’ll see if Cameron can deliver the goods when the full movie opens in December.