The Screengrab : terminator salvation

Screengrab Review: "Terminator Salvation"

Nick Schager — Thu, 21 May 2009 14:00:00 GMT

Terminator Salvation goes Dark Knight-gloomy to reignite James Cameron’s technophobic sci-fi series, jumping forward to post-Judgment Day 2018 to pick up with rebel “prophet” John Conner (Christian Bale) and the human resistance as they wage war against malevolent sentient Skynet and its army of killer robots. The world is now ash-gray and reverberates with cacophonous explosions and squealing metal, a grim, gritty Road Warrior desert dystopia populated only by Terminators and vagabond humans who huddle around barrel fires listening to the radio broadcasts of Connor, a humorless hero embodied by Bale with such monotonous intensity that one fears the greatest threat to his well-being is a self-produced aneurism. Bale’s vehemence suitably meshes with the apocalyptic landscape in which director McG has situated him. Yet working from a script by John D. Brancato and Michael Ferris that places a far greater premium on land, sea and air skirmishes than on meaningful drama, the actor proves no more compelling than the machines against which his protagonist struggles. If only this were a 2001-style commentary on mankind’s devolution. Terminator Salvation, alas, strives for bleak gravity with misguided fervor, dispatching the very traces of warm, generous humanity that, in Cameron’s first two chapters, served as counterbalancing reminders of the necessity for staving off forthcoming mecha-Armageddon.

Given the dreariness of his tale's military resistance, however, McG makes the exact opposite case, positing a human race barely worth saving. At odds with his resistance leadership – namely Michael Ironside, here drained of nails-tough charisma – Conner is determined to use a special transmission signal to shut down Skynet’s HQ, as well as find Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin), the teenager who will someday travel back in time to impregnate his mother and become his father. Conner ceases to exist if Reese dies, a scenario familiar to anyone with passing knowledge of the series. And here, it’s frequently intercut with the saga of Marcus Wright (bland battering ram Sam Worthington), whom we first see on death row in 2003 donating his organs to Helena Bonham Carter’s bald, dying Cyberdyne scientist, and later find emerging from the 2018 primordial muck reborn as…what? One guess is all it takes to deduce the surprise lying in wait. The predictability of this revelation, though, isn’t the bummer it might have been thanks to the more pressing disinterest elicited by the overall story, which is comprised of underlined-meaningful dialogue (“Everybody deserves a second chance”), peripheral hotties with beautiful hair (Moon Bloodgood as the badass female, a preggers Bryce Dallas Howard as the maternal one), and action that’s orchestrated with harsh vigor but – one thrilling semi-truck chase notwithstanding – only mild imagination.

McG nods to his predecessors in ways both strained (managing to shoehorn in, with some difficulty, “I’ll be back”) and amusing (a snippet from Guns N’ Roses’ “You Could Be Mine”), but even less than Jonathan Mostow’s Terminator 3, his franchise entry barely bothers adding something new to the mix, adhering to a strict run-and-gun template at the expense of innovation. That might be pardonable if the film proffered even an ounce of humor, which has always been a secondary but vital series component, whether it was Edward Furlong ordering Ahnold’s emotionless surrogate father figure not to kill in T2, or Kristanna Loken’s red-leather-dominatrix get-up in T3. Terminator Salvation, however, mistakes soberness for seriousness, its gloomy character drama coming off as merely action-figure poses, and its deafening combat, drained of any larger narrative import, registering mainly as impressive CG demo reel material. Where feeling is needed, McG offers only cold steel, such that when Wright finally rebels against his makers with a corny bit of slow-motion window-breaking, and Schwarzenegger shortly thereafter makes a cameo – via face-grafting computer-generated trickery – the sought-after emotional payoff never materializes. In its place, there’s only crashing, crushing indifference.

Fox Pulls the Plug on "Terminator" TV Series

Phil Nugent — Wed, 20 May 2009 14:30:00 GMT

Fox has canceled Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, the expensive TV series spun off from the now 24-year-old movie franchise, after two seasons and a mere 31 episodes. The series was "created" by Josh Friedman, a screenwriter and blogger who, strangely enough, is best known for his association with movies that he didn't work on. (Friedman was co-credited, with David Koepp, with the script for Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds, based on a script he'd written based on the H. G. Wells novel before Spielberg and Koepp got involved, and he got the ball rolling on Snakes on a Plane as an Internet punch line.) The series, which got off to a fast start when it premiered mid-season in January 2008, starred Lena Headley of 300 in the role made famous by Linda Hamilton and Thomas Dekker as John Connor, the role created by Edward Furling in Terminator 2, picked up by Nick Stahl in Terminator 3, and about to become, as of this coming Friday, the now-exclusive property of Christian Bale. The cast also included the dancer-actress Summer Glau, whose picture now belongs in the dictionary next to the term "hot poker-faced killer robot babe." It is an unwieldy term, but clearly it or something with the same meaning belongs in the language.

The series, which ended with a cliffhanger designed to make viewers sit up and yell at their sets, "Oh, like this wasn't already confusing enough!", recently won 53% of the vote in the TV channel E!'s annual Save One Show poll, in which viewers select their favorite among a selection of programs said to be in danger of imminent cancellation. (Ironically, the shows that came in second and third in the rankings, Chuck and Dollhouse, have both since been renewed.) For his part, Friedman has issued a public letter thanking fans for their support, saying, "Every network wants a big fat hit, especially one with a brand name behind it, and Fox was/is no different. They supported the show, they supported my vision of the show, and they gave it plenty of time to find an audience." Of course, for the movie industry, the big question is whether this bodes ill for the relaunch of the brand name as a big-budget movie franchise, when Terminator Salvation opens. If the movie fails to live up to its makers' hopes, they may have something to point to now besides Bale's much-disseminated video rant.

Screengrab Predicts Summer 2009: The Toss-Ups (Part Four)

Andrew Osborne — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 22:30:00 GMT

So, now that you’ve seen our consensus picks for the Top 5 Hits & the Top 5 Bombs of Summer 2009, here are the films that we didn’t know quite what to do with...

Andrew:

INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS (August 21)

This one hits theaters closer to Labor Day (and the start of the “quality” awards-bait season) than Memorial Day -- assuming QT actually finishes his grindhouse WW2 epic on time -- and the theaters it hits will probably be art houses rather than multiplexes, where nobody will be expecting the confusingly titled Basterds to rack up Pulp Fiction-esque "national sensation" numbers...but Tarantino’s latest seems like quite the odd duck nonetheless, with a promised ultra-violence sensibility that may have trouble finding its artsy splatter audience even WITH all the ass-kicking Jews and Brad Pitt’s funny southern accent.

BRÜNO (June 10)

Oh, sure...Borat was a national sensation, and the annoying guy in your office still says, “Niiice!” on a daily basis. But I’m guessing it was a lot easier for most Americans to feel “in” on the joke when Sacha Baron Cohen was making fun of them funny furriners than it will be to laugh at their own homophobic prejudices or their own knee-jerk PC responses to the heterosexual Cohen’s flouncing, mincing gay character. But then again, you know what they say about that whole “no such thing as bad publicity” thing...

Nick:

1) Public Enemies, because Michael Mann has yet to make an out-and-out summer blockbuster.

2) UP, because eagerness for Pixar’s latest has been especially muted.

3) Angels & Demons, because The Da Vinci Code craze seems to have subsided.

4) Julie & Julia, because its August release date implies that the studio thinks it has more limited appeal than Meryl Streep’s The Devil Wears Prada or Mamma Mia!

5) The Ugly Truth, because even though it’s the summer’s chief rom-com, it’s hard to imagine Katherine Heigl continuing to be a serious box-office draw.

Paul:

Drag Me to Hell- Sam Raimi fans are pumped for his return to horror, but will anyone else care? Will this be the film that finally lifts the box-office curse on summer horror movies?

Terminator Salvation- is there life for Terminator after Arnold? Will people pay to see the movie when they can just as easily watch the Terminator TV series at home? And can Christian Bale still reel in audiences now that his profanity-filled tirade has been heard by millions?

The Taking of Pelham 123- in a summer full of epic effects-driven movies, can audiences be bothered with an old-school hostage-negotiation thriller? And will MGM release a super-sweet new DVD edition of the original film just in time for the remake? Because they really should.

Year One- will a high-concept caveman comedy, even one starring Jack Black and Michael Cera, play in this age of improvisational laffers? And will there be zug-zug like in Caveman?

Public Enemies- is Johnny Depp really the box office draw Hollywood thinks he is after the Pirates trilogy? Can Michael Mann become bankable again after the subpar returns for Miami Vice? And in this era of Grand Theft Auto, will ticket buyers get excited for a fedoras-and-tommy-guns gangster shoot’em’up?

Bruno- can the least funny character from Da Ali G Show actually carry a film? Will people flock to laugh at the strange misadventures of a flamingly gay Austrian, or will they be scared off by the homosexuality factor?

Bandslam- is Vanessa Anne Hudgens still a draw even when she isn’t starring in High School Musicals? Will tween-friendly fare still do solid box office even during the summer movie season?

Taking Woodstock- is the August 14 release date occasioned by the 40th anniversary of Woodstock simply a symbolic gesture, or will nostalgia for the Summer of Love turn this into an unexpected late-summer hit?

Click Here For The Hits (Parts One & Two), The Bombs (Part Three) and The Honorable Mentions (Parts Five & Six)

Contributors: Andrew Osborne, Nick Schager, Paul Clark

Morning Deal Report: Straw Dogs Are Barking

Scott Von Doviak — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 14:00:00 GMT

I wish I could say it was still April Fool’s Day, but as much as I’ve tried to convince myself this isn’t happening…it is, in fact, happening. Writer/director Rod Lurie is going ahead with his remake of Straw Dogs, and he’s found his star. And it is…drum roll…incredibly bland James Marsden! “The new Straw Dogs, from Screen Gems, follows Los Angeles screenwriter David Sumner (Marsden), who moves with his wife to her hometown in the deep South. Once there, tensions build in their marriage and old conflicts re-emerge with the locals, leading to a violent confrontation,” per The Hollywood Reporter.

Arnold Schwarzenegger has agreed to appear in the upcoming Terminator Salvation, but this time he won’t be doing any acting. All together now: So what’s the difference? Well, the Governator will be making his appearance via the miracle of technology. “A body-cast mold of Schwarzenegger, created when he first appeared as the muscle-ripped cyborg, provided the basis for a digital-effects version of his famous character. The figure appears in Terminator Salvation as a living, breathing actor,” Variety reports.

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are making their live-action return to the big screen. It’s a reboot, “focusing the origins of the iconic crime fighters. Project, targeted for release in 2011, would mark the fifth bigscreen outing for the sewer-dwelling heroes Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello and Raphael as well as their master Splinter.”

Related:
Lurie Spring a Leak
Schwarzenegger to Make Cameo in New Stallone Movie

Trailer Review: Terminator Salvation (Trailer #3)

Paul Clark — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 16:00:00 GMT

Up to this point, I’ve been pretty down on the upcoming fourth film in the Terminator franchise. And while I wouldn’t exactly say this latest trailer has made a believer out of me, it’s finally showing some potential to be good, and that’s a start. If nothing else, this is the first evidence that there are some new ideas at work here, rather than the same regurgitated Terminator mythology that gave T3 its same-old-same-old vibe (let’s see- how about we make Arnold the good Terminator… again?). I like the twist of including in the story a machine who believes he’s a human, which could bring some interesting human/machine ideas into play. But mostly, this looks like a pretty good dystopian SF actioner in which a lot of CGI stuff gets blown up real good. And I’m fine with that. If McG doesn’t, y’know, McG it up, this might be entertaining.

Christian Bale Freakout – Remixed!

Scott Von Doviak — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 16:00:00 GMT

Some good has come from Christian Bale’s meltdown from the set of Terminator Salvation, as it has now been transformed into art! Or if it’s not art, at least it’s got a good beat and you can dance to it. A YouTube-ist by the handle of RevoLucian (who claims to be producing RuPaul’s new album, and really, I have no reason to doubt that) has set the rant to a techno beat – and has even thrown in a few Barbra Streisand F-bombs for good measure. Hit the jump for this and several more Bale remixes.

Here’s “Bale Out” by RevoLucian:

Here’s the “Drum and Bass Remix”:

And here’s my favorite, “R U Professional” (Newsies will get you tonight!):

Christian Bale Goes Apeshit

Scott Von Doviak — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 22:28:00 GMT

I missed the news the first time around about Christian Bale losing his shit all over a Terminator Salvation crew member. More specifically, as the Daily News puts it, "The Dark Knight star launched into a lengthy, expletive-laced tirade against Shane Hurlbut, Terminator's director of cinematography, after he allegedly walked into the actor's shot.

"I want you off the fucking set, you prick!" Bale said. "I'm gonna fucking kick your fucking ass if you don't shut up for a second!"

But don't take our word for it! TMZ has a tape of the incident, which exists because "producers sent the audio to their insurance company in case Bale walked off the film."

Enjoy!

Morning Deal Report: McG Under the Sea

Scott Von Doviak — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 15:00:00 GMT

McG is in demand! Not by me or you or anyone who actually enjoys watching movies, of course, but by studio execs who can’t get enough of the half-named wonder. The Terminator: Salvation director has settled on his next project and it is 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Captain Nemo. That thoroughly unnecessary and downright distracting subtitle is our first hint that this is not something to look forward to. “Scripted by Bill Marsilli, the film is an origin story of Nemo as he creates his warship, the Nautilus. The characters come from the Jules Verne novel,” Variety insists. The last time we saw Captain Nemo on the big screen was in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Poor guy.

The Tron sequel has landed its lead and sadly, it’s not the fellow pictured here. It’s “up-and-comer” Garrett Hedlund, who The Hollywood Reporter helpfully informs us “has been considered one of those actors that is on the cusp within the industry, though without much of a profile in middle America. Starring in a $150 million effects-intensive feature could change that.” Unless it’s a sequel to Tron.

The cast of The Expendables keeps on growing. Earlier this week we told you Forest Whitaker was set to sign on, and now comeback kid Mickey Rourke has added his name to the roster.” Rourke will play an unscrupulous arms dealer who becomes the go-to guy for a group of mercenaries planning to topple a South American dictator,” Variety reports. Comeback over!

Related:
Turning the Anime of the Past into the Bad Movies of Tomorrow
Mickey Rourke Gets Up Off the Canvas

Trailer Review: Terminator: Salvation (Trailer #2)

Paul Clark — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 17:00:00 GMT

Could someone please cast Christian Bale in a cheerful role? Bale has always been a fine actor, but most of the roles he plays tend to accentuate his brooding intensity, especially since he donned the Bat-cowl. And Terminator: Salvation continues the trend, placing Bale in a future as downbeat as his persona. But then, I’m not really looking forward to the movie itself either, since I think they’ve already gone to the Terminator well one too many times even without this upcoming installment (haven’t seen the series yet). Honestly, what’s left for the Terminator franchise? Wholesale man-vs.-giant machine warfare a la Transformers? The sight of Connor sending one of his men back in time to shtup his mom? I’m not sure there’s much of a movie here, and the presence of McG in the director’s chair doesn’t give me much hope.

Morning Deal Report: As "The Crow" Flies

Scott Von Doviak — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 15:00:00 GMT

The good news is: Four Christmases is no longer the number one movie in America. (It slipped to the second spot with a $13.3 million weekend take.) The bad news is: it’s been replaced by The Day the Earth Stood Still. Do people know there’s a perfectly good version of this without Keanu Reeves available at their local video store? If they do, they don’t care, as Day scooped up $31 million of our Earth dollars. Twilight has hit the $150 million total mark; word is that Chris Weitz (American Pie) will take over as director of the sequel, New Moon.

Terminator Salvation is months away from hitting theaters, but a fifth installment in the series has already gotten the green light. Halcyon Co. execs “had originally planned to wait until the release of Terminator Salvation next summer before deciding on whether to proceed with the next chapter, but the positive studio, fan and media reaction to footage from the current pic has encouraged them to move forward ahead of schedule,” Variety reports.

Waiting for The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen director Stephen Norrington’s big comeback? Looking forward to a reboot of The Crow series? In the unlikely event you’re a member of both groups, Variety has great news for you. “Stephen Norrington has signed on to write and direct a reinvention of The Crow, based on the comic created by James O’Barr.” Ca-caw! Ca-caw!

Related:
New "Terminator" Trilogy on Tap
Forget Christian Bale in Terminator 4, the Israeli Military's Working on T5

Trailer Review, Comic-Con Special: Terminator: Salvation Teaser

Paul Clark — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 16:00:00 GMT

Back in 2003, I questioned whether the world needed a third Terminator movie, and my skepticism was rewarded with a third-rate addition to the saga. Now, with the release of this teaser, I can’t help but wonder again- does the world really need a fourth Terminator movie? More specifically, what will a new installment bring to the table? I’m sort of intrigued by the idea of a post-apocalyptic take on the series, but I’m not sure how sustainable it’ll be at feature length, at least with McG at the helm. I can imagine it getting a bit numbing, even with Christian Bale as John Connor. Also, this guy as Kyle Reese? Sorry, I’m just not seeing it. Barring some positive advance word, I think I’ll give Terminator: Salvation a pass.

How Batman Is the New Beatles

Phil Nugent — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 16:28:00 GMT

Present Batman and future John Connor Christian Bale--the trailers for next year's Terminator Salvation are currently preceding screenings of The Dark Knight, confirming whatever suspicions you may have had that there's a whole lotta Bale goin' on--has begged the media to "respect my privacy" as he deals with personal matters related to his arrest by London police on Tuesday, following "allegations he assaulted his mother and sister in a London hotel." Bale, who was in London for the local premiere of The Dark Knight, isn't letting the incident interfere with his schedule to promote the movie. He turned up in Barcelona yesterday for the Spanish premiere and signed autographs for fans and took questions about the movie, while steering clear of any comments on his "private matter." (Bale's camp did put out a statement saying that, after the cops took him in, he "co-operated throughout, gave his account in full of the events in question, and left the station without any charge." The most interesting thing about Bale's travails may be that they don't seem to be registering as hardly a blip on the cultural radar. At the very least, they aren't hurting the film--or, if they are, it's scary to think about how well it might otherwise be doing. The movie has made over $200 million so far, and while, given the current condition of the dollar, that might not seem so impressive, take a look at those crowds lined up around the theaters and imagine what'll it be like as the movie goes international and audiences that big start paying in Euros.

The Dark Knight is a moody, violent fantasia on post-9/11 themes, and it has one star who can't do press because he was buried last winter and another whose press conferences now begin with a reminder that he won't be talking about charges that he roughed up his mom, yet in terms of popular appeal, this two-and-a-half-hour, apocalyptic carny ride seems to be the most bullet-proof film of the season, maybe of the year. Ty Burr, calling the movie "a pop event" on the order of the Beatles appeaing on the Ed Sullivan show, field the question, Is it the best movie of all time, and answers, that it "has to be the best movie of all time because it feels that way right now, and because it feels impossibly exhilarating to share that thrill with everyone you know and millions of people you don't. Although hype played a critical part, this is less about hype than the gentle madness of crowds. The response to Dark Knight represents a perfect storm of studio publicity, public mourning, epic seriousness of filmmaking purpose, and the unspoken need for something in this crass tinsel culture to mean something." Burr is probably right in thinking that the reaction is largely tied to Heath Ledger's death, and in complicated way. It's not just that seeing Ledger's final performance all these months after the (surprising, at least to some of us) huge outpouring of public grief represents some sort of closure, but the truly amazing nature of that performance helps to validate the claims made at the time of Ledger's death for the unknowable, but presumed to be titanic, future that still lay ahead for the actor. The Dark Knight is a terrific movie, and that makes its success satisfying, but no movie is this successful just because it's terrific. "There's relief to be found," Burr writes, "in such pop-cult unification and also the elation of not having to think for yourself -- the joy of being picked up in a boundless groundswell of excited, committed response. That this has been brought about by a movie about people in tights blowing things up (all right, a thought-provoking movie about people in tights blowing things up), rather than any of the vexing issues of our actual world, isn't accidental. Not in the least. The Dark Knight is over in two and a half hours, and would that you could say the same about climate change or the presidential election."

Strike 2: Electric Boogaloo

Scott Von Doviak — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 18:00:00 GMT

Hollywood is always up for a fast-tracked sequel, but this is ridiculous. The dust has barely settled from the WGA strike, but that won’t stop the Screen Actors Guild from hitting the picket lines on June 30 if a new agreement can’t be reached by then. Producers are "cautiously optimistic" that the walkout won’t happen, but what tragedies might be in store for you, the movie fan, if it does?

Already Steven Spielberg has put the brakes on The Trial of the Chicago 7, which was set for an April start date. According to Variety, Spielberg will instead polish the script with screenwriter Aaron Sorkin while waiting to see if the actors’ strike develops. Other high-profile pictures are going ahead with their shooting schedules and making contingency plans should they suddenly find themselves without a cast. Terminator Salvation is proceeding under the following arrangement: "in the event of a strike, the paychecks stop, but nobody will be force majeured and everyone will get a plane ticket home from the Albuquerque set." (Force majeure is contractual gobbledegook for a clause that releases the studio from obligation in the case of natural disasters, Acts of God and, of course, strikes.)

The Da Vinci Code sequel Angels and Demons is set to roll cameras on June 5. "Director Ron Howard will spend three weeks shooting all of the film's exterior scenes. The rest of the film will be shot on Sony soundstages, where sets will wait, if necessary, until an actor's strike is over. That allowed Sony to somewhat contain the costs to halt and re-start the picture."

Michael Bay’s Transformers sequel is on the fast track, but have no fear that the script will suffer; Bay has hired three writers to handle all the plot complexity and character development such an enterprise entails. "They did a detailed outline before the writer's strike, and now they are in Michael Bay jail, holed up in a hotel and working feverishly," Bay said. "We're paying for a beautiful suite and they are getting a lot of work done. Hiring three writers was unusual, but it has been a godsend in getting us to where we need to be. Somehow you find a way to get it done."

From the picket lines to Michael Bay jail. Ah, the writer’s life.

Morning Deal Report: If Christian Bale Can Learn the Value of Human Life. . . Maybe We Can Too

Peter Smith — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 16:00:00 GMT

Rumor apparently had it right: Christian Bale is joining Terminator 4 as John Connor. This makes him the fifth person to play the character, after Nick Stahl in the odious Terminator 3, Eddie Furlong and whoever played the older version in Terminator 2, and the twinkle in Michael Biehn's eye in The Terminator.

Ridley Scott's directing a movie about the Gucci family. Seems like a risky move for a director often accused of being all style and no substance.

IFC will distribute Johnnie To's Mad Detective.

— Peter Smith