Photos of the Day: The New TOMB RAIDER Is Revealed...

Just thought I'd share these new pics revealing Alicia Vikander as Lara Croft in next year's Tomb Raider. The Oscar-winning actress (who appeared in such movies as Ex Machina, The Danish Girl, Jason Bourne and The Man from U.N.C.L.E.) will officially fill in the shoes of fellow Academy Award winner Angelina Jolie—who played the pony-tailed, gun-toting adventurer over a decade ago—when the reboot debuts in theaters on March 16, 2018. Based on the poster above, Ms. Vikander looks like she's trying to give Linda Hamilton and Gal Gadot a run for their money by toning up as much as Hamilton did to portray Sarah Connor in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and Gadot as Wonder Woman, respectively. Much props to Vikander, her fellow actresses, and the ass-kicking heroines they played on the big screen!

HAPPY 'BACK TO THE FUTURE' DAY!

Just thought I'd share these new photos that I took at Puente Hills Mall as this shopping plaza continues to commemorate 30 years since it portrayed Twin Pines Mall and Lone Pine Mall in the first Back to the Future movie. Even though the DeLorean (the one modified as a time machine, to be exact) is no longer on display inside the mall's first floor lobby, Doc Brown's van and the Twin Pines Mall sign itself are currently exhibited at Puente Hills...where they will remain till October 25 (this Sunday). So if you're a fan of Robert Zemeckis' sci-fi classic, visit the mall now! Especially considering the fact that after this year, the events of Back to the Future Part II, like Roland Emmerich's 2009 disaster flick 2012, will become dated. Oh, and let's not forget Terminator 2: Judgment Day (Skynet was originally supposed to launch nukes across the planet on August 29, 1997—decimating humankind and bringing about the rise of the machines)...but that film is still awesome. Carry on.

Dredd 3D... I saw the reboot of the 1995 Sylvester Stallone sci-fi action film yesterday, and one thing I need to ask is, was Stallone this badass in the original Judge Dredd? Dredd 3D has Karl Urban (from 2009's Star Trek) as the one-man judge, jury and executioner...but unlike Stallone in the original flick, Urban's identity is concealed by the large, Boba Fett-like helmet for the entire film. And while Stallone's version of "I am the law" sounded funny enough for co-star Rob Schneider to ridicule onscreen in Judge Dredd, Urban's utterance of that line is not to be taken lightly in this new film—especially when he already has his multipurpose automatic rifle in hand. As for Dredd 3D's main villain, Lena Headey (from 300 and the defunct FOX TV show, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) is interesting as the scarred, drugged-out gang leader, Ma-Ma. In fact, Headey is so relentless as Ma-Ma that the final scene between her and Dredd is rewarding because he hands her the verdict and punishment that she so thoroughly deserves. Urban's co-star Olivia Thirlby, who plays the telepathic judge named Anderson, kicks ass once things really start to heat up inside the Peach Trees apartment structure where she and Dredd are trapped by Ma-Ma's gang. I'd say more about this but I don't want to spoil the movie for y'all.



All-in-all, Dredd 3D is an entertaining flick. The 3-D itself is pretty awesome...especially during scenes where Ma-Ma and/or her gang inhale a drug, called Slo-Mo, that gives off the effect of (you guessed it) time slowing down. In one particular scene, Ma-Ma's thugs force a couple of victims to inhale Slo-Mo just before they're thrown off a balcony dozens of stories above the ground. The 3-D plays well as we get a P.O.V. shot from one of the victims as he slowly falls to his death. This is a horrible way to bite the dust in real life, but onscreen, it looked really cool. In terms of Dredd being a reboot, I hope that next year's version of RoboCop and even Starship Troopers will be as interesting as Dredd is. I never saw the new Total Recall, but based on how it fared at the box office this summer, it's safe to say that it didn't live up to Ah-nold's original 1990 flick. Carry on.

BATTLE: LOS ANGELES... I finally saw the alien-invasion film today, and needless to say, it was the sci-fi version of Black Hawk Down. Which means...I thought it was pretty cool! Non-stop action was waged throughout B:LA, much like in Ridley Scott’s 2002 war flick about the 1993 conflict in Somalia. Aaron Eckhart was awesome as Staff Sergeant Nantz; while compared to her gung-ho attitude in Avatar, Machete and the Fast and the Furious films, Michelle Rodriguez was somewhat tame as Tech Sgt. Elena Santos in B:LA. As Santos, Rodriguez didn't have the usual sarcastic quips that she had playing previous movie characters. Not that that's a bad thing. Nothing exceptionally noteworthy about the civilians played by Bridget Moynahan and Michael Peña, but I’ll give them props since my review about this flick is supposed to be a positive one. I just found out through IMDb.com that 2nd Lt. William Martinez, who was in charge of the Marine platoon before handing command over to Eckhart's Nantz and then sacrificing himself later in the film, was played by Ramon Rodriguez. In case you’re wondering who this is, Rodriguez played the wacky college roommate of Shia LaBeouf in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. But back to B:LA.



Battle: Los Angeles didn’t exactly have a deep message like 2009’s District 9 (which B:LA also borrowed elements from...namely weapons that cause explosions surrounded by bolts of lightning) did, but it was still a lot better than last year’s Skyline. B:LA didn’t have a "WTF??" moment at the very end of the movie like Skyline did...though as I said at the beginning of this journal entry, B:LA was obviously inspired by Black Hawk Down in that Eckhart and Co. go back into the battlefield at the film's conclusion to take care of unfinished business. Also, the battle in Los Angeles lasted for one day...while the 1993 battle in Mogadishu, Somalia lasted a day as well. Nothing wrong with that. My personal gripe about B:LA is that, like the Bourne movies (as in The Bourne Identity, Supremacy and Ultimatum), it overdid it with the shaky cam. By now using this camera technique in war films has become a cliché, and unfortunately B:LA suffers from this tired method. It was cool in Saving Private Ryan, Gladiator and Black Hawk Down...but try spending more time setting the camera up on a tripod or at least a Steadicam, folks—if there’s a sequel (Battle: San Diego, anyone?). Thanks. Another gripe is that the trippy song used in B:LA's theatrical trailers, "The Sun’s Gone Dim and the Sky Turned Black" by Icelandic musician Johann Johannsson, wasn't featured in the movie. Oh well.



Special effects-wise, the aliens in B:LA looked interesting...though were they using projectile weapons (RE: bullets) just like the humans were? I guess having the invaders shoot laser beams at the Marines would’ve ruined the gritty, realistic tone of the film. After all, this ain’t Star Wars. Or Star Trek. Or Independence Day. Or Transformers. Or Terminator. The same people who did the visual FX on Skyline also did the FX work on B:LA. The FX work was what saved Skyline since its CW Network-quality cast of actors wasn’t exactly the saving grace of that movie. That is all.

TERMINATOR SALVATION... I've been reading nothing but negative reviews for this fourth installment in the evil-cyborgs-amongst-us franchise, but whatever. I'll still watch it this weekend...

UPDATE (May 23): I saw the film after work last night, and um...

The robots were pretty cool. Especially the hunter-killers and T-600s.

TERMINATOR SALVATION... The newest trailer for the upcoming film was released yesterday, and I must say, I’m quite impressed. Of course, the Nine Inch Nails song playing in the background might be one of the major reasons why I think this preview kicks ass. I’ve never seen any of the Charlie’s Angels films or We Are Marshall [but I do watch the popular TV show (Supernatural) that’s executively produced by him on the CW network], so I don’t know just how well a job McG did in directing this fourth installment in the classic war-against-Skynet movie franchise. Here you go...



Unfortunately, the new trailer has not been released on Quicktime yet (at least in non-High Def formats... I don't have an HD monitor), so the screenshots below aren’t as sharp as what I’ve posted for The Dark Knight or even G.I. Joe. Oh well. Terminator Salvation comes out in theaters on May 21. If you live in the United States.




All images courtesy of Warner Bros.

TERMINATOR SALVATION... Just thought I’d share some cool (leaked) artwork from this May’s fourth installment in the cyborgs-from-the-future movie franchise. These images were actually revealed two months ago, but oh well. These different types of Skynet weaponry look awesome...despite the fact some of them do look like they belong in a Transformers sequel. It’s all good. Giant F*ckin’ Robots... The primary reason why I’m looking forward to both films (the secondary reason for seeing Transformers 2 being Megan— You can finish this sentence).

TERMINATOR SALVATION... I'm totally watching this movie when it comes out in theaters on May 22...

Twentieth Century Fox

MORE ON TERMINATOR... Yesterday, I watched the Season 2 premiere of The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and needless to say... The T-1000 is BACK!! Well— Not as Robert Patrick from Terminator 2: Judgment Day, of course, but a female version played by Shirley Manson, the lead vocalist of the band Garbage.


Twentieth Century Fox

I’d like to see Manson’s liquid cyborg (whose human name is Catherine Weaver) go up against Summer Glau’s Cameron Phillips in upcoming episodes. And speaking of Cameron (or Summer. Whoever you prefer), is it just me or is she a lot hotter when her Terminator goes bad? Will we see John Connor get tempted to engage in some human/robot copulation with Cameron in a future episode, after she ‘professed’ her love for him in last night’s premiere? That’s something to think about... Oh, and if 'man-juice' can short-circuit the wiring inside Cameron after she performs— Nevermind. That's the corrupt part of my mind talking, haha.


Twentieth Century Fox

Back to the T-1000, I wonder if we’ll see some cool action sequences with Manson in ‘em. Like her walking through a chain-link fence as she chases after Sarah Connor and Company... Or impale BAG—err, Brian Austin Green—err, Derek Reese with a metallic finger blade... That would also be cool.


Warner Bros.

It’s interesting to see where this new season will lead...and how it will tie in with next May’s McG-directed film, Terminator Salvation (starring Christian Bale). Will Ms. Glau make a cameo in this flick? That’s all I care about. That— And hot liquid cyborg females and other evil robots that go shootin' and stabbin' in the night.