Death Race 2 Speeding Straight To DVD

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I seem to be in the minority when I say that 2008′s Death Race was a complete and utter waste of time, however somebody must have been listening, as the completely unwarranted sequel appears to be heading straight for a bargain bin near you!

Death Race 2, a completely unnecessary prequel to the original film (which starred Jason Statham) has an ok cast by all accounts. Starring Luke Goss, Ving Rhames and Sean Bean, the film is directed by Roel Reiné and has already begun principal photography. Check out the official press release below for more:

Start your engines…and load your weapons. The explosive, all-new high-octane Death Race 2 began principal photography on February 13, 2010 in Cape Town, South Africa. The spectacular prequel to Paul W.S. Anderson’s audacious re-imagining of the Roger Corman cult classic stars Luke Goss (Hellboy 2: The Golden Army), Ving Rhames (Con Air, Pulp Fiction), Sean Bean (National Treasure, Lord of the Rings trilogy), Danny Trejo (Planet Terror, “Burn Notice”), Frederick Koehler (“Oz,” “Touching Evil”) and Lauren Cohan (“Supernatural”) and promises even more outrageously outfitted muscle cars and death-defying stunts in a deadly driving competition. Director Roel Reiné (The Marine 2, The Lost Tribe) takes the helm of the adrenaline-fueled chronicle of Frankenstein, the greatest Death Race driver of all time, in an all-out thrill ride through a dystopian future.

The screenplay is by Tony Giglio (Chaos), from a story by Paul W.S. Anderson. A top-flight production team has also been assembled, including director of photography John McKay, production designer Johnny Breedt, editor Josh Galvin and costume designer Moira Meyer.

The latest in the hugely successful line of DVD Originals™ from Universal Studios Home Entertainment Productions, Death Race 2 is produced by Paul W.S. Anderson and Jeremy Bolt and executive produced by Paula Wagner and Mike Elliott. Death Race 2 is an official South African/German Co-Production, produced in South Africa by Universal Pictures Productions GmbH and Moonlighting Death Race Films C.C. and co-produced by Genevieve Hofmeyr and Ralph Tuebben.

Since its introduction in 2005, Universal’s extensive DVD Originals™ slate of new live-action and animated content has dominated sales charts, scored impressive ratings on television network and cable outlets, performed successfully in multi-international markets and helped to shape the made-for-DVD arena. The high profile string of hits includes multiple installments of the powerhouse Bring It On and American Pie franchises as well as the epic saga Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior and most recently the explosive action release, Smoking Aces 2: Assassins’ Ball .

Death Race 2 takes place in the very near future, as the United States economy begins to decline and violent crime starts to spiral out of control. To contain the growing criminal population, a vast network of for-profit, private prisons springs up, creating a lawless subculture ruled by gangs, cold-blooded killers and sociopaths. The worst of these prisons is Terminal Island. Convicted cop-killer Carl Lucas arrives on the Island to serve his life sentence just as ruthlessly ambitious television personality September Jones launches the ultimate reality show, Death Race. A brutal prison yard demolition derby that pits prisoners against each other in steel reinforced, heavily armed vehicles, Death Race offers the winner the ultimate prize: freedom — if he can survive to enjoy it. When Lucas signs up to be a driver, the stage is set for the birth of a legendary racer.

I don’t know what’s worse, that Death Race is still going or that the original title for this little treat was Death Race: Frankenstein Lives!

Rango – Review

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Gore Verbinski’s homage to spaghetti westerns is realised through a surrealist anthropomorphic animation lens. Johnny Depp voices the titular hero, a chameleon with an identity crisis who during a car accident is left stranded in the Mojave desert and forced to make his own way in the world.

Although starting off with a contemporary setting an anachronistic movie unfolds as the lonely lizard befriends the townsfolk of Dirt with tall tales of daring-do. They’re an easily impressed bunch, so much so, they make him sheriff. Bad idea.

Director Verbinski and screenwriter John Logan fashion an occasionally dark story despite it being a bright and fun sort of film with talking animals and insects. It does have a ‘doped up’ vibe evident in several dream sequences and the general strangeness of the premise. Seeing lizards, owls and shrews riding on top of chickens is barking mad!

The older viewer will get all the references to John Ford, Sergio Leone, Clint Eastwood, Apocalypse Now, Star Wars and Chinatown. Indeed, part of the narrative features a scheming villain trying to control the water supply and there’s a Noah Cross-like villain who sounds a lot like John Huston. In fact it’s voiced by Ned Beatty, who featured as the baddie Lotso in Toy Story 3. Even the film’s title sounds like a play on the classic spaghetti western ‘Django’.

The cinematography, production design and animation is excellent. It could easily have been an indulgent mess but Verbinski gets the tone just about right. Even the end credits are well done. Depp does his comedy shtick routine which audiences lapped up in the Pirates movies but Rango is more Hunter S. Thompson-like than Captain Jack.

Rango at various times is a liar, a coward and a cheat (perfect spaghetti western material) but steps up to the plate in the end. Yes, the character undergoes a narrative arc inspired by a quest for identity. The chameleon is a friendless sort with dreams of becoming an actor.

Hans Zimmers’ Ennio Morricone pastiche score and mood pieces are genuinely thrilling and we’re even treated to a sort of bluegrass version of Ride of the Valkyries. Rango is smart, funny, inventive ( as mentioned, the posse ride chickens instead of horses and there’s a great aerial battle featuring bats) and most of all it’s entertaining.

A fine voice cast is assembled but this is Depp’s show. Isla Fisher, Harry Dean Stanton, Bill Nighy, Alfred Molina, Abigail Breslin and Timothy Olyphant all do well with what they have.

One senses an even darker prospect in Rango but since a truly adult version would never make as much money as one aimed at everybody, it’s easy to see why Verbinski choice the route he did.

So Rango is a film with wide appeal working both for the kids who’ll laugh at Rango and his comedy foibles and the adults will dig the surrealist dreamlike atmosphere and movie references. Highly recommended.

Rating: ★★★★☆

US Release: 4th March
UK Release: 4th March
Australia Release: 10th March

Batman 3 Update: Christopher Nolan Begins Search For Female Lead

  |    by: films

As film fans we all know Christopher Nolan likes to keep his projects off the radar, on the QT, on the hush-hush. What am I saying! Security and information on his productions would have made Stanley Kubrick call him a control freak if he were around to do so.

But we love it don’t we? The not knowing. The anticipation kills us and then we’re drip fed little pieces of info until we’re bowled over by the finished production; The Dark Knight, Inception, the man knows how to wow an audience.

Moviehole are reporting this week that Nolan is hosting top secret (what else?) auditions for the female lead in Batman 3. At least give us a better title to work with Chris! No names are mentioned (naturally) but the report says he’s not necessarily on the look out for a ‘name’. Actresses in their 20s and 30s are meeting with the director and they don’t even know what role they’re auditioning for!

The past two movies saw Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawson turn into the brilliant Maggie Gyllenhaal in The Dark Knight. So let the speculation begin! Will we have a new Catwoman and a new love interest for Bruce Wayne?We’ll probably find out in a few weeks time… we hope.

Some things we do know about Batman 3 include the fact Christopher Nolan is returning to shout ‘action!’, he’s written the script with his brother Jonathan and it might start filming in the early spring. Warner Bros. want this out there for summer 2012, 21st July, to be precise. Will that happen? Oh, and Tom Hardy has been attached to a role in the third instalment. Who will he be playing? Again, we don’t bloody know yet!

Source: Moviehole