Javier Bardem to play Frankenstein in Universal's Monsters Universe?

No Country for Old Wolfmen 

 

 

Hollywood is all a-flutter over the idea of shared universes these days, with many studios putting in motion plans to launch their own interconnected film series in a bid to emulate Marvel Studio's hugely successful model.

Interestingly, this phenomenon isn't just limited to comic book properties - we're also beginning to see studios cobble together different IPs, character and franchises that don't quite fit into the superhero mold.  The most interesting of these is undoubtedly Universal's Monsters Universe, an attempt to bring together some of the silver screen's most memorable bogeymen and women  (a list which includes Frankenstein, The Wolfman, The Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Invisible Man, Dracula and Van Helsing) and place all of them within a shared and persistent world. Kind of like a modern day, big budget version of Penny Dreadful.

Normally I'd be the first to accuse Universal of hopping on the bandwagon, but I actually really like this idea and think it could lead to some very interesting and entertaining projects. Universal are certainly hoping so, and are going to great lengths to round out their stable with an enviable list of actors, producers and writers, including John Spaihts, Alex Kurtzman, Aaron Guzikowski, Noah Hawley, Tom Cruise, Johnny Depp and Russell Crowe.

In addition to the stars above, rumours persist that Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, Angelina Jolie, and now, Javier Bardem are also being courted for starring roles. The latest round of murmurs suggest that the Oscar-winning Bardem is in talks to take on the role of Frankenstein. Whether that means he's in the frame to play the creature's creator or the creature itself is unclear.

Personally, I think Bardem would make a great monster - he's imposing enough to give the creature a real sense of malice and menace, but also an incredibly skilled performer, one that can bring to life the pathos and emotional tumult that has always defined the character.

Given the amount of talent (potentially) involved in these pictures, I'm very interested to see how the Monsters Universe shapes up, particularly a modern day take on The Wolfman - if there's one thing the world needs, it is more werewolf movies.

Looking forward to what Universal is cooking up in their lab? Let us know your thoughts on the Monsters Universe below!

Batman v Superman review round-up

Dawn of disappointment?

 

 

Last night reviews for hotly-anticipated superhero smack down Batman v Superman went live. In contrast to the effusive comments bombarding social media from fans who attended pre-screenings, the critics' opinion of Batman v Superman is nothing short of scathing, suggesting that this long-gestating grudge match between DC's big two is an indulgent, over-long and overwrought affair.

I've yet to see the movie for myself, but as someone who found Man of Steel to be a risible retelling of Superman's origin, these reviews have left me more anxious than excited to finally see Batman v Superman this Friday. My review will be up sometime next week, but before then let's take a look at what the critics are saying about this clash of titans.

Helen O'Hara pulls no punches in her review for GQ Magazine, stating this "astonishingly dumb" comic book movie "will make you hate Batman, Superman and The Justice League" and leave viewers questioning whether or not heroes really exist. The full review, which isn't nearly as scathing as the headline would suggest, is well worth a read, throwing up a few things that may leave diehard Batman and Superman fans scratching their heads in disbelief - it sounds like this iteration of the Batman has more in common with Marvel's right-wing recidivist The Punisher than the conscientious crime fighter we all know and love.

If you're looking for a slightly more positive take, head over to Variety and check out what Andrew Barker has to say. Like Helen, Andrew found Batman v Superman to somewhat unwieldy, a film whose inchoate plot elements never quite gel into a satisfying whole, but called the film a "pure visual spectacle." Total Film felt similarly, admitting that while the film's action scenes sizzle, it lacks depth and emotion.

Most reviewers, however, fall somewhere in the middle, conceding that while Batman v Superman has enjoyable moments, the resulting spectacle is too overstuffed and unfocused for its own good. Empire called the move "worthwhile" (talk about damning with faint praise) and awarded the movie 3 stars, while Andrew Pulver from The Guardian was left yearning "for the lighter touch of the Marvel films."

Not the most auspicious of starts for DC's cinematic universe, then. Now the professionals have had their say, it'll be interesting to see how audiences react to Zack Snyder's super-powered slug-fest, as well as how well it does at the box office.

A Year in Film: Jurassic World

Jurassic Parks and Recreation

A Year in Film is a series of ongoing articles that take a closer look at some of the most anticipated films coming to cinemas this year. First on the docket is Jurassic World, the fourth instalment in the Jurassic Park series, starring Chris Pratt as some kind of rootin' tootin, raptor wranglin' park ranger.

Now, I understand that the sight of Burt Macklin tearing it up with a posse of clawed killing machines is pretty exciting, but in order to succeed Jurassic World is going to need to offer more than mere spectacle. Luckily, the films's plot sounds pretty interesting, revolving as it does around the meta-sounding idea that humans, fickle creatures that we are, no longer feel awe at the sight of dinosaurs. Obviously, this feeds into real world audiences' desires for bigger, better, busier CGI - a mere two decades ago, the sight of a scaly-CGI raptor was enough to get us all hot under the collar, now we barely lift an eyebrow when presented with scenes of earth-shaking spectacle that would have been unimaginable a few decades past.

Much like us, the visitors to Jurassic World have become inured to the sight of these living, breathing prehistoric marvels; dinosaurs are played out, a fad that's passed, sort of like the hula hoop or jeans with pockets in the knees. To combat peoples' waning attention spans, the genetic tinkerers who breathed new life into the dinosaur decide to use their scientific know-how to engineer bigger, badder more dangerous specimens. This culminates in the creation of the Idominus Rex, a beastie that looks a bit like the unholy offspring of a T-Rex and a Rancor.

Like the original film in the series, World takes a look at what happens when human hubris meets the chaos and unpredictability of nature. This time round, however, we didn't just bring back the tools of our destruction, we engineered them to be even deadlier and more dangerous than before! Judging by the trailer, the only one who thinks this is a bad idea is security guard Owen (Pratt). Sadly, the powers-that-be don't share Owen's concerns --what's a few dead bodies when there's money to be made?-- and go ahead and grow their very own Indominus Rex. Predictably, ol' Rex springs the coop and starts wreaking havoc.

The plot will be familiar to anyone who has ever had the misfortune of watching schlocky ITV CGI-fest Primeval, whose first season also ended with a storyline in which genetically engineered creatures duked it out with a group of ragtag dino hunters. Unlike Primeval, though, Jurassic World is being helmed by Colin Trevorrow, whose charmingly eccentric debut film Safety Not Guaranteed was the first rom-com I've seen in the last decade that didn't make me want to poke out my own eyes.

Admittedly, he's a bit of an odd choice for a tentpole franchise like this, but evidently Spielberg and the rest of the execs that make up the Jurassic Park brain-trust liked what Trevorrow was putting down. Going by the trailers, Jurassic World doesn't bear much resemblance to the director's previous work, looking more like the kind of precision-engineered, slightly vacuous popcorn flick any number of directors-for-hire could have churned out rather than the work of a fledgling indie film maker. Still a trailer does not a film make, and I have high hopes that in-between the bouts of computer-generated carnage and pithy one-liners, Trevorrow's penchant for building rounded, sympathetic characters will come to the fore.

A scant few days ago, the final trailer for the film hit the web. This teaser is very different in tone, showcasing a more sombre side of Isla Nubar. If anything, it's strangely redolent of Predator, showing as it does various sweaty, distressed people traipsing through leafy jungles, trying not to get brutally splattered. There's also a shot of Bryce Dallas Howard holding a flare that practically screams Aliens.

We'll see how well Jurassic World fares at the multiplexes, and with the critics, next week, but for now I'm cautiously optimistic about the film's chances. I certainly don't think we're looking at another Fury Road-sized critical smash, but it won't have far to go to top the previous Park sequels and, for me, at least, watching these prehistoric bruisers run amok, snuffling screaming humans never gets old. And, hey, it can't be worse than Lost World, right?