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Posted: 08 May 2013 12:04 AM PDT

LONDON (Reuters) - Director J.J. Abrams is hoping to persuade mainstream film audiences to boldly go where they have never gone before and embrace the next instalment of Star Trek, a franchise usually reserved for sci-fi geeks.

The man behind the cult TV series Alias and Lost told Reuters he initially hesitated when Viacom's Paramount Pictures asked him to take on the film series, whose instalments in 1998 and 2002 failed to draw crowds.

But then he worked out how to make Star Trek appeal to a broader audience, by forgetting its creaking legacy and focusing on the drama.

His first attempt to "reboot" the epic with 2009's Star Trek was a critical success, though analysts were disappointed with foreign box office sales of about US$130 million.

Now he is hoping to push even further towards the final frontier with the 3D sequel Star Trek Into Darkness, the 12th in the series, opening in Britain on May 9 and the United States on May 17.

"The idea was to make a movie that works on its own terms ... This (film) was not meant to be like an in-joke. This is very much for moviegoers and not just Star Trek fans," said Abrams (pic), wearing his trademark thick-rimmed black glasses.

The plot focuses on the crew's emotions and moral dilemmas to make "an action adventure thriller .. a little more visceral and thrilling", he said.

Most hardcore Star Trek fans welcomed Abrams' involvement in the series; he already had a huge geek fan base thanks to his TV and film back-catalogue. But Abrams himself was far less enthusiastic about the franchise when he first encountered it.

"NEVER GOT IT AS A KID"

"I never really got it as a kid. I never really understood Star Trek. It felt very talky and still to me. I have come to appreciate what it is and what it means."

Since working his magic on Star Trek, he has already been asked to revive another sci-fi behemoth. In January, Walt Disney Co. said he would direct Star Wars: Episode VII, giving hope to that franchise's long-suffering fans who were disappointed by the last three instalments.

Star Trek Into Darkness again casts Chris Pine as the womanising Captain James T. Kirk and Zachary Quinto as Spock, a mixed-race human-Vulcan who lives by the laws of logic.

The 23rd-century action starts with an attack on Starfleet's base in London by the one-man killing machine John Harrison, played by the British actor Benedict Cumberbatch, best known as the detective Sherlock Holmes in the BBC drama Sherlock.

The crew of the Enterprise are soon face-to-face with their old foes the Klingons, but things are not what they seem.

Cumberbatch, 36, said it was daunting to be a newcomer on the Star Trek cast, but he bulked up and threw himself into the role of the villain.

"The 10-year-old in me relished throwing people around the set, jumping and flying through space and the air, and running through glass walls," he told Reuters.

Critics have not been as glowing in their praise for Abrams' second Star Trek movie as for his first.

"People are unlikely to charge out of the cinema with quite the same level of glee as they did in 2009; but this is certainly an astute, exhilarating concoction," wrote Andrew Culver in Britain's Guardian newspaper.

Abrams said no official discussions have yet started on a third movie but he would be "love to be in that conversation" if there was the demand for another.

Robert Downey Jr. won't be back for 'Iron Man 4'

Posted: 07 May 2013 08:27 PM PDT

While the third installment of the Iron Man franchise enjoys box office glory, taking in over US$351 million over the weekend, Hollywood is reeling in shock that the movie's lead, Robert Downey Jr. has indicated that he does not want to return for a stand-alone Iron Man 4 movie.

The actor, however, is open to the idea of returning as the iron-clad hero in Marvel's The Avengers 2 and The Avengers 3.

Movieweb.com reports that in April the actor wanted to "retire" his Tony Stark character but he didn't leave a timetable as to when he wanted to do so. His latest, Iron Man 3 is the last movie Downey Jr. is obligated to do under his current contract with Marvel Studios.

In the meantime, the Marvel franchise has continued to attract a massive audience in worldwide cinemas, with US$175.9 million made in 54 international territories, bringing the global revenue for Iron Man 3 to just over US$680 million.

The Avengers 2 is slated for a May 2015 release and The Avengers 3 is due in 2017. Returning to the Avengers movie are stars Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Chris Evans, Samuel L. Jackson, Cobie Smulders and Mark Ruffalo.

While The Avengers 3 does not have a director, The Avengers 2 will be directed by Joss Whedon.

Hummingbird zeroes in on the homeless

Posted: 08 May 2013 01:55 AM PDT

Jason Statham takes flight in Hummingbird, a movie which zeroes in on the homeless.

RESEARCHING into homeless people in London, director/writer Steven Knight found that 10% of them are former soldiers. It was remarkable to him that people who lived by strict rules and absolute orderliness at one point of their lives would end up living on the street. It has become a norm to ignore the homeless, but to Knight, each and every one of them have a story. He then fictionalised the story of a soldier who ends up homeless in the film Hummingbird.

In the film's production notes, Knight remarked: "I discovered there is a direct route between coming out of the army and becoming homeless ... I talked to a lot of homeless ex-forces people, and I started to put the bones of the story together."

The film revolves around an ex-special forces soldier named Joey Jones (Jason Statham) who becomes homeless after running from a military court-martial. While looking for a place to stay, he breaks into an empty apartment. Here, he tries to change his ways, giving up drinking and subsequently assuming the identity of the man who lives in the apartment. Joey finds work as a dishwasher in a restaurant and then later, an unofficial bouncer. His talents soon get noticed by a gangster, and he is recruited as a driver and enforcer to the man who rules the underworld in Soho, London. Joey, being a nice guy, shares his wealth by buying food for the shelter that once housed him. Unfortunately, his good fortune ends quickly when he's involved in a shooting.

To play this ordinary working-class Englishman who goes through so many different experiences within a movie, the producers immediately thought of action-star Statham.

Producer Guy Heely explained: "Jason Statham is the most incredible athlete, which means we were able to shoot the big action scenes very easily with him. He comes in and does it all himself and is the most proficient person on the set."

Knight added: "Statham has got a particular presence about him that makes it absolutely believable that he is this character. He was so committed to doing the research, to meeting homeless people, meeting ex-forces people and really getting the character right that it pays dividends on the screen."

Hummingbird is filmed largely on location in London, with focus on Covent Gardent, Chinatown and Soho, and mostly at night. Knight also wanted to highlight the River Thames as a sinister location for dumping of bodies, giving it a malevolent notion. Unlike most action-based films, however, Knight wanted to capture the beauty of the city as well. "What I set out to do was to say – OK we're going to be shooting in, for example, an alleyway where homeless people are sleeping, or some of the seedier sides of Soho, and the easy thing to do would have been to make it gritty. But what I wanted to do was to make it beautiful, and for the camera to have a dignity about it and for the whole thing to be done almost as if it were the pastoral look." – Mumtaj Begum

Hummingbird opens in cinemas nationwide on May 16.

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

Rabu, 8 Mei 2013

The Star Online: Entertainment: Movies

The Star Online: Entertainment: Movies

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