Thursday, January 01, 2009

And the crystal ball says...

Here are future predictions for some amazing books being turned into movies. At this time release dats based on IMDB and other movie/scifi websites.

2008

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (11/21)
Based on the very famous books by J.K. Rowling.
Directed by Anand Tucker who directed Shopgirl and Hilary and Jackie. As Harry Potter begins his 6th year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, he discovers an old book marked mysteriously "This book is the property of the Half-Blood Prince" and begins to learn more about Lord Voldemort's dark past.
Prediction: like this won't be as f***ing great as the others.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (11/26)
Based on the book by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Directed by David Fincher who directed Panic Room, Fight Club and The Game.
An odd romance sparks between a woman of 30 and a man who, at 50, begins aging backwards.
Featuring Cate Blanchett and Brad Pitt.
Prediction: may be good but they should have done The Confessions of Max Tivoli by Andrew Sean Greer which was a better read. Also a little bit to similar to The Time Traveler's Wife also coming out (I hope) this year.

Marley and Me (12/25)
Based on the memoir by John Grogan.
A family learns important life lessons from their adorable, but naughty and neurotic dog.
Starring Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson.
Funny and touching book that will make you cry at the end. I hope Hollywood doesn't kill this sweet story.

The Time Traveler's Wife (?)
Based on the book by Audrey Niffenegger.
Directed by Robert Schwentke who directed Flightplan with Jodie Foster.
A man with a time-traveling gene uses his innate abilities to visit his lover at different points in her life. (The release date has already pushed after Brad and Jen divorced who bought the film rights.)
Prediction: near impossible to beat the book and jumping between them as kids and adults will be challenging. But hoping this will be even a quarter as good as the book.

Angels and Demons
(Scifi website says this movie has put on hold due to the writer's strike.)
Based on the book by Dan Brown.
Directed by Ron Howard and starring Tom Hanks. Just like The Da Vinci Code.
About world-renowned Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon, who is summoned to a Swiss research facility (CERN) to analyze a mysterious symbol seared into the chest of a murdered physicist. He discovers evidence of the unimaginable, the rebirth of an ancient secret brotherhood known as the Illuminati, the most powerful underground organization ever to walk the earth.

2009

The Reader


Lovely Bones
Based on the book by Alice Sebold.
Directed by Peter Jackson who of course did LOTR and King Kong.
About a murdered 14 year old girl who recalls what happened from Heaven, as the incident affects those around her.
Prediction: should be very good with Jackson directing.

Peace Like a River
(Without a director or actors, I'm willing to bet the release date pushes.)
Based on the book by Leif Enger.No director.Billy Bob Thorton may have been cast to play the Dad. A family tries to find their son after he is found guilty of murdering 2 bad guys who had been threatening them.Prediction: could be even better than the book.

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Michael Chabon.
Directed by Stephen Daldry who did Billy Elliot and The Hours.
The film takes place in 1930s New York and is about two young cousins who create a comic book superhero named The Escapist, who "roams the globe, performing amazing feats and coming to the aid of those who languish in tyranny's chains!" The boys help usher in the golden age of comics, and through the years, The Escapist encounters adversaries similar to real-life figures.Prediction: will have to work hard to beat the book.

The History of Love
Based on the book by Nicole Krauss.
Directed by Alfonso Cuarón who directed Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban andY tu mamá también and Children of Men. See The Memory of Running below.
A long-lost book mysteriously reappears and connects an old man searching for his son with a girl seeking a cure for her mother's loneliness.
Prediction: With Cuarón directing the movie could be as great as the book, which was an excellent read.

The Memory of Running
Based on the book by Ron McLarty.
Also directed by Alfonso Cuarón who directed Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Y tu mamá también and Children of Men. See History of Love above.
Follows an obese Vietnam vet who, still reeling from the death of his parents, finds out his sister has died in Los Angeles. He sets out on a cross-country trip on his bicycle in a bid to reclaim her body.
Prediction: Again with Cuarón directing this could be really good. Casting and screenplay are critical to capture the book's characters. This was also a decent read.

Fahrenheit 451 (must read first!)
Based on the Ray Bradbury novel.
Simply put, 451 degrees Fahrenheit is the temperature at which paper burns. In this grim look at a fascist future, firemen have taken on a new duty of starting fires as well as putting them out (complete with flame throwers), specifically with the task of burning all books, as way of suppressing independent thought and action in the public. The film's story centers around a young fireman, Guy Montag, who finds himself questioning his job, even as he encounters a beautiful young woman, and learns about an underground of rebels who each memorize the entire contents of a book, so that they can preserve it even without the use of paper.

2010

Harry Potter and the Dealthly Hallows
Based on the very famous books by J.K. Rowling.
The last one to end the series.
Prediction: will be as great if not better than the others; sad to see it all end.

???
No mention, but these books would make outstanding movies.

Digging to America
By Anne Tyler about 2 couples who meet at the Baltimore airport for the arrival of the babies they adopted from Korea. The 2 couples stay in touch and follow the families as they gather throughout the years as the girls get older. This was a great book.

The Fugitive Game
By Jonathan Littman about Kevin Mitnick the legendary hacker who broke into corporate computer systems and stole source code to satisfy his curiosity never intending harm. After a well-publicized pursuit that made him notorious, the FBI arrested Mitnick in 1995 and today helps companies protect themselves from guys like him.

Flashforward
By Robert J. Sawyer. What would you do if you got a glimpse of your future and it looked bleak? Try to change things, or accept that the future is unchangeable and make the best of it? A group of physicists accidentally induce a consciousness shift that flashes everyone on Earth forward 21 years, experiencing several minutes of the future. But while everyone is out of their minds, their bodies drop unconscious; then the world reawakens to what happened as a result of those few minutes. Great story that keeps you guessing until the end. One of my favorite books.

Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict
By Laurie Viera Rigler
Decent read and would make a good movie. I only hope they don't cast Keira Knightley or Reese Witherspoon.

The New Yorkers
By Cathleen Schine
You don't have to like dogs to like this book which would make a really good movie.

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Third Narnia Film loses steam

From Cinemablend.com:
The third movie in the Narnia series (and my favorite of C.S. Lewis’s books), Voyage of the Dawn Treader had been in pre-production at Disney, on track for a 2010 release date. Now though, Disney has pulled out. HR reports that Disney will not co-produce and co-finance the next Narnia movie.

Trek Update

From SciFi.com:

J.J. Abrams, director of Star Trek, posted on the movie's Facebook
page that the film should be locked next week, only a few days after
its original release date of Christmas. The movie's release was bumped
to May 8, 2009.


"We're just making final tweaks to the movie--we should be
totally locked next week," Abrams wrote on Dec. 22. "Then we're going
to flash-freeze it so it's totally fresh for you in May. I can't wait
for you to see the movie. The cast is awesome. The action and effects
pushed the stunt team and ILM beyond their limits. I'm so grateful to
this cast and crew--and to all of you for your interest and patience.
We'll continue to update this page with new info and exclusives, so
check back when you think of it. In the meantime, have a happy,
healthy, fun holiday!"

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Flashforward to TV

From Robert Sawyer's blog:
The Hollywood Reporter published an article at 10:00 p.m. Pacific time on Thursday, September 18, 2008, saying we were close to selling my novel Flashforward and a pilot script based on it written by Brannon Braga and David S. Goyer to ABC. Reuters picked up the story, and now it's everywhere, including SciFi Wire.

Actually, the deal has closed, and it had even before the Hollywood Reporter piece went online. It closed at 5:55 p.m. Pacific time that day, after many days of marathon negotiations between ABC and David's agents at CAA, Brannon's agents at Endeavor, and my agents at Created By. We're going ahead. I've read David and Brannon's pilot script, and it is
magnificent.

Congratulations, Robert!

Thursday, August 07, 2008

More BSG

From Scifi.com:
New Battlestar Prequel Coming

SCI FI Channel announced that it will air a new Battlestar Galactica two-hour prequel movie, set to air in 2009 following the conclusion of the series.

Directed by star Edward James Olmos, the as-yet-untitled new film will be set before the events of the original Battlestar miniseries and will focus on Cylons: Number One, known as Cavil (Dean Stockwell), resistance leader Sam T. Anders (Michael Trucco) and Chief Galen Tyrol (Aaron Douglas).

In the beginning, the Cylons had a plan, but it didn't account for one thing: survivors. During the chaotic aftermath of the nuclear destruction, two powerful Cylon agents struggle with plots and priorities on the human ships that got away and among the resistance fighters who were left behind.

The film will be written by Jane Espenson and will begin shooting in Vancouver, Canada, at the end of the summer. After airing on SCI FI, it will be released on DVD by Universal Studios Home Entertainment.

The final 10 episodes of the fourth and last season of Battlestar Galactica will begin airing on SCI FI Channel in 2009.