The Film

“Within this disc, you have a very honest, as honest as legally possible, journey into anything that can go wrong on a film. It’s a cautionary tale in the form of a disc…Between the cracks, you’ll see the movie that got away, “ explains director Guillermo Del Toro as he introduces his new “director’s cut” of Mimic fourteen years after its theatrical release.

The story follows entomologists Susan Tyler and her husband Peter Mann as they genetically engineer the Judas Breed, a giant insect resembling a praying mantis that succeeds in stopping a deadly virus that’s killing children in Manhattan. Three years later, the Judas Breed has evolved and can now imitate human form and also replicate itself. The Breed are responsible for a mysterious string of disappearances in the subways under Manhattan. Susan and Tyler band together with shoe-shiner Manny, his son Chuy and transit security guard Leonard to stop the monsters before they spread above ground to wreak global havoc.

I remember seeing Mimic on opening weekend back in 1997. I thought Mira Sorvino worked well as Susan and the creature effects were solid. I liked it, but wanted to love it. To my delight, Del Toro’s new cut is far superior. While the theatrical version was more of a forgettable B-monster film, the new version is more atmospheric and character-driven.  Some of the jump scares have been removed, but the most notable addition is a subplot having Susan pregnant, which adds a deeper layer and sense of danger. Also notable is the stunning opening credit sequence designed by Imaginary Forces’ Kyle Cooper, who designed the famous Seven opening credits.

Mimic’s story behind the story is even more dramatic. In his audio commentary, del Toro graciously gives props to the producers and collaborators that worked with him (and against him). He points no fingers and appears very satisfied with this new cut, but also shows regret at the film that could have been. Both Mimic and del Toro’s learning experience making Mimic show what can happen when creations go out of control. With the release of this Blu Ray, both stories end with a satisfying conclusion.

The Blu-Ray:

Audio/Video: Transfer is as beautiful as a new print. Del Toro’s visual palette (mostly blues and oranges) never looked better and the 7.1 DTS-HD audio enhances the creature sounds and Marco Beltrami’s rich score.

Special Features: All extra special! In “Reclaiming Mimic” del Toro discusses the restoration of scenes and themes in the new cut, “A Leap In Evolution” follows the creative evolution of the film’s creatures, “Back Into the Tunnels: The Making of Mimic” contains 1996 on-set b-roll and interviews, 2 Deleted scenes, an alternate ending, 3 storyboard animatic sequences, gag reel, and the original theatrical trailer.

The Flick: Rating: Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

The Blu Ray: Rating: Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Three years ago entomologist Dr. Susan Tyler genetically created an insect to kill cockroaches carrying a virulent disease, now the insects are out to destroy their only predator, mankind!

Source: Yahoo!

DON’T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK is a remake of a 1973 made for TV movie of the same name. Kim Darby and Jim Hutton played the homeowners in the original film. For the updated version, Katie Holmes now plays the Kim Darby role (named Kim in this version) and Guy Pearce plays the Juim Hutton role (Alex). For this version, another character, Sally, was added. Sally is the daughter of Alex and was sent to live with her father by her mother. Kim is not Alex’s wife, but girlfriend here. Alex has bought the home of artist Blackwood, who we see in the opening scene trying to find his child and offering up the teeth of his maid to an unseen creature or force. We flash forward to present day when Alex is picking up Sally from the airport and brings her back to the home which he is renovating to hopefully get on the cover of Architectural Digest.

When Sally is brought home, she starts to wander around the land and finds that the house has an uncovered basement. The groundskeeper, Harris (Jack Thompson) doesn’t want the basement found, as we learn that his grandfather covered it up. Alex and Kim want to see what the fuss is about and break down the wall and get to the basement. It’s Blackwood’s studio. Alex tells Sally to stay out of the studio as it’s dirty and she might get hurt. During the night Sally starts to hear whispers. She doesn’t know who’s whispering or where they are coming from, but she believes it’s from the basement. Since she was told not to go there, that’s where she’s headed. The voices say that if she let’s them out they’ll be her friend. In to the basement she goes and to the furnace, where she hears the voices. She takes off the cover and the creatures are set loose.

Once loose, the creatures don’t keep their promise to be friends with Sally, but want to kill her instead. She tries to tell her dad and Kim, but being generic horror characters, they don’t believe her, even when there’s proof around. Harris finds Sally in the basement and tells her to leave. As he tries to put the door back on the furnace, the creature are able to make it out and attack him. He makes his way up the stairs and is all bloody. Kim starts to think something might be wrong now. This doesn’t stop Alex from putting on a party to still try to get the cover article. This could be the big break his career needs. It isn’t until this party that Alex finally decides that maybe Sally is telling the truth.

There are many elements in the story that are typical of a del Toro script. That’s not totally a bad thing, as del Toro is a great writer and one of the best directors around today. The problem lies in the fact that first time director Troy Nixey has made a del Toro movie instead of a Troy Nixey film. It has the look of a del Toro film and the feel of one. The script is not bad, but there seem to be too many holes and cliches (the parents that ignore the child, even when there is plenty of evidence because they have more important things to worry about). The acting is rangers from good (the side characters) to very good (Pearce and Holmes) to amazing (Bailee Madison who plays Sally). Pearce can just stand there and read the phone book and he’d do a great job. He’s supposed to be a bit of a jerk who’s more caring for his work than family, and he does an amazing job portraying that. Holmes, who has never stood out as a great actor does a very good job here. The real standout is Bailee Madison. This 12 year old actor had to work against CGI creatures for much of the movie, and even adults have a hard time with that. She really conveyed great emotion and it seemed like she was working with actual actors. She has a very bright future for sure.

The sets are another plus to the movie. The house that the movie takes place in is immense and beautiful. The land that the house is on is beautiful land, but it isn’t used to what could have been it’s fullest. There is a maze made of bushes, but all we see of that is when Sally goes looking around before she finds the basement. This was another lost opportunity as a scene at night in there could have been very spooky and suspenseful. There is a scene where Kim shows Sally some fish inside the maze and tells her a bit about them, how they are imported and special fish. That was the end of that, save for one scene where Sally visits them. This was a scene that was put in the movie that seemed like it might have led to something, but nothing came of it.

The movie isn’t a horrible one, but just middle of the road. It seems like we’ve seen everything on screen before (and not because it’s a remake). The characters do the most cliche things possible. The scares really aren’t there when they could have been. Once we see the creatures, they come off more as cute than scary. Sally, being an artist, draws pictures of the creatures and those come across more scary than what we seen on screen. If you’re going to see this one, see it for the acting as that’s really the best part of the movie. It’s a very middle of the road movie. Look up the word “meh” in the dictionary, and you’re sure to find this movie listed.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

“David Eick and Guillermo del Toro submitted a treatment that includes the development of the Red Hulk as a villain“, said the source. With Jeff Leob on the project and the current popularity of the Red Hulk, all could lead into this show’s direction. Thoughts?

The site has learned that Amy Adams is in running for the lead as Laura, a woman who takes over the orphanage where she was raised to open a home for disabled children. Then her young son begins to play with the same imaginary friend who terrorized her when she was a child. She’s in talks, and has yet to decide, probably since she’s busy reporting on Superman in Man of Steel, but she’s who New Line wants.

Thoughts?

He joins Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Charlie Day, Rinko Kikuchi, Max Martini, Willem Dafoe and Robert Kazinsky in the film, produced by Legendary Pictures for a July 12th, 2013 release. No word on his role.

The film’s plot is to believed to be a variation on the Japanese kaiju genre (giant monsters) and the plot sees a future Earth defending itself from attacking creatures through the use of enormous mechanized robots.

Source: Variety

Guillermo Del Toro will be creating his own monster movie for Legendary Pictures with Pacific Rim due out in 2013. We haven’t heard much about the film from Del Toro other than it will feature humans fighting off giant monsters in giant robots. However, Del Toro was able to spill a few details on what he plans for the film to MTV:

“I started developing ‘Pacific Rim’ a little over a year ago. I came in when it was only a pitch of a couple of pages. But the pitch is what trapped me. I thought it was not an invasion movie, it was really a new way of having giant monsters, giant robots battle each other. I proposed a couple of ideas to Travis [Beacham] and Legendary, [Pictures] and they accepted them, and I thought, ‘well, this is really now interesting for me thematically, and the characters are interesting.’”

“In the human scale, you have characters that I really, really like. Putting the two together is what made it really attractive to me. To have something where I root for not the large robots, but I root for the tiny little stories and the people inside those robots. That’s what made it interesting.”

“We are honoring the kaiju monsters, the kaiju genre is Japan that is outlandish, but is always incredibly appealing. It’s not deformed, asymmetric, bulbous, cancerous monsters, it’s really highly effective creatures.”

So, does this mean we could be seeing Godzilla or Gamera in the film? Haha, don’t count on that. But it is nice to see Del Toro honoring the genre, and hopefully we can get some classice homages to films like Gojira, Rodan, Gamera: The Giant Monster, or Mothra.

Pacific Rim is slated for release on July 12th, 2013.

However, Del Toro and Actor Ron Perlman spoke at Comic-con (via The Playlist), and did give fans some hope for the film. ”’Hellboy 2’ was tough. Both of us walked away from that a little bit, ‘Do I ever want to revisit this?’ But then with the luxury of time and looking at it in an objectified way… We were beat up at the end of it… He always looked at it as a trilogy and there were things that were unresolved. So for us to not make it would be letting down people who invested in the first two. It’s epic what he wants to do, but it would be cinematic and well worth doing,” Perlman said.

Everyone has been aware of how much Del Toro has loved the franchise, and after having At The Mountains of Madness fall apart (here), he may be more inclined to revisit this franchise.  “I only do things that I truly love. If I control the property, I hold onto it for decades. I carried ‘Hellboy’ for almost 8 years. ‘Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark’ was 13 years. I’ll hold onto it for as long as I can,” he said. However, Del Toro also notes that Hellboy 3 will be the most difficult of the three to make. “Each of those movies has been an incredible ordeal to make. The third one is the hardest one because it’s the darkest one… And if it’s not Ron, I don’t want to make it. The third one is epic, it’s gigantic,” he said. Hopefully, the film will get made. If not sooner, then maybe later.

That’s seriously all he dropped on this new idea. The classic tale has never been more popular in movies as it was in 1992′s Best Picture nominee from Disney. The latest retelling of this story came from early this year in Beastly, but when people think of live-action Beauty and the Beast they think of the 1946 version directed by Jean Cocteau (out now on Criterion Blu-ray, DVD). Thoughts?

Source: Collider

Based on Donald A. Wollheim’s short story of the same name, begins when cockroaches in Manhattan spread a deadly dieasase that claims the lives of several of the city’s children. Entomologist Susan Tyler (Sorvino) creates another breed of insects to kill the roaches, but finds out years later that her genetically mutated specimens have evolved into monsters that can mimic human beings. Josh Brolin co-starred with Mira Sorvino.

Introduction and Audio Commentary from Director Guillermo del Toro

Behind-the-scenes retrospective featurette

Featurette looking at the creatures in Mimic

Deleted/Alternate Scenes

Outtakes

Storyboard Animatics

Looking good, huh?

Source: Blu-ray

Is Hulk still happening?

Del Toro: Yeah, yeah, yeah. We turned in the outline to ABC about four weeks ago. And then we did a rewrite for ABC on the outline, and now we are lining up the pages.

Is it safe to assume this will be a different Hulk than we’ve ever seen before?

Del Toro: I think so. Or we wouldn’t be trying it. Actually, one of the points of this project early on with Marvel, was “We’re going to do this thing different, and here’s how. Are you interested?” And they were.

ABC and Marvel are prepping it with Del Toro, although it’s unclear if the series would reboot the character or be tied to The Avengers next May.

The film will be set in the future “in which malevolent creatures threaten the earth, the planet must band together and use highly advanced technology to eradicate the growing menace.” Charlie Hunnam, Charlie Day and Idris Elba are already set to star. No word on when production will begin.

However, Shock Til You Drop spoke with director Guillermo Del Toro, and he briefly touched upon the idea of doing a third Hellboy film. He does admit that he wants to make the film, but his schedule is soo booked that “by the time I get to it and by the time we got Ron [Perlman] back, he’ll be a HellMAN and in a wheelchair,” he joked.

So, there’s another nail in the coffin for the film. Perhaps one day Del Toro will get around to making the film, but we shouldn’t be hoping to see the film anytime soon, if at all. Meanwhile, Del Toro is currently in development of making Pacific Rim, which he describes as “huge”.