Extras! 27 March 2014

Welcome to The Extras! A daily dose of all the smaller movie related news, clips and just plain cool stuff that you might have missed!

Despite Darryn always going on about it’s neon orangey goodness, I never played Deus Ex: Human Revolution, but after watching this damn impressive fan created short film based on the game, I may just have to rectify that soon.

Based on the video game Deus Ex Human Revolution, the film dives into the world of Adam Jensen, a serif industries’ security consultant that gets augmented after an incident that almost took his life away. Although the film doesn’t follow the narrative of the game exactly, it remains true to the theme while focusing on the relationship between Adam Jensen, and his ex girlfriend Megan Reed, a scientist hand picked by Serif Industries to head Cybernetic Augmentations. Megan is taken by the Illuminati and is asked to assist them in turning on a mysterious device but she refuses to cooperate. Jensen has been looking for Megan since she was kidnapped and has finally pinpointed her location. Adam faces a complication that he did not account for; Yelena Federova, an Augmented assassin is at the facility where Megan is being held. The film also taps, even if briefly, into Adam’s mind and the struggle he must face on daily basis.

Yee-haw! Looks like everybody’s favourite non-killer killer hillbillies Tucker and Dale will be back to not killing some more people. Tucker and Dale vs Evil stars Taylor Labine and Alan Tudyk revealed yesterday that they have been contacted by the studio to let them know that Tucker and Dale vs Evil 2 is  officially now in development.

And in case you’re worried, the duo wanted to assure fans that they would “never make a shitty sequel” and have told the producers that they will only get back on board if the film is actually good enough.

With his Errol Flynn shtick and boxing glove arrows (how the hell would those even fly?!), Green Arrow can be a laughably bad superhero. But in Arrow, they’ve adapted him quite successfully to a much a more grounded world. That doesn’t mean though that the show doesn’t have the potential to stuff it all up with some silly decision making, which is I hope the creators read this list of Five Terribly Hilarious Foes We Hope Never Appear on Arrow.

Er… Game of Thrones advertising department, I think you may have to think more carefully about where you put your signages, declaring that “All men must die”.

Real life married pair Chris Pratt and Anna Farris may be big time movie stars, but clearly they’re not above freeloading their way into a holiday. The couple have been tapped by Fox to play, well, a couple in Vacation Friends, a new comedy being directed by Steve Pink (Hot Tub Time Machine, About Last Night). Deadline describes the film as “like What About Bob? with a couple,” in which Farris and Pratt “will play a crazy wild couple that bonds with a straight laced couple on vacation in Mexico. They have a great time, and then want to rekindle the fun. Once the other couple gets back to their normal life, it’s not nearly the same kind of fun and their vacation friends won’t go away.”

And that’s probably the most I’ve typed the word couple in a single paragraph.

And for some education! Ever wonder where the practice of movie trailers began? Hell, why are they even called “trailers” in the first place? Well, you can get all those answers and more in this really and informative vid on the history of the movie trailer.

Poster of the day: Wolfcop (which I had never even heard about before seeing this poster today, but which I really need to know more about RIGHT NOW!)

Were you one of those fans who were yelling at Man of Steel and Dark Knight Trilogy scribe David S. Goyer for stuffing up your favourite character by [INSERT GRIPE OF CHOICE HERE]? Yeah, Goyer wasn’t actually listening to you. The writer spoke to CBR at length about how paying too much attention to all the noise on the internet is not always the best thing a creator can do.

“You’re dealing with an incredibly vocal but incredibly tiny sort of [group]. That’s a mistake that I think a lot of networks and movie studios make, is sort of listening too much to [them]. I mean, it’s important to listen to the fan chatter but you’re really talking about a tiny, tiny, tiny portion of your audience that may not be representative of what your mainstream audience actually thinks or feels.”

“I think it’s helpful, but at the same time, it’s also, and I’m paraphrasing Steve Jobs, it’s like you don’t give the audience or the consumer what they want, you give them what they don’t even know they want. I mean, being involved in some of these comic book movies and stuff like that, people say, well, this is what they should do. And trust me, if we had just done exactly that I don’t think the audiences would have been completely happy. I mean that’s not to say that filmmakers can’t misfire, but if you try to just do what you think the fan community wants you’ll drive yourself crazy and you won’t actually write anything. So it’s good to have that tension, but I think also some creators pay attention to it too much.”

“[I]t’s different when you’re dealing with something that has become a cultural touchstone like a Batman or Star Trek. And I think when you’re dealing with something like that that has been a cultural touchstone for decades you do have a responsibility to at least be aware of what the weight of all those decades of kind of fan reaction have been. And so Chris Nolan and I absolutely had discussions about that with regards to Superman or Batman and where he exists in the public consciousness and whether or not this was aligned with that or a betrayal of that or not. […] I mean, I will say that when you’re dealing with something that is a cultural touchstone I always think it’s important to look at what are the elements or themes that are the most sticky, that bubble to the surface again and again over the decades. And those are probably the ones you should pay attention to.”

Sorry, could you please repeat that, Mr Goyer? I wasn’t listening.

Want to know just how badass The Raid 2: Berandal is? This following intense, brutal and insane scene, which would normally have been the big finale of any lesser movie, was CUT because it messed with the film’s pacing. It took 6 days to shoot, cost a fair amount, and featured actors that were only used in this scene – which serves to just show another side of the big gang war that’s going on in the movie – and director Gareth Evans just left it on the editing room floor.

Looks like Fifty Shades of Grey is turning out to be fifty shades of tame. During CinemaCon, Universal screened some early footage of the adaptation of EL James’ “mommy porn” book, and much to the surprise of those in attendance, the film seems to be downplaying the kinky erotica for more of a romance angle. Instead of S&M butt plugs and spankings it was all wistful stares and PG kissing. While there were some fleeting shots of star Dakota Johnson blindfolded in a sexually foreboding red room, there definitely was no “inner goddess” on display.

We all love Loki, but some of you may really love Loki, and would give anything to have him infiltrate your base, if you know what I mean. If you feel this way about the Asgardian villain, or any other bad guy really, (maybe you want to die hard with Hans Gruber?) then you may be suffering from Villain Attraction Disorder. Don’t worry though, you’re not alone, as the ladies in this video explain.

If you have anything you would like to contribute to Extras, whether it be interesting stories, funny videos, or artistic photos of yourself in morally questionable poses, feel free to drop a mail to kervyn@themovies.co.za.

Last Updated: March 27, 2014