This is the week people. The week that officially starts off the summer blockbuster period. X-Men Origins: Wolverine is finally here. In the next couple of weeks we will see the swift arrivals off most of the year's highly anticipated films like Star Trek, Angels & Demons, Night at the Museum 2, Terminator: Salvation and Disney/Pixar’s Up.
Four films are new to theaters this week- the aforementioned X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Frost/Nixon, Claustrophobia from Hong Kong and Setan Budeg from Indonesia. I'm only covering the first two films so let's get right into it, starting off with of course, Wolverine!
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber
Director: Gavin Hood
USA release: May 1
Msia release: April 29
Genre: Comic book, Action
Runtime: 107 mins
Rated in USA: PG-13
Rated in Msia: PG-13
IMdb User Rating: 7.2/10
The film is set before the X-Men trilogy, going back to when Logan was a mere mortal human being. Explaining his past and uncovering how he came to be Wolverine, X-Men Origins:Wolverine also gives us a glimpse of many different mutants, some we've seen before, some we have not, like Gambit.
Wolverine is the first spin-off movie from the X-Men franchise with many more in store if rumors are true. Supposedly, the next movie in the X-Men Origins series is Magneto. And then there will possibly be X-Men: First Class in 2010. The run up to the release of X-Men Origins: Wolverine has definitely been shrouded in tons of buzz. First, there were stories that some scenes underwent re-shoots then there was the news that the film was leaked onto the Internet leading to thousands of people downloading the workprint copy and watching it. Then the head of Fox, Tom Rothman came out and said that the leaked workprint had 10 minutes of film missing. People who watched the leaked copy noticed that the theatrical release had a runtime of 107 and so did the workprint. So Tom Rothman was lying. Only this week we found out the resons for the earlier re-shoots. Director Gavin Hood has said at a press screening recently that there will be multiple endings spread across all the theaters in the US. Obviously this is a gimmick to fight the piracy of the leaked copy. I'm not sure if we're going to get that here in Malaysia but I hope we do.
Frost/Nixon (2008)
Starring: Frank Langella, Michael Sheen
Director: Ron Howard
Producer: Brian Grazer
USA release: January 23, 2009
Msia release: April 30, 2009
USA gross: $18,622,031
Worldwide gross: $27,015,079
Genre: Drama, True events
Runtime: 122 minutes
Rated in USA: R for some language
Rated in Msia: U
IMDb User Rating: 8.0/10
Rotten Tomatometer: 92%
After Richard Nixon resigned from the office of the President of the United States, he had never said a word about his time in office, especially about the his involvement in the Watergate scandal. That is until he was interviewed by the popular British talk show host David Frost. Frost/Nixon is the story of those dramatic and historical interviews.
Nominated for five Oscars this year, Frost/Nixon is a fantastic movie with incredible acting from both Frank Langella and Michael Sheen. I doubt this film will be popular among the Malaysians, especially with all the summer blockbusters on the horizon, but if you're looking for a good quality movie that you can learn something from, Frost/Nixon's the film for you.
Check back tomorrow for a special post where I round up some of this year's summer blockbuster movies.
Four films are new to theaters this week- the aforementioned X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Frost/Nixon, Claustrophobia from Hong Kong and Setan Budeg from Indonesia. I'm only covering the first two films so let's get right into it, starting off with of course, Wolverine!
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)Starring: Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber
Director: Gavin Hood
USA release: May 1
Msia release: April 29
Genre: Comic book, Action
Runtime: 107 mins
Rated in USA: PG-13
Rated in Msia: PG-13
IMdb User Rating: 7.2/10
The film is set before the X-Men trilogy, going back to when Logan was a mere mortal human being. Explaining his past and uncovering how he came to be Wolverine, X-Men Origins:Wolverine also gives us a glimpse of many different mutants, some we've seen before, some we have not, like Gambit.
Wolverine is the first spin-off movie from the X-Men franchise with many more in store if rumors are true. Supposedly, the next movie in the X-Men Origins series is Magneto. And then there will possibly be X-Men: First Class in 2010. The run up to the release of X-Men Origins: Wolverine has definitely been shrouded in tons of buzz. First, there were stories that some scenes underwent re-shoots then there was the news that the film was leaked onto the Internet leading to thousands of people downloading the workprint copy and watching it. Then the head of Fox, Tom Rothman came out and said that the leaked workprint had 10 minutes of film missing. People who watched the leaked copy noticed that the theatrical release had a runtime of 107 and so did the workprint. So Tom Rothman was lying. Only this week we found out the resons for the earlier re-shoots. Director Gavin Hood has said at a press screening recently that there will be multiple endings spread across all the theaters in the US. Obviously this is a gimmick to fight the piracy of the leaked copy. I'm not sure if we're going to get that here in Malaysia but I hope we do.
Frost/Nixon (2008)Starring: Frank Langella, Michael Sheen
Director: Ron Howard
Producer: Brian Grazer
USA release: January 23, 2009
Msia release: April 30, 2009
USA gross: $18,622,031
Worldwide gross: $27,015,079
Genre: Drama, True events
Runtime: 122 minutes
Rated in USA: R for some language
Rated in Msia: U
IMDb User Rating: 8.0/10
Rotten Tomatometer: 92%
After Richard Nixon resigned from the office of the President of the United States, he had never said a word about his time in office, especially about the his involvement in the Watergate scandal. That is until he was interviewed by the popular British talk show host David Frost. Frost/Nixon is the story of those dramatic and historical interviews.
Nominated for five Oscars this year, Frost/Nixon is a fantastic movie with incredible acting from both Frank Langella and Michael Sheen. I doubt this film will be popular among the Malaysians, especially with all the summer blockbusters on the horizon, but if you're looking for a good quality movie that you can learn something from, Frost/Nixon's the film for you.
Check back tomorrow for a special post where I round up some of this year's summer blockbuster movies.
In 2009, X-Men Origins: Wolverine is scheduled for a May 1 release. This will be the first of a few more X-Men spin offs, the next one being X-Men Origins: Magneto then X-Men: First Class. X-Men Origins: Wolverine will see Hugh Jackman reprise his role as the iconic Wolverine. So will Ian McKellen as Magneto. Also scheduled for release is the sequel to the Nicholas Cage flick, Ghost Rider.
In 2010, the line up really kicks into gear with...yeah you guessed it, 
