Someone boost Harrison Ford's ego — it would seem he's feeling a bit expendable these days.
Ford will join the cast of actioner "The Expendables 3," The Hollywood Reporter reported this afternoon, replacing departing star Bruce Willis, for whom action legend Stallone had some harsh words.
Stallone, who co-wrote and starred in the first two installments of the series and directed "The Expendables," broke the news of the star shuffle with great finesse
Yikes. Um, Bruce? Stallone's representatives confirmed to Huffington Post that the second tweet was indeed directed at Willis, but declined to elaborate.
In less shouty social media war news: Ford. His involvement in the threequel has been rumored since last summer, around the release of "The Expendables 2."
"We're talking to Harrison Ford," producer Avi Lerner said. "[And we want] Wesley Snipes when he comes back from prison. I'll give you one more name, we've got Nicolas Cage to play [one of the characters]."
"The Expendables 3" is slated to be released August 15, 2014. If you can't wait til next summer to get your Ford fix, Han Solo stars in "Ender's Game," out Nov. 1 and in August 16's "Paranoia."
John Boorman, then acclaimed as the director of Deliverance, wrote, produced and directed Zardoz. He was given a free hand, and a pretty good budget (over a million dollars) for an eclectic art film, which is more fantasy than sci-fi. Zardoz had great cinematography, lush landscapes and even a big name star: Sean Connery. It also occasionally suffers the common one-man-band foibles. The story was just too much for the mass-market movie audience to warm up to. Zardoz was likened to Kubrick's 2001 for it's overly-cerebral montage of obscure tangents. As such, Zardoz gained a reputation as one of those "worst films ever." Yet, it has also developed a zealous cult following.
Quick Plot Synopsis
A little man named Arthur introduces the story as his story, though it might not happen. The year is 2293. A huge stone head lands on a desolate hillside. A band of natives on horseback come to worship the head. The head says he is their god, Zardoz. Guns come flying out of the stone mouth. The natives are to kill "the brutals". The head flies away, but one of the natives (Sean Connery) hid inside it. While flying along, Zed (Connery) meets Arthur -- the voice of Zardoz. Zed shoots Arthur, who falls from the head to his death. The head lands a bucolic (Irish) country villa. People in short colorful outfits go about agrarian tasks. He is eventually captured (via mind powers) by a woman named May. She demands that he explain how he got into the Vortex. Zed says he does not know. He was "an enforcer" who's Zardoz-given job was to kill humans (the brutals) and keep the population in check. May wants to study him, because his mind isn't simple like the other brutals. Consuella worries that he is dangerous in the Vortex. Zed is put under the care of "Friend", another immortal. Friend shows Zed where the immortals bake their daily bread. They take bread to an old folks home, of sorts, that houses The Renegades -- immortals who rebelled, or just went senile. Friend also shows Zed a farm that houses The Apathetics -- immortals who've lost the will to live (so they just stand and stare). The immortals can't grow enough wheat to feed these non-workers. That's why Zed and the enforcers make the burials grow wheat. Consuella explains that once people were immortal, the need for sleep and sex vanished. The immortals tried advancing themselves in science and knowledge, but became bored. They actually long for death, but the Tabernacle prevents death. Scientists created this Tabernacle super computer 300 years ago, then had it erase all knowledge of it from their minds. This way it would never be broken by them. Zed is fed all the knowledge that the immortals acquired. He learns that Arthur taught him about the truth -- there was no god, just like the Wizard of Oz was just a man. wiZARD of OZ -- get it? Zed wants to disable the Tabernacle so people can die. Eventually, he solves the mystery of the crystal and breaks the Tabernacle. The old Renegades die first, of old age. The younger immortals are standing around a fountain humming New Age tones. A band of natives with guns runs up, shooting them. (the protective dome disappeared when Tabernacle was shut off. Amid all the carnage, the immortals are eager for death. The natives oblige. Zed sends away to safety "in the east", May and a band of other no-longer-immortals. Zed runs away with Consuella and hides in the big stone head. They have a baby. The baby grows into young manhood and leaves. Zed and Consuella grow old and die. The End.
Why is this movie fun?
There are so many tangents and sub-topics, that one could muse over Zardoz for weeks. Things happen so quickly that the story doesn't have time to get boring -- or predictable. There is a lot of symbolism in Boorman's production, which can be fun to muse on too, such as how the Eternals were usually scantily clad (if clad at all), but when the leave The Vortex, they're wrapped up in heavy quilts. Adam and Eve, naked while innocent, left Eden clothed.
Cultural Connection
New Age Xtreme -- Much of what fills the complexity of Zardoz is best seen in the light of of the New Age movement. While the actual roots of New Ageism are quite old, it's more modern form began in the late 60s, invigorated with all the youthful energy of the "hippy" generation. Boorman did not just explore one or two of these New Age facets, but seemed intent on including as many of them as he could: vague self-centered spirituality, environmentalism, back-to-the-land, communes, psychic energy, crystals, egalitarianism, etc. Zardoz is a concentrated stew of New Age notions.
Notes
Well-Trodden Ground -- Much has been written about Zardoz already, some of it favorable, some of it critical. These few notes below don't pretend to be exhaustive. These are just a few more points.
Too Much Meat -- What often puts people off about Zardoz is its complexity. Audiences conditioned to movies with a single story thread are stymied by Boorman's complex medley. Boorman himself admits to a bit of hubris in that he included too many ideas to really do most of them any justice. Many viewers who experience a "what was THAT all about?" moment will likely agree.
Subtle Technophobia -- The Tabernacle is the all-powerful supercomputer in Zardoz. The old ones made it to run their lives better than mankind tends to. Like other technophobia movies, the human creators cede authority to the computer. True to form, things go bad: The Krell, Hal, Colossus, etc. Mankind cannot super-compute his way out of a fallen world.
Everything's Better With Beethoven -- For his score, David Munroe made much use of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony, mostly the second movement. Second movements were traditionally slower, more somber (or stately) and in a minor key. Beethoven's 7th, 2nd movement was "Allegretto" rather than "Adagio" but still the slower movement. The melancholy motif seems a perfect choice for the dystopian tale.
Sophomore Manifesto -- In his commentary, Boorman recounts how the idea for Zardoz began in his teenage years. Many of the themes and "morals" of his many threads read as an anthology of sophomoric mottos. Civilization (rules by elders/elites) exist to repress sexuality. Religion is man-made and exists only to control people -- with empty promises of eternal life. And, a telling trait of youth -- that eternity would be boring. More than five minutes of anything tends to be boring to many teens. Also a trait of youth is the inability to accept that whatever their current values are, that they might not be universal or even long lasting. What is fascinating to a kid (Pokemon? Power Rangers?) eventually gets replaced by something else -- usually something more valuable. C.S. Lewis used an analogy of chocolate and sex. When a kid is young, chocolate is the ultimate delight. A young couple on their honeymoon tell that kid that they've not had chocolate for a whole week, and never even once wanted any (having something far better on their minds). The kid is horrified at life without chocolate and announces that he wants nothing to do with girls and marriage because there's no chocolate. Boorman's notion of eternity is that of a chocolate-loving kid (and one easily bored).
Bottom line? Zardoz is not for everyone. It's jumble of story sub-threads are usually not well developed, so can be confusing. If one tends to like simple story lines and straightforward action, Zardoz is probably not a good film to watch. For the patient, however, many of those sub-threads are interesting food for thought.
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The science-fiction movie Elysium opens in theaters and IMAX in the U.S. on Friday, August 9. The ostensible bionics (exoskeleton technology) and special effects for this film are mesmerizing.
The folk who live on the space station Elysium appear to have eliminated poverty, war, illness (including cancer), and possibly death.
The unfortunate folk who remain on Earth have all of these problems in spades and worse. Recall the Los Angeles dystopia in the 1982 Ridley Scott film Blade Runner with Harrison Ford, in which the wealthy work for the Tyrell Corporation and live the good life.
In the year 2154 (well past our presumed “Singularity”), the very-wealthy and privileged classes live on Elysium, a toroidal high-tech space station governed by President Patel (Faran Tahir), in a utopian setting that includes access to private medical machines that offer instant cures, while everyone else lives below on an overpopulated, disease-ridden, ruined Earth.
Los Angeles has become a third-world slum. Those who maintain Elysium will stop at nothing to enforce anti-immigration laws and preserve their citizens’ lifestyle, even destroying ships that attempt to arrive there.
After an industrial accident leaves him with a cancer virus, 36-year-old factory-worker Max De Costa (Matt Damon) has only five days to go from Los Angeles to Elysium in order to be cured. Max straps into a powerful exoskeleton and attempts to kidnap a rich businessman (William Fichtner) in order to steal his identity and hijack his way into Elysium. This pits him against Elysium’s Secretary Delacourt (Jodie Foster) and her violent secret police forces (droids), led by Agent Kruger (Sharlto Copley).
animation as a means of achieving its special effects. Now, films that are shot entirely on “digital backlots,” where real actors are blended entirely with post-production environments and effects, have been used in several popular films ranging from 300 to Avatar; but, does anyone remember the very first movie to feature live actors with all computer generated backgrounds? This feat belongs to the 2004 film Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.
Inspired by comic book, cartoon serials, and architecture of the late 1930’s, the film stars Gwyneth Paltrow as Polly Perkins, a spunky newspaper reporter who finds herself embroiled in an adventure to save the world from a mad scientist once she is reunited with her former lover, the famed “Sky Captain” Joe Sullivan (Jude Law).
The movie was written and directed by Kerry Conran, his directorial debut. He was very much inspired by the comic books he read as a child along with German Expressionism and the sort of whimsical view of the future that went along with the showcases at the 1939 New York World’s Fair, which deigned to be “Building The World of Tomorrow.” These influences just sparkle on screen, with each shot appearing as though it were ripped straight from some of the propaganda posters from World War II or those old Fleischer Superman cartoons. The movie is a visual marvel, meticulously capturing the style of a fantastical cartoon of the time period and beautifully rendering it into live action. It’s also amazing how well the cast of the film, including Angelina Jolie, Giovanni Ribisi and Michael Gambon, acquits themselves given the fact that almost nothing around them is actually there.
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow did not make much of an impression on the general movie-going public, making only $58 million worldwide on a budget of $70 million. That’s quite a shame in my opinion as this is a fairly exciting film that deserves success far more than some other movies using similar filmmaking techniques with bigger budgets and a quarter of the passion that Kerry Conran and producer Jon Avnet put into this movie. Despite its commercial failings, the movie paved the way for future films employing live actors against all digital backgrounds to achieve their stylistic needs. If you ever get a chance to check it out, I recommend it as the rare example where style’s triumph over substance actually works to a film’s advantage.
The new trailer for "Ender's Game" gives us our best look yet at the highly anticipated sci-fi adaptation starring Asa Butterfield, Hailee Steinfeld, and Harrison Ford.
Also, see the first three clips from "The Counselor" starring Michael Fassbender in today's Dailies!
Vulture has an idea about how to fix the Oscars, and it's not Seth MacFarlane.
