Neill Blomkamp's "Elysium"... First Images and What Not

Class warfare seems to be the theme of the day whether it is real life or that of Hollywood productions, so it should come to no surprise that the Sci-Fi genre is going to follow suit with Matt Damon’s new flick “Elysium”.

The film centers around an orbital space station named -surprisingly, Elysium- where the rich seem to live the life as they always have for centuries, while they orbit around the an apocalyptic 22nd century diseased ridden Earth. Damon plays the central character Max, an ex-con who is trying to get up to the space station because he is dying, and he is given a mission that will, hopefully, not only save his life but equality to the world and people as a whole.

“Elysium” Also stars Jodie Foster as Secretary Rhodes, an evil and twisted government official that will stop at nothing to enforce Elysium’s anti-immigration laws and so in effect keeping the luxurious lifestyles that the rich have come accustom too… oh, yes, the have-nots so want to be part of the haves.

Sound familiar?

It should, also, come to no surprise that “Elysium” was written and directed by “District 9’s” Neill Blomkamp who based a lot of that film on the way the South African government treated blacks and Apartheid. So, I believe, a lot of what “Elysium” rings with is Arizona and their immigration laws (and I believe a lot of Secretary Rhodes’ character can be said comes from Arizona’s governor). After reading the over-all plot synopsis, it seems that we have been down this route of sociopolitical ideas before (Think George Romero’s zombie films, “Escape from New York” (John Carpenter), even that of the “Resident Evil” franchise, to name a few).

Do we need another film like this? One that appears to be -a much better and grittier, but sort of the same premise- “Judge Dredd” meets “Total Recall” retread? I don’t know about you but I for one is getting a little tired of it. But it might be fun to see Matt Damon back to a grittier, tough guy role in the realm of Bourne.

Originally slated for a March release, but it appears that it might get pushed until August.

Update April 10th, 2013

Here is the first trailer for the film. It looks it'll hit theaters on August 9th

"World War Z" Trailer and Thoughts

Holy shit, time to break out your Zombie Survival Handbooks because here it is, the trailer for the big screen adaptation of Max Brooks’ “World War Z”

Don’t worry if haven’t read the novel because from the first looks of it, “World War Z” is going to be nothing (even more than the “Walking Dead”) like the book. Which really is not a bad thng. In case you don’t know the novel, that version of the story is set 10 years after the great war with the undead as Agent Brooks of the United Nations Post War Commission travels around the world gathering information and facts from the years of battle to reclaim the Earth. Whereas the big screen version from Brad Pitt’s production company (Plan B Entertainment) takes us what is sure to be wild ride as UN agent Gerry Lane (Pitt) searches the globe of what the origin is that has brought of this onslaught of the dead and for a way stop it from destroying the world.

Originally set for release at the end of 2012 (because, hell, who doesn’t like death, destruction and the end of the world during the holiday season) “World War Z” seemed to be plagued (pun untended) with problems from almost the start. Everything from production shutdowns to being WAY over budget. Then there were the rumors that the ending was a complete disaster in its own right. Causing the Studio to have Pitt hire a new screen writer to re-write the end and re-film. When I heard that and how the movie was pushed from the Christmas release list I had figured this movie to be a dead issue, maybe finding the light of day either in movie Purgatory of January (that seems to be the time when studios that have little faith in their projects and since most people are recovering from the holiday season they are not typically heading to the movies, so usually there is little or no quality films be put so a movie like this would find no competition and perhaps might make some of it’s budget back) or just dumped on DVD. But with a movie this size and amount to produce the latter would be unlikely with out a big screen release. Then there comes the fact that the “Hobbit” looked slated to be released, if not on the same weekend, then, relatively close to “World War Z” which did not bode well either. So either from genus marketing or perhaps they have actually fixed whatever problems they have, “World War Z” is finally going to find it’s way to the theaters. And right in time for the summer blockbuster season, and reportedly going up against the revamped Superman franchise: “Man of Steel.”

Should be interesting, because the trailer makes it look pretty fucking awesome. However, I do have to note the zombie purists will not be happy as we have returned to the fast moving, rabid eater type zombies.



So check it out and let me know what YOU think.