Rachel Weisz contemplates being Bourne

Well, not really. But the beautiful and talented actress is considering the female lead in The Bourne Legacy opposite Jeremy Renner.

As we've discussed before, Renner has been cast in Tony Gilroy's spinoff from the popular Bourne films. The writer/director hasn't concocted a direct sequel to Matt Damon's action trilogy, instead casting Renner as an operative from a secret government agency supposedly more dangerous than the Treadstone branch Damon's Jason Bourne sprang from.

What part Weisz will play is not yet known. She could be the new film's equivalent to Joan Allen's Pamela Landy, or not. Neither Shawn or I are very excited about The Bourne Legacy because it strikes us as nothing more than a cash in. But, if Weisz does join the production, then at least the cast will be first rate.

Actors shortlisted for new Bourne

Months back Shawn, Shane Woodford and I trashed the idea of a new Bourne film in a segment of Who Cares?. The thought of a Bourne movie being made sans star Matt Damon, director Paul Greengrass and the character of Jason Bourne is ludicrous; a sheer cash grab on the part of Universal Studios.

But The Bourne Legacy continues its charge toward an Aug. 3, 2012 release whether people want to see it or not. Among the actors in the running for whatever role writer/director Tony Gilroy has cooked up are Joel Edgerton (the upcoming remake of  The Thing), Dominic Cooper (Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter), Garrett Hedlund (Tron: Legacy), and Luke Evans (Clash of the Titans). I've not heard of any of them.

One last time: Universal, stop. Just STOP! If you want to make a buck off the Bourne name re-release the original trilogy in theatres. The movies are great. We don't need another Bourne film unless Damon and Greengrass are on board.

No idea yet on what the plot of The Bourne Legacy is other than it possibly sets the stage for Damon and Bourne's return.

Micro Review: True Grit (2010)

As a whole, 2010 was a terrible year for movies save for a select few gems, not the least of which are The Town and Inception. To have a late-year release come and best those two films took me totally by surprise. The fact The Best Movie of 2010 comes from Joel and Ethan Coen does not. We didn't need a remake of John Wayne's classic Western, but the brothers have gone back to the source material, the 1968 novel of the same name, and done a retelling that's all their own. The film is a fine balance between drama and action picture, with a healthy dose of character study and black comedy added to the mix. And don't forget four of the best performances anyone is likely to see in years. Best of all, True Grit is relentlessly entertaining. You don't need to wind your brain up too much to enjoy the hell out of it. It's hard for a movie to get much more Good than this.

More Paranormal Acitivity will haunt theatres next October

Surprising no one, Paramount Pictures has announced Paranormal Activity 3 will be in theatres Oct. 21, 2011, making it the heir apparent to the Saw franchise as the seasonal horror film of choice.

The film will face-off against Steven Soderbergh's thriller Contagion starring Matt Damon. It should be noted that Damon's last film, Hereafter, opened opposite Paranormal Activity 2 and got its teeth kicked in. Saw distributor Lionsgate hasn't given up on releasing a horror flick at Halloween and will release Dibbuk Box a week after PA3 opens.

What the fuck is a Dibbuk Box?

Paranormal Activity 2 had the highest opening weekend gross ever for a horror movie, $40.7 million, but the final total will fall short of the first film's $107 million. Still, it's performing well and above am average release for the genre.

No word yet on what the plot of PA3 will be. Given that Shawn and I have yet to watch PA2, neither of us can offer advice.

The Coen Brothers bring True Grit to Christmas

We here in The Basement don't get too excited about remakes, but when Joel and Ethan Coen decide to redo a classic John Wayne Western with Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon, it's hard not to get too excited. When the film looks as good as the trailer below, one starts to think the film has promise.

Taking on the role made famous by Wayne in the first film adaptation of Charles Portis' novel, Bridges plays eye-patch-wearing, beverage-loving U.S. Marshall, Reuben J. "Rooster" Cogburn. The trailer doesn't give us too much plot-wise, but it seems to follow the same story as the book and original film, which had Cogburn going deep into "Indian Territory" to help a young woman named Mattie Ross (newcomer Hailee Steinfeld) hunt down her father's killer (Josh Brolin). Also along for the ride is Texas Ranger La Boeuf (a nearly unrecognizable Damon).

Give the preview a look, and be sure to share your thoughts!

Guest Review: The Green Zone

Mike S is back with his thoughts on The Green Zone, a movie this Basement dweller gave a bad rating to. Read on to "hear" this thoughts. And there's not a "delightful romp" in the entire piece.




Promise!

I've never been a fan of most American modern war films, since they are either "Hooray to the US for saving the day" films, or "war is nothering but a waste of humanity" films. Luckily, this movie isn't one of those types.

Rather than focusing on having the US as the saviors, or telling us from a soldier's perspective the horrors of war, this movie looks at the reason for the war in Iraq. We all know that the US invaded Iraq searching for the reported Weapons of Mass Destruction Saddam supposedly had. We also know that there were ultimately, no WMD's to be found.

At the time though, it was a good enough reason in the light of George W. Bush's declaration of War of Terrorism, to attack Iraq.

It's the "lie" that is the starting block of this movie. The rest is really all about the action. This movie is actually just one huge car chase- though not necessarily always in a car. It is pretty much non-stop action, though surprisingly, there is very little gunfire.

I have always enjoyed Matt Damon's acting, and felt he was pretty damn good in this role. It was also nice to see Greg Kinnear in the sort of role he played as well. Brendan Gleeson's role was small, but well done. The only problem is that the characters themselves weren't as interesting as I would've liked.

The look of the film was good too, changing from a subtle grainy look during the night time warzone scenes, to the crisper "Green Zone" scenes. The camera movements during action sequences were creative and added to the feel of being there. They may not have been necessarily cookie cutter archetypes, but they really weren't what you'd call memorable characters either.

While, the story could've been a bit meatier, it was enough to support the meat that was the action, which there was plenty of. A Good review from this Basement guest.

Micro Review: Green Zone

A capable, if not unspectacular, action/thriller that can't quite live up to its roots. Director Paul Greengrass and star Matt Damon knocked it out of the park with two of the Bourne films, and one can't help but be let down by the fact this is nowhere near as good. And one cannot help but make unfair comparisons to The Hurt Locker either, which this film can't even touch. Biases aside, Green Zone offers a fast pace and bone-crunching action captured with Greengrass’ signature hand-held camera and rapid-fire editing. Too bad we know the truth behind WMDs heading into the movie. A Bad review from The Basement on this one.