Tim Burton will not direct Maleficent, a Harry Potter director might though

Tim Burton was set to direct a live-action spin off of Disney's Sleeping Beauty titled, Maleficent.  That was announced back in January of 2010.  Here we are a year and a half later and it appears that Burton is dropping out, stated The Hollywood Reporter.

The movie would have been told through the evil witch's perspective.  Angelina Jolie has long been rumored to star in the film.

Not to fear, it appears as though a very capable director may replace Burton.  How about David Yates for ya?  THR says the man who directed four of eight Harry Potter films may take over the reigns.  I am a huge fan of the Harry Potter films, more specifically the three Yates films that have been released.  He also directed the next and final film, set to be released in July of this year.

This doesn't mean Burton will be leaving Disney, as if they'd let him leave after a billion dollar success that was Alice in Wonderland.  No, he's already started working on a stop-motion adaptation of Frankenweenie, due out next year.  That's all for now, I'll post any updates as they come up.

"The Tourist" Trailer

Think Salt meets The Bourne Identity meets The Italian Job. All good movies, I might add. So what do those three movies make up? The trailer for the new Angelina Jolie, Johnny Depp film, The Tourist. I have now watched the trailer four times and still don't know if I love it, or meh. Check it out and leave your thoughts in the comments section.

"Salt" Review

It's a movie we didn't really cover much on AtD, and what a shame it is. The movie is Salt, and stars the always lovely Angelina Jolie in a not-so-lovely role. A bit of history for you: the movie was not intended for Jolie. Fact is, it was never intended for a woman, period. The movie was written with a male lead, (rumor was Tom Cruise was set to star). Producers talked to Jolie, fell in love with the idea of converting the lead to a female and here we are today reviewing the movie. Let's go.


What I liked about the movie:
Angelina Jolie

This may come as an obvious positive in my review, but let me tell you why it's not so obvious. There aren't very many movies with female leads. There are even less action movies with female leads. So Jolie had to make it count, and boy does she make it count. Without giving anything way, we spend the entire movie trying to figure out, is Salt who she says she is? Or is she a spy, the way she's accused in the trailer?

Where does Jolie succeed the most? When she's acting alone. Anyone will tell you this is extremely difficult. To carry a scene without dialogue, alone, is a difficult feat. Similar to Tom Hanks in Cast Away, Jolie must command the audience's attention without much to work with. She pulls it off. Her expressions, her thought process, everything came through in the performance.

The Action

It's hard to fool fans these days. I've been watching movies on a daily basis for 25 years, I'm bound to see repeat stunts in action films. But Salt has stuff we've never seen before, at least not like this. The stunts are practical, which means they were actually performed, not added by a computer later. There is one particular scene where Salt has to jump from car to car on the freeway. The scenario itself may not be new to us, but the execution is. The cameraman actually takes the leap WITH Salt during one of the jumps. Awesome! The rest of the action is great hand-to-hand combat reminiscent of the Bourne trilogy. Good stuff.

The Story/Writing
This was a pleasant surprise. Usually this genre just pumps out the same ol' story lines time and time again. Salt does a good job of keeping the spy storyline fresh and different from movies in the past. The surprise twist at the end got me, and I've seen literally hundreds of action movies; I didn't see that one coming.


What I didn't like about the movie:
Sub-Plot
This is actually been a problem in several movies I've seen lately. Sub-plots are a tricky thing to deal with. They can't take over the entire movie, but have to be interesting enough to matter. I don't feel as though the sub-plot worked in the movie. It deals with the Salt character and her husband; how they met, how they fell in love, etc. This is all done through flashbacks. Once we reach the end of the film, we quickly learn none of the sub-plot matter. Don't worry, no spoiler was just given to you.

Overacting

I hate to put this in the review, but I had to. I know it's an action movie and "tough" cops are important and all, but damn you, Chiwetel Ejiofor, if you weren't trying too hard. He should have taken note from his co-star, the AWESOME Liev Schreiber. Schreiber had plenty of opportunities to over-act as Salt's best friend in the movie, but he doesn't! Sorry, I had to say something because I like Ejiofor in his other work.


Believe me, there wasn't much else I didn't like about the film. It was a solid summer action flick that satisfied the senses. My wife isn't much of an action buff, or a Jolie fan, and left smiling from ear to ear after the movie. This WILL be a franchise and I love where it's headed. The story is set up for a nice arc and I can't wait to see it play out. Salt was a great surprise and we here at AtD owe it an apology for not covering it more closely.

Why Angelina Jolie Is Turning Down "Wanted 2"

Wanted was a comic book movie adaptation that I really enjoyed. Angelina Jolie and James McAvoy were great in the film. The movie was profitable, so a sequel was inevitable right? Will everyone be coming back? The answer is no. Angelina Jolie will not be. Then there were rumors Kristen Stewart would be joining the sequel. Let's make sense of all of this.

[SPOILER ALERT]
Angelina Jolie's character, Fox, dies at the end of Wanted. So I thought this was always a stupid story. Why dig so deep to make her character come back to life or any of that stupid stuff. During a press junket for the upcoming spy thriller, Salt, Angelina Jolie sat down with comingsoon.net. She commented on the sequel, and her rejection of it.

Being dead makes it difficult. They were (trying to bring me back) but I kind of feel like if I die in a movie, I should die actually. I'm that way, and that character is not as complex as Salt. It would just be doing the exact same thing in another movie, so it's not that interesting to me.

[END SPOILER ALERT]

I already liked Angelina Jolie before this, now I like her even more. How refreshing is it to hear an actress or actor say, "I'm not just going to take the money, this has to make the most sense in the movie". I completely agree with Jolie's decision and think it's the right thing to do.

A few weeks ago I presented a way to make a sequel work for Jolie's character. How about a prequel? Kristen Stewart could show us the Fox's younger years and her inception into the fraternity. That would be pretty cool! We'll see what happens.

Kristen Stewart for Wanted sequel? How about a prequel?

So I guess the rumor lately is that Kristen Stewart is replacing Angelina Jolie in the sequel to Wanted, the comic book adaptation. Access Hollywood asked Stewart if she'd take the role and here's what she had to say:

Yes. Definitely, as long as it was good, Wanted was a great movie, James McAvoy makes that movie different than most other action movies because he's a real guy, and I feel like most action movies don't have that.

Without giving anything away, Jolie's character needs to be replaced. But I have a more compelling idea. This idea of mine is not good news for James McAvoy. How about a prequel about Jolie's character, Fox, and her first few years in The Fraternity. That would be sick! We got a glimpse of her childhood in the first Wanted, but there's more they could do.

I really enjoyed the first film, and agree with Stewart's comments about how the movie follows just a regular guy. I liked that. Not to mention all the crazy action! I'm OK with this sequel, although I'm sure others wont be.

Update: New casting for Kung Fu Panda: The Kaboom of Doom

UPDATE: Jean Claude Van Damme has joined the cast of Kung Fu Panda: The Kaboom of Doom. Also joining Van Damme will be Michelle Yeoh, and Victor Garber. Pretty interesting news; I wonder how Van Damme will perform as a voice actor. I don't recall any movie's he's lent his voice to, so this should be interesting. As far as Yeoh, I'm really not familiar with any of her work; and Garber is a great actor.

The title says it all, and we love it! Gary Oldman is joining the cast of Kung Fu Panda: The Kaboom of Doom as a character named Peacock. Of course this film is the sequel to Dreamworks' mega-hit, Kung Fu Panda. Oldman has a great voice and I think he'll fit in nicely with the likes of Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Seth Rogen, etc.

I didn't see the first film in theaters. In fact, I didn't see it until I bought it on sale on DVD. I don't know why I waited; I suppose I didn't give Dreamworks much credit after the horrible Shrek The Third. But Kung Fu Panda is amazing. The fight sequences are better than a lot of live-action movies. This is cool news for the day.

Angelina Jolie up for Tim Burton's Maleficent? And a writer is hired.

The news today is that Angelina Jolie is interested in the title role for Maleficent, Tim Burton's remake/prequel/sequel/reboot to Disney's Sleeping Beauty. We told you a few weeks ago that Tim Burton would helm the project, but this is the first piece of news since then as to casting, etc.

Linda Woolverton is writing the movie, fresh off the success of Alice in Wonderland, also a Burton creation. Woolverton has a lot, I mean A LOT, of hits under her belt, to the tune of Mulan, The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast. Let's just hope she redeems the God-awful story that was Alice in Wonderland.

As far as the casting of Angelina Jolie, I could see it. It's still in the "rumor" section of things, but I like it. I think she would do well; it would be a nice change of pace for her. To be honest with you, I thought what a lot of people thought, that Helen Boham Carter would be an automatic choice for the role. Burton and his wife (Carter) obviously work well together, and she could definitely pull off the dark side. Considering the remake/reboot, whatever you want to call it, is focused on Maleficent's life, a certain range of acting would be required, and Carter could pull it off. But for today's rumor, its Jolie. We'll keep ya posted if that changes.

Quickie: Brand new 'Salt' trailer featuring Angelina, kickin' butt

We really haven't talked about this one much, but it looks good. The movie is Salt, and it stars Angelina Jolie. She's no stranger to kick ass action movies, and this one looks promising. But I have to be honest, the whole "being set up", then spending the rest of the movie proving your innocent has been done before, A LOT. We'll have to wait for the finished product to see if it's any good. Enjoy the trailer.