Terminator Salvation. Meh.

*** SPOILER ALERT! Do not read if you don't want your viewing experience ruined. ***

If you want to see a movie that does not further the Terminator storyline but blows up a lot of crap, Terminator Salvation is for you! (With that criteria, though, you may as well go see Transformers: Rise of the Fallen. Or rent Armageddon. You see where I'm going with this.) I mean, I'm glad I saw it because otherwise I'd always wonder and blah blah blah but once was enough. Even with Christian. The movie could have been a standalone story! You honestly don't need to have seen any of the other Terminators to watch TS. Truly. In fact, it might be better if you haven't seen any of the earlier movies... Maybe then the gigantic plot holes would not be quite so noticeable. Hmph.

I always love to read message boards after seeing movies like TS, just to see if others have the same questions I do. Robert, Wade, Mel and I had oodles of questions after the movie and I'm happy to report that just about every other viewer had the exact same questions and issues. Chief among them:

• Why was Kyle #1 on the Skynet 'kill' list? Did Skynet know Kyle was John's father? How? Or were they just after him because they knew he was who was sent back to protect Sarah and ultimately defeat the first Terminator? (Message board consensus: Big plot hole that needed explaining. No one really knows.)
  
• If Skynet wanted to kill Kyle because they knew he was John's father, why bother killing John at all? Why not just kill Kyle immediately? Why waste time putting him in a holding cell to draw John out so you can kill them both? (This, I've learned, depends on which time travel view you subscribe to. Killing Kyle would either have cause John to just, like, evaporate in the movie's present and, in that case, killing him immediately would've been the best bet. However, most people think killing Kyle wouldn't have killed movie present-day John. It would have made him have a different father, though, and so would somehow not be as good a leader. Or something. Which doesn't really make sense to me because John had already learned everything he needed to know... but whatever.)
• Why have the Arnold Terminator in the movie at all? Yes, I know it was a kitschy shout-out to the earlier movies but in this movie it served no purpose whatsoever. The Terminator that tried to kill John didn't need to be a 'human' one. It just needed to be one that wanted him dead! And on a similar note...
• Why did the Terminator waste so much time throwing John around? Why not just pop his head off in the first 30 seconds and be done with it? Terminators don't need to put up a fight! They just need to knock your block off!! (Message board consensus: Sloppy writing.)
• Robert's biggest beef was with the special effects. "All the fire was so fake! Gah!" And, sure enough, there are several threads ragging on the CGI fire in the film.
• My biggest beef? Oh, where do I begin. First, I hated that Sam Worthington's Australian accent came and went with the wind. Shouldn't the director watch out for continuity crap like that? Annoying. I love me an Australian accent... but not when the dude is half-American, half-machine. C'mon now. Then, I hated the cheesy ass dialogue. "Oh, your heartbeat is so strong. That's the best sound in the world. Now give me some body heat." Really? Really. Re. Tar. Ded. Then, there was the road issue. When Marcus first wanders out into the world, he has to dig through a pile of rubble to find the road. Of course, throughout the rest of the movie when high-speed chases were involved, there was clean road for days!! The apocalypse was apparently very selective in what it obliterated. The goofiest thing of all, though, may have been the whole heart transplant storyline. Who couldn't see THAT coming a mile away?! Good grief. Plus, his wife must be a kick-ass surgeon to perform such an intricate surgery in the middle of a barren, war-torn wasteland. Whoo! Reminded me a little of M*A*S*H. ;o) Plus, John Connor would have to be on anti-rejection meds the rest of his life. How easy are those to procure for the Resistance?! And people with heart transplants generally don't live terribly long; I can only assume that condition is exacerbated by receiving a heart that was previously dead and shocked back to life with live wires. John Connor is in some deep doo-doo.
  

Now, many on the message boards blame McG and/or the writers, but a small-but-vocal contingent blame Bale himself. I knew before I saw the movie that Christian was offered the Marcus role but he wanted the John role and gave the script to Jonathan Nolan to flesh out John's storyline and blah blah blah. Apparently, many are taking that to mean that the original story was awesome but Bale forced a bunch of crappy, ham-fisted rewrites that torpedoed the film. I find this hard to believe. Not because I love Christian (though not in this movie. He was a wee bit too... grizzled and over-the-top serious for me. I giggled.) but because the movie was written by the dudes that wrote Catwoman and The Net and directed by the guy that directed Charlie's Angels. Oh, and Sublime's Santeria video. Whoever is to blame the result is the same - a big pile of caca. *sigh*

To add insult to injury, I read this on EW.com this morning:

SPOILER ALERT: Do not read any further if you don't want to know plot details of Terminator Salvation. Seriously! You've been warned!

Two weeks before Terminator Salvation hit theaters, the film's director, McG, sat in his L.A. production office for an interview with EW. He was talking about the swirl of rumors and gossip surrounding the film -- about how bloggers had posted all kinds of far-fetched speculation during production and how it drove him nuts.

And then, out of nowhere, McG smiles and says, "Here's something I've never talked about before...".

Now, before we go any further, there's some backstory about the movie's plot you'll need to know if you haven't already seen it. Terminator Salvation is set in the year 2018 -- after the apocalyptic Judgment Day, which was prophesied in the earlier films. There are three main characters in the story: John Connor (Christian Bale), the son of Sarah Connor who will lead the resistance against the evil Skynet; Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin), the young resistance fighter who will grow up and eventually travel back in time (as seen in the 1984 original when Reese was played by Michael Biehn) to impregnate Sarah Connor with the young savior, John Connor; and Marcus Wright, a mysterious dude who's half human, half machine programmed by Skynet (the fact that he's unaware of this makes for some of the most poignant scenes in the film).

Okay, now back to McG's big, juicy secret. A secret, by the way, that Bale will back up as you read on.

"There was talk on the Internet about an alternate ending where Connor dies and they take Connor's likeness and put it on top of Marcus Wright's machine body. So that it's actually a machine that's leading the resistance! And the Internet caught wind of that and people went, 'That's bulls---! We don't want that!'"

McG grins. "Well, that's not really what the ending was."

Actually, the bloggers were on the right track. Except, McG adds, the original ending actually went even further.

"Connor dies, okay? He's dead," McG continues. "And Marcus offers his physical body, so Connor's exterior is put on top of his machine body. It looks like Connor, but it's really Marcus underneath. And all of the characters we care about (Kyle Reese, Connor's wife Kate, etc.) are brought into the room to see him and they think it's Connor. And Connor gets up and then there's a small flicker of red in his eyes and he shoots Kate, he shoots Kyle, he shoots everybody in the room. Fade to black. End of movie. Skynet wins. F--- you!"

F--- you, indeed.

We tell the director that this would be the darkest, bleakest summer blockbuster ending of all time. He agrees.

"It's the most nihilistic thing of all time. And Christian went f---ing crazy, of course. He was insistent that it be done that way! He wanted the bad guys to win! Can you imagine the oxygen going out of the theater?! What just happened! It would piss you off! But maybe two years from now, you'd think it was ballsy. But in the end, it just felt like too much of a bummer."

He pauses, thinking about the alternate ending that wasn't. "Maybe we blew it."

McG says the studio had signed off on this original dark-as-night ending. But something about it didn't smell right to him in the end. How could a movie with a reported budget of $200 million and a possible future of sequels possibly end that way?

EW sits down with Bale the next day and tells the star how McG let the cat out of the bag. Bale laughs. "There's not much McG can keep in, is there?"

Was he really, as McG says, gung-ho to shoot that everyone-dies ending?

"I'm not the director," says Bale. "There came to be a different option that almost everyone, except myself, felt was the better way to go. I took a bit of convincing, but you know, at the end of the day, you need a director to make that call."

But doesn't he think that his Salvation would have been a depressing bummer, not to mention suicide at the box office?

"Done the way I saw it? No. But am I disappointed with this one? No."

Wouldn't that have been lovely? Holy bejesus. What kind of stupid sh*t would that have been?!! You know, I read in an article that James Cameron didn't pooh-pooh McG's TS - but he didn't give him his blessing, either. Why? Because Cameron felt he'd told the story with the first 2 movies and that was that. Seeing as both films since then have basically just spun their wheels without advancing the story, I think I agree with him.

Terminator Salvation Opens Today!

And I'm gonna see it on Sunday! (It would be earlier but my stupid sister and brother-in-law are busy. Losers.) Now, the reviews are in and they're not fabulous. They're not horrid, mind you, but they all seem to feel that the 4th installment is lacking a certain soul - there's something missing to make you really care about the characters. Eh. Oh well. My only gripe so far is that Christian isn't a Terminator arriving from the future... Hence, there will probably be no naked shots of him. Bummer. :o) I kid! Kinda.

Anyway, here are a couple of review links, a couple scenes from the movie and a little red carpet premiere footage for those that are interested.

Oh! But first - if you need to refresh yourself on the first movie, here's the 30-second Bun-o-Vision version:

MSNBC.com review

EW.com review

Red carpet interviews:

Scene - "I'm John Connor":

Scene - "Come With Me":

Movie Morsels 50 - New Trailers

EW.com's Popwatch posted a couple new trailers this afternoon - one for Disney's upcoming animated feature The Princess and the Frog and one for Terminator Salvation (opening soon! Weehoo!). Check'em out below.

The Princess and the Frog:

Terminator Salvation:

Movie Morsels 46: Terminator Salvation

A new trailer for Terminator Salvation came out today and it's all the rage this afternoon. I like it and everything but I find it strange that they show Marcus in the final seconds with what looks like Terminator hardware underneath his skin. Isn't the big "whooo" factor in the movie the 'Who-is-Marcus?' storyline? And didn't they just tell us? I'm sure that's not the case since the producers wouldn't truly put a huge spoiler in the trailer. So, I guess Marcus is a human who's a Terminator who's really... something else. I guess. I have no idea. Anyway, here's the trailer and a quick article on the movie from Yahoo! earlier this morning (in case you missed it).

1. "Terminator Salvation" is a prequel to 1984's "The Terminator" that takes place 34 years after the original. How does that work? It is set in a post-apocalyptic Los Angeles of 2018 during the early days of the human resistance, eleven years before Kyle Reese is sent back in time to protect Sarah Conner from the first Terminator.
2. The story centers on John Conner, who has been told from birth that he will lead the humans against Skynet and its army of Terminators. But at this point he's just a foot soldier still climbing the ranks. Everything Conner believes is called into question with the arrival of Marcus, who claims to be a human from before the bombs went off, but is revealed to be something else entirely.
3. The movie is directed by McG, who previously made the "Charlie's Angels" films and "We Are Marshall." His name is actually Joseph McGinty Nichol, but from birth his family called him "McG" to distinguish him from his grandfather and uncle, who were both named "Joe." In 2003, McG was going to direct a new version of "Superman," but filming was to take place in Australia, and, ironically, McG is afraid to fly.
4. Christian Bale was McG's first choice to play John Conner, whom he calls "the most credible action star in the world right now." McG offered Bale the part while he was shooting "The Dark Knight," and he initially turned it down. Bale told McG that if he could refine the script to the point where it could be read on stage without any special effects and still be a compelling story, he would agree to star in it.
5. To that end, McG brought Jonathan Nolan on board to rewrite the script. Nolan is the brother of director Christopher Nolan, and they collaborated on the screenplays for "The Prestige" and "The Dark Knight." Anthony E. Zuiker, the creator of TV's "CSI" franchise, also worked on the script. With the script in place, Bale signed on to play Conner, with the option to do two more "Terminator" movies if this one is successful.
6. McG met with "Terminator" creator James Cameron, who wasn't involved in the third movie and reportedly wasn't happy with how it turned out. Cameron didn't contribute to the script of "Salvation," but he did recommend Australian actor Sam Worthington for the part of Marcus. Worthington also stars in "Avatar," Cameron's first movie as a director since "Titanic," which will be released this December.
7. Also in the cast: Anton Yelchin plays the young version of Kyle Reese, who will later go back in time and father John Conner. Yelchin will also be the young Chekov in this summer's "Star Trek." Bryce Dallas Howard is Kate Conner, John's wife, who was played by Claire Danes in "Terminator 3." And Helena Bonham Carter plays the villain, Serena. Carter said she took the role because her partner, director Tim Burton, is a huge "Terminator" fan.
8. Stan Winston, the special effects mastermind who built the original "Terminator" and supervised the three previous movies, worked on "Salvation" up until his death last June. McG has said he plans to dedicate the film to Winston's memory. The movie will have a host of new robots to plague humanity: Harvesters that grab and collect people (and launch motorcycle-like Terminators to chase down anyone who runs), Hydrobots in the water, and Aerostats in the sky. Also, we'll see the T-600 models, the easy-to-spot rubber-skinned robots Reese mentions in the first movie.
9. Though he's been a bit preoccupied with running California since "Terminator 3," Arnold Schwarzenegger may make an appearance in "Salvation." Reportedly, a computer-animated recreation of Schwarzenegger's face will be digitally grafted onto the body of Austrian bodybuilder Roland Kickinger (who played the young Arnold in a TV movie). McG is also in talks to have Linda Hamilton reprise her role as Sarah Conner in a voice-over that will tie the beginning of this movie to the end of "Terminator 2."
10. One fact that is still unknown about "Terminator Salvation" is what rating it will receive from the MPAA. The three previous "Terminator" movies were all rated R, but the producers are pushing McG to bring this one in at a PG-13. As with the fourth "Die Hard," the studio is hoping a more kid-friendly rating will bring in bigger crowds (and sell more action figures and video games). At a panel at WonderCon on Sunday, McG asked the crowd if they would prefer an R-rated movie, to much applause. But it stands to reason that if the theatrical release is rated PG-13, an "unrated" DVD edition is sure to follow.

"Terminator Salvation" will be hitting screens for the Memorial Day weekend on May 21st.

Movie Morsels 45: Terminator Salvation

I've known that Christian Bale is on the cover of April's Empire magazine for a few days now but I didn't want to post anything until I found the full scan of the article. Well, I found it this morning and so here it is! The issue is a special one commemorating 25 years of Terminator - it's also the first official interview with Christian post-rant. It looks like a good read if you're at all interested in the upcoming Terminator Salvation - there are some cool breakdowns of the machines - but it also may contain "possible spoilers" so just keep that in mind...

(There are 10 separate images on which to click...)

Movie Morsels 43: Terminator Salvation

Entertainment Tonight premiered the newest trailer for Terminator Salvation last night - complete with intro by McG (Woo. Hoo.) - so, of course, it's up for grabs on the Web this morning.

The big Terminator at the end of the trailer (1:58) looks like a Transformer and the motorcycles @ the 0:43 mark look like scaled-down Batpods so I hope the movie isn't a mishmosh of all the "cool" stuff from earlier movies. Not that it really matters, I guess, because if Christian is in it I'm there. But still... I don't want it to be a huge cheesefest.

Christian-Bale.org has some scans of Total Film's January Terminator-themed issue, so of course I am a dutiful fan and am passing them on to you. Enjoy!

Movie Morsels 23 - Iron Man, Terminator & Transformers Sequels

TunaFlix has a blurb on Iron Man 2:

IESB has a few choice quotes from Robert Downey Jr. about what to expect from Iron Man 2, which we’ve got for you here: “Our goals are more of the same. The idea that he said he’s Iron Man in part 1…it’s one thing to say it, and it’s another thing to actually evolve to the point where you can live in a heroic fashion. You know, they say, ‘The superhero movie always needs to follow…’ and I said who is that guy? Get him out of here! We want to do what worked for us last time, in a way that evolves.” Indeed, one of the best things about Iron Man was the way the production made a conscious decision to move away from the typical superhero cliches towards something a little more satisfying - what made sense for the character, not the genre. “We’re talking about a guy who is put in an extraordinary circumstance, and the people that are around him, and how that creates a sense of family, and how that disrupts whatever forces that we have to say that are working [in his life]. I like the idea of an Iron Man 2 that you’re able to understand various points of view. You’re able to touch on some subjects that are a lot more far reaching, while still grounding it in entertainment.” Is that a tease Iron Man 2 may touch on Stark’s alcoholism, a subplot director Jon Favreau has mentioned before? It might not be as commercially viable (then again, consider Hancock…), but it sure as hell would be interesting.

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Movies Online posted an interview with McG re: Terminator Salvation which you can access here. It's a sorta-lengthy interview, so I won't repost the entire thing but I will say that, if you're interested in the movie, the interview is a good and worthwhile read. McG addresses several topics including how the movie fits in relative to the first three movies and the TV show:

The continuity in the Terminator films was always a little flexible and no one really minds because they’re such wonderful stories. T2 is 10 years later and John looks like he’s 13. What's your take on the timeline when this starts?

MCG: Well there's no doubt that at the beginning of T3, for example, begins with a bit of a punt as to what happened at the end of T2, and there's some rejuggling of the timelines. We're largely treating it as though the bombs have gone off. I'm not going to share with you what the date is when the bombs go off, and we come into the picture in 2018. We’ve done the best we can to honor the timelines that have been put into place and I think it ultimately feels very satisfying. If we've done our job properly, then this will be regarded as the statement of the time and the place and the where and the when and the why and the how. And it comes from a place of doing a lot of research with, you know, futurists, with scientists who talk about how long it would take the atmosphere to clear itself out so you could actually go back outside and do your thing. We're trying to just sort of amalgamate the three pictures and amalgamate the intention, and then answer that to the best of our ability. Again, there are certain things that are in stone. The T800 comes in 2029, you know. We're building towards that place. Therefore, if hardware should show up in 2018 that was supposed to be around in 2029, that's a problem for John Connor.

I definitely recommend the article - and no, it's not Christian-centric. :o)

The character Marcus has been talked about for a long time, with debates running about whether or not he's really the 'main' character of the movie and whether or not he's a true Terminator. (Marcus is played by Sam Worthington and is the other dude in the photo above.) I found an old bit from christian-bale.org that has some choice quotes from an Entertainment Weekly interview with Derek Anderson, Victor Kubicek, and Moritz Borman (the three producers on the film):

The three go on to also clarify just exactly what Connor’s involvement is in the film, considering the rumor that he was just a supporting role. ANDERSON: John Connor is an ongoing, very central character throughout the next trilogy.

KUBICEK: Exactly. The mythology, really at the root of it, is the birth of the hero. John Connor is this modern-day, messianic figure that is going to lead our franchise forward.
ANDERSON: He’s leading the fight for the salvation of humanity against the machines. So he’s very important. “There’s gonna be another major co-star with kind of equal presence in this installment.” But who is this character? It’s not Arnold back as the Terminator, so who is it? “It is a new character introduced in the mythology that’s not replacing Arnold [Schwarzenegger]. It’s not like he’s stepping into Arnold’s shoes. It’s a completely new character.” Is it a Terminator at least? “No, not really. That’s one of the big twists…”

Obviously we won’t know the full answer to those questions until Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins arrives in theaters in 2009. But Kubicek teases, and confuses, with a bit more: “And it’s questionable if he’s an enemy or not. That’s not necessarily resolved.” However, to round things out and finalize the update, Derek Anderson delivers one final statement that definitely gets me excited. “It’s a really interesting time in the franchise because it’s where all the fans have always wanted the franchise to go, and it hasn’t to date, which is the post-apocalyptic world. It’s after judgment day. So because we’re in a different time in the mythology, it introduces a whole new set of circumstances and characters.”

I'm just glad the producers aren't sloughing John Connor off as a second banana. I'm excited for Marcus and Kyle Reese and all those guys but c'mon - John Connor is the whole point of the stupid movies!! He does save the world after all. What else does a guy have to do to get a little attention?

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CHUD (I know, it sounds gross but it stands for 'Cinematic Happenings Under Development') has a couple snippets on Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. They don't feature any actual quotes from real people associated with the movie but they still seem pretty legitimate. The first one is from June and deals with whether or not the Fallen of the title actually refers to the character of the same name. I posted about this earlier but this author actually cared enough to gather up some info on the character and blah de blah blah so here you go:

Some TransFans began speculating that the Fallen of the title was actually a character from Transformers comics, an ancient Transformer who seems to play the Devil in their mythology. (A dude called Primus is like God. I think. Maybe the better correlation is that the Fallen is like Darkseid).

The Transformers wiki provides backstory: At the dawn of time, Primus created new life, the 13 original Transformers, to crew his planetary form into battle against his eternal nemesis Unicron. One of these 13, his original name now lost to the mists of time, turned against his siblings, his creator, and his universe, and betrayed them all. ...this guardian of entropy became obsessed with the darker side of chaos and death, and in the black place these urges led him, the betrayer found a new god, more suited to his nature. He turned against Primus and became the Fallen. Now he is a being of power, darkness, and absolute dedication to Unicron.

Here's what Wikipedia says about him: Around 6.5 million years ago, a test of the experimental "space bridge" matter-transport system on Cybertron liberated the Fallen from his prison, and he materialised on Cybertron, where he quickly recruited the Chaos Trinity, three mystically-inclined Decepticons - Bludgeon, Mindwipe and Bugly - into his employ. Abducting Transformers that he identified as possessing "genetic potential" within their sparks - Grimlock, Blitzwing, Jetfire and Hot Spot - the Fallen planned to use their energies to awaken Primus from his self-imposed slumber, thereby alerting Unicron to his location, allowing the world-eater to renew hostilities with his old enemy. An attack from combined Autobot and Decepticon forces led by Shockwave and Prowl disrupted his plans, and Primus himself reached out and promptly destroyed the Fallen.

Ooh. I'm all atwitter. Anyhoo, the second piece is more current (posted yesterday in fact) and deals with a spoiler of sorts. Now, I don't want to ruin anything for anyone but seriously - did anyone really think Megatron wasn't coming back for the second movie? Oops. Secret spoiled. Eh. You'll live. Sooo... here's the scoop:

If the current incarnation of the script follows the beats of a previous incarnation (which did not feature The Fallen), Megatron may be getting brought back by the Autobots, who need him to conquer the new menace. But I've learned that this time he won't be that weird alien jet. This time he's a tank.

Megatron apparently was a tank in the Transformers Generation 2 comic or toys or something (I don't know, I just looked it up on Wikipedia and I still don't get it), so this has some precedent. I imagine this is as close as we'll get to seeing him be a gun, since the movies appear to eschew the sort of size shifting antics that the comics and cartoons embraced.

Somewhere, Wade and Robert are excited. My work is done.

Movie Morsels 21 - Terminator Salvation

I'm back!!! Yes, unfortunately for me I'm back at work... but luckily for you that means I'm back to blogging! ;o) Sporadic as it may be. As you can imagine, I missed a lot of stuff (both gossip- and work-wise) while I was gone so I'm a bit overwhelmed and won't be able to post as much or as in depth over the next few days. It'll take me a bit to get evened out and back in the swing of things so I apologize. Until then, enjoy this new teaser trailer for Terminator Salvation... and my Christian is in it! Wee-hoo!!!

Teaser trailer de Terminator Salvation
by UrulokiBlog

Random Round-Up 06

I have been busy today, people! I have been helping out in the call center today and have been working nonstop since I got in, with only a 1/2-hour break. Can you believe it?! I'm working at work! Too weird. :o)

As such, today's pickings are slim, slim, slim. Apologies.

1. Here's the new poster for Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins (supposedly):
Ooh. I am all atwitter. It looks like it's going to be oh so different from all the other Terminators, doesn't it?!! I kid. Supposedly, there will be a teaser trailer shown before The Dark Knight in July... though I doubt Christian will be in the trailer so who cares?! He's still shooting Public Enemies (as far as I know) and no Christian = no interest, y'know what I'm mean?
(Speaking of Public Enemies, JustJared has some hot photos of Johnny Depp on set here.)

2. I do not like Katherine Heigl and haven't liked her for many moons now. From most of the things I've read about her, she seems to be a raving bitch with a humongous ego. I'm just saying. To quote The Wedding Singer: "You a bitch."

And actually, ever since her rant over the inappropriateness of Knocked Up, several people within Hollywood hold the same opinion of El Heigl. How can she re-spiff her image? Well, by not releasing statements like this:

I am truly grateful for the honor that the Academy bestowed upon me last year. I did not feel that I was given the material this season to warrant an Emmy nomination and in an effort to maintain the integrity of the Academy organization, I withdrew my name from contention. In addition, I did not want to potentially take away an opportunity from an actress who was given such materials.

As Defamer kindly points out, "[j]ust one year after her astounding Emmy win, Heigl has basically given the entire staff of Grey's a giant, nicotine-stained middle finger." Hee! Too true. I know she wants off the show and pissing off The Powers That Be is a good way to go about that, but I don't think that's the real reason Heigl was such a smartass. I think she just sucks.

UPDATE (06/12): Per EW.com,

One day [after Heigl's statement] a key show insider contacted EW.com to express regret that the actress publicly complained about the drama. “The show bent over backwards to accommodate her film schedule, and then she criticizes the show for lack of material?" the insider said. "It's an ungrateful slap in the face to the very writers responsible for her Emmy win in the first place.”

3. As you know, I really like Angelina Jolie. I would never go so far as to buy a Team Jolie shirt from Kitson but if someone wants to get into a pissing match with me about how she wrecked Jennifer Aniston's perfect marriage I am up to the task! :o) But I digress. Seeing as La Jolie won't be putting in any personal appearances to promote Wanted, she has instead sat down with Entertainment Weekly for a lengthy Q&A. You can read all about the tattoo she drew on Brad's back* here.


4. In case you were wondering...

Now that we know which character was killed on NCIS, why did Lauren Holly leave? Was it her decision, [exec producer] Shane Brennan's decision, or mutual?
Mitovich: Brennan tells TV Guide that the death was long in the planning and done primarily for storyline reasons. Holly had not asked to leave.

5. I think I just threw up a little.

NY Mag to Tom Colicchio: "So do shaved heads make you a better chef?" That's just great. Men with shaved heads are always better. Just ask my wife. [To wife Lori Silverbush] Aren't shaved heads great? Silverbush: Much easier on the thighs. Colicchio: [blushing and laughing hysterically] That was off the record!"

6. I feel better now.



* Just in case you haven't seen or heard of Brad's tattoo, here it is: It showed up on gossip sites back in mid-May and there was a lot of speculation that it was some type of schematic of the levees in New Orleans (because that's his big cause these days). Uh, no. Not so much.

(UPDATED) Movie Morsels 06 - Terminator Salvation

Nothing huge to report but, again, I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel here, people! Apparently, news has just broken that Christian Bale has signed on for not one but three new Terminator 'sequels.' Oh. Joy.

Christian Bale is to play rebel leader John Connor in three sequels to the Terminator franchise, its producers have revealed.

The Welsh-born star, who is soon to be seen in Batman Begins sequel The Dark Knight, has already started shooting the first of those films, Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins.

"He's really an actor's actor, so we're very proud," said Victor Kubicek of film company Halcyon.

Charlie's Angels director McG is directing the new film, which is due to be released on 22 May 2009.

"Christian was our first choice and he's a big fan of The Terminator, so we're very lucky," Kubicek told the BBC at the Cannes Film Festival.

"But with Batman he's already done the whole franchise thing, so we weren't sure he'd respond."

Luckily, said Kubicek's business partner Derek Anderson, "he read the script and he loved it, so he's signed on for all three."

Now, I love me some Christian Bale, as you know, and I will thus be forced to see these stupid new iterations of Terminator but - ugh - do we really need three more?! Seriously? My only hope is that McG isn't directing them all... we all know how beloved the Angels franchise is.

I liked the original Terminator best by far though the second one was also good (I can just barely stand Edward Furlong's high-pitched squealing and whining... whew). I never even saw the third one; yes, I'm sure Nick Stahl was far less annoying than Edward but my brother-in-law (who is a huge Terminator guy - he has the collector's DVD set complete with a Terminator head and whatnot) gave it a "meh" review so I just never got around to checking it out. Damn you and your hotness, Christian!! Now I'm going to have to sit through stupid the stupid lady Terminator and and two hours of Claire Danes. Gah! I can't even imagine what the already thin plot will be stretched to in order to fill three more movies...
- originally posted 05/21/08

UPDATE: Since principal photography on the film started up a few days ago, the plot of Salvation has been released by Warner Bros.:

In the highly anticipated new installment of The Terminator film franchise, set in post-apocalyptic 2018, Christian Bale stars as John Connor, the man fated to lead the human resistance against Skynet and its army of Terminators. But the future Connor was raised to believe in is altered in part by the appearance of Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington), a stranger whose last memory is of being on death row. Connor must decide whether Marcus has been sent from the future, or rescued from the past. As Skynet prepares its final onslaught, Connor and Marcus both embark on an odyssey that takes them into the heart of Skynet’s operations, where they uncover the terrible secret behind the possible annihilation of mankind.
(from themovingpicture.net)