Here's a sample of the plethora of stuff out there:1. Superman Returns (a movie that this blog has been following) has come out with a new trailer (which is once again laced with messianic language—and, btw, it’s GOOD), a new poster (see right) and a new (though now several weeks old) TV spot. Why is a comic book movie on a God-talk blog? Because there’s a slew of us Christians that think comic book movies are more than relevant to Christians and our culture. This one opens June 30.
2. Looks like Da Vinci Code did well this weekend. The question is, can it keep it up? By the way, our church is using the film to spring-board onto a six-week apologetics series, which I’ll blog about in the next day or two.
3. A new cast member for Nativity (the Mary-Joseph-Jesus film this blog is following). FilmForce reports: “According to SidCity.net, the official fansite for actor Alexander Siddig, the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine veteran has been added to the cast of New Line's Biblical drama Nativity. The fansite claims Siddig will portray the angel Gabriel, who visits the Virgin Mary (Keisha Castle-Hughes) to inform her that she will be the mother of Jesus Christ.”
4. There’s more clips available for the remake of The Omen as well as new still shots from X-Men: The Last Stand (two movies this blog has been following, especially X-Men).
5. This blog also likes Sci-Fi Channel's Battlestar Galactica, and IFMagazine reports some hints about the upcoming season. Of particular interest to this blog is an episode called Hero, in which the writers explore a “revelation about something truly egregious and illegal that Adama was guilty of doing during the days leading up to the attack, and how he has kept the revelation of that incident from rearing it’s head. An event transpires that brings it all home with a vengeance, and the ramifications are significant. The fun is always in dealing with the humanity of these characters. They’re heroes, but we are always discovering their feet of clay. For reasons both personal and practical they have to carry on as leaders and role models in their world. The script is called Hero, because it’s necessary to keep functioning.” One of the things that interests me in the series is its exploration of how we humans always miss the mark—in other words, our ingrained tendency towards sin. Over the last two seasons, BG has dealt in depth with the consequences of—and hope for redemption from—sin. It looks like next season will dabble with this theme some more.
6. Reuters, among many other media, are reporting that the release date for Prince Caspian (the next Narnia movie) has been shifted to 2008 in order not to conflict with the scheduled December 2007 release of The Water Horse (another film this blog has been following). Both films are produced by Philip Anschutz’s Walden Media, who brought us the first Narnia movie.
7. Here’s a piece of international film-making news from Hindustan Times: "Chennai-based filmmaker Bharatbala is all set to kick off an Indo-Japanese co-production, depicting a Japanese samurai's search for enlightenment which finally brings him to India. Tentatively titled The 19th Step, the film is to be shot in Japan and the southern Indian state of Kerala. It will showcase the famed martial arts form of Kerala, Kalaripayuttu, for the first time ever in a mainstream production. In Bharatbala's words, 'It has the makings of the first truly breakthrough film from India.' …Though the film is being designed to appeal to a global audience, like Chinese martial art fantasies such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Hero and The House of Flying Daggers, Bharatbala points out that it will have no special effects. 'All the action will be real,' he says. 'Even as the film will entertain through a mix of action, spirituality and romance, it will be rooted in the ethos of its setting.'" Why are these films of interest to this blog? For the same reason The Promise caught my attention, which didn’t play in my area, so I’ve added to my NetFlix queue.
(Image: Warner Bros, from CanMag)