Never Mind Pop Film

The summer movie season, in this day and age, is almost strictly reserved for rock 'em, sock 'em superheroes, super spies and giant robots and monsters. Escapism is in full swing during these months and audiences generally reward those pictures that put a smile on their face as they exit the theatre.
Neill Blomkamp is no stranger to this season (his debut film District 9 was also a summer release) but where he differs from the action crowd is a tendency to lean toward the subversive. District 9 was an example of dropping some real-world truths into the cineplex and introducing viewpoints typically not seen in a blockbuster.
Earth in the year 2154 is a world made up of favelas and a lack of resources, the wealthiest citizens have left and inhabit a station above the Earth where overpopulation, hunger and sickness is no longer an issue. With the technological innovation of medpods present on Elysium, broken bones are mended immediately and cancer can be waved away in seconds. C…

The trailer for Neil Blomkamp's awaited follow-up to District 9 is here. Elysium stars Matt Damon, Jodie Foster and Sharlto Copley. The film debuts August 9th.

Mercenaries are becoming the "it" theme of this summer with The Losers hitting theatres a few months ago, The A-Team coming out this weekend and The Expendables expected out August 13th. A few Hollywood producers must have received Soldier of Fortune in their mailboxes by accident.
Ten years ago, a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn't commit. These men promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade to the Los Angeles underground. Today, still wanted by the government, they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire... the A-Team.
That opening is familiar enough to fans of the television show, but director Joe Carnahan starts from scratch, throwing Hannibal, Face, Murdock and Baracus together during an operation in Mexico.

These soldiers of fortune are a little different from how you remember them. Hannibal (Liam Neeson) is less funny and mor…

My interest in The A-Team was tepid at best, previous to the extended tv spots FOX put out, but this sneak peek has me interested now.

Some years ago aliens crashed landed in Johannesburg. Despite their insistence that they were there in peace, officials deemed it necessary to contain them on Earth. Soon, the "prawns" as they are named, are relocated from their ship to a camp below.

Citizens are outraged that the prawns live so close to their homes and a group is assembled to move the aliens once again. Should they resist, mercenaries with flamethrowers and guns will assist them. Wikus van der Merwe (Sharlto Copley) is a blissfully unaware bureaucrat set about earning his way up the government ladder by evicting the "prawns" from their reservation in Africa.

Whether it was a matter of hubris, or irony, while casting aliens out of their homes, Wikus contracts a mysterious virus that begins changing his DNA. Once that information spreads, Wikus very quickly becomes the most valuable man in the world, as well as the most hunted. In his DNA lies the key to unlocking the secrets of alien technology th…

Could be quite good, could be another cheesey alien film with a pseudo message.