Police in New Mexico found a body buried in someone’s front yard  last week, which no one would care about at all, except that front yard once sort of belonged to Christian Bale.  Says TMZ:

We’ve learned in 2008, while Bale was filming “Terminator: Salvation” in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the body of Michael Snyder lay in the front yard. Snyder had been missing for 8 years … buried at the home the entire time. The body was discovered last week, after cops received a tip. Snyder’s ex-wife has been arrested and charged with murder. Bale obviously had no idea the body was in the yard.

As the police finally dug the guy out, I like to imagine Christian Bale standing on the steps going “Ooooh goood for yoooou.”

Seriously though, there’s like five articles about this on the entire internet and all of them seem to be most concerned with the Christian Bale angle.  See, this is why when I need to kill a girlfriend, I bury her inside Horatio Sanz.

In the lead up to the release of Avatar, James Cameron is doing lots of press, and MTV recently got a chance to ask the Terminator 1 and 2 director what he thought of McG’s Terminator Salvation.  Trust me, you do not want to miss this one.  FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!

“I have seen it, and unfortunately I saw it the wrong way, on cable at the hotel, while I was working, over three nights because I don’t have much time,” Cameron said. “It’s better than I thought it was going to be.”

HO SNAP!  He thought it was gonna suck because McG’s a loser and his mom’s a bitch but it actually turned out sorta decent!  Or maybe he thought it was gonna be just sorta “meh”, and it turned out kinda “so so”!  AW HELL NAH, SH-T IS GETTIN REAL!

But Cameron went on to praise McG and his creative team for their efforts while also noting that the movie was missing some essential elements that made the earlier films such classics. “It’s actually quite reverential to the mythos of the ‘Terminator’ world,” he said. “I think McG and the writers tried hard to keep reacquainting you with some of those ideas in the story that they were weaving. So actually I thought it was pretty cool. I did feel that it sort of lacked Je ne sais quoi.“

OH NO HE DI’IN’T, FRENCH WORDS FROM THE TOP ROPE!

Read the rest of this entry »

(Least sexy shoe-cam photo ever.)

Terminator Salvation wasn’t the worst movie in the world.  It had some cool action sequences, but it followed them up with Christian Bale yelling for no apparent reason and a final 15 minutes that challenged the last 15 of Indy 4 for dumbest ever.  When I saw it I got so mad I punched the wall and lava came out.  Now Halcyon has filed for bankruptcy and is selling the franchise.  Problem is, no one wants to buy.  But that didn’t stop McG from planning two more movies.  He made the comments during a special event in which people who bought the Blu-ray could listen to live commentary from McG.  Sadly we don’t have the transcript, just a pretty great live blog from Gizmodo.  Poor McG.  He seems like a good guy who’s just a little too stupid for his own good.  He’s like the friend who really wants to be in your band, and you’d totally let him, only he can’t play an instrument and keeps drooling on the tambourine.  Also, he seems strangely cocky.  McG, I mean.

6:55: McG just compared his movie to The Dark Knight.

6:57: Audience question: how do you feel about making the horrible Charlie’s Angels films?

6:57: McG: “I really like those movies. If you don’t like them you can f-ck off.” [He later added, 'You're stupid and ugly and this is all just a defense mechanism.' -Ed]

6:59: “I want feedback from the audience if you want another movie or not?”

7:00: From the comments the director’s making, it seems like McG isn’t really a fan of subtlety. I don’t want to get too negative or anything…but yeah. [Editor's note: think of this as foreshadowing.]

Read the rest of this entry »

After already changing hands a bunch of times, the rights to the Terminator franchise were bought by Halcyon (Derek Anderson and Victor Kubicek) in 2007 for $25 million.  They subsequently released Terminator Salvation this year, but despite the film earning $371 million worldwide, Halcyon is in bankruptcy court owing creditors between $4 and $32 million.  Since the rights to the Terminator franchise are their only asset, they’re selling them, and they want $60 million.

“We’re going to be contacting a variety of studios and independent companies,” said Kevin Shultz, senior managing director at FTI. “We think the values are considerably in excess of the purchase price.”

In a previous bankruptcy court filing, Anderson claimed that the Terminator rights are now worth more than $60 million, more than double what he and Kubicek paid. Shultz said his firm will conduct its own analysis. Such valuations, which are based on forthcoming cash flow from “Salvation,” which has yet to be released on DVD, as well as potential further sequels, can vary widely because the performance of future films is so difficult to predict. [LA Times]

If someone pays $60 million for the rights — which they probably won’t — but if they pay anywhere near that, it’s hard to imagine they’d spend that much unless they were planning to make another Terminator movie.  (Then again, it’s hard to imagine someone paying $25 million for the rights, making a movie that earns almost $400 million, and still ending up bankrupt, but that’s another story).  I can only hope Fox buys the rights and hires Randi Mayem Singer to write the script.  In a world, where John Connor is raised by an African-American family, one straitlaced robot will learn how to loosen up, and one community will be turned upside down. Starring Sinbad, Duane the Rock Johnson, and Channing Tatum.  Terminator 5: I’ll be Black.  Opens Judgement Day, August 29th 2011.

UGO recently discovered that the director’s cut of Terminator Salvation, soon to be released all over your face on DVD and BluRay, will be rated R for “violence and brief nudity.”  This is interesting for a couple of reasons: 1. it’s a slow news day.  2. McG has contradicted himself a few times now vis a vis his film’s rating and the reasons for it.

Back in March at Wondercon, McG told a screaming crowd that WB was trying to get him to cut a scene showing Moon Bloodgood’s boobs.  “Do you want to see Moon’s boobs in the picture?” McG said while sitting next to the actress, trying to fire up the all-male audience.  (I also imagine him pointing at her boobs while he said it, but that may be dramatic license).  And this is neither here nor there, but he also promised the crowd that the movie “is gonna knock your f’ckin balls up your ass.”  Woohoo, I f’ckin love balls up my ass, McG imagined the crowd cheering.

Read the rest of this entry »