Monsters

Started by modage, July 23, 2010, 06:10:35 PM

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modage



via @ThePlaylist

After "District 9" came out of nowhere to take over the box office and even managed to snag a nomination slot for Best Picture at the Oscars, it's no surprise that studios are trying to mimic that success.

Thus we have "Monsters." The film, marking the feature debut by Gareth Edwards takes place six years ago after "a NASA probe landed back in the New Mexico desert containing samples of alien life - which promptly grew, proliferated and turned the southern US and north of Mexico into an alien-occupied zone. Now, a US journalist agrees to escort an American tourist back through the no-man's land to safety." And judging by the trailer and clip debuted earlier this year at SXSW, things get a little messy.

No word yet on a release date, but Magnet Releasing is handling the film on this side of the pond.

Teaser: http://theplaylist.blogspot.com/2010/07/watch-monsters-teaser-trailer-will-it.html

Looks like District 10/Cloverfield 2.  Maybe good? 
Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.

children with angels

Colour me intrigued, certainly. It's got the guy from In Search of a Midnight Kiss in it, who was very good in that.
"Should I bring my own chains?"
"We always do..."

http://www.alternatetakes.co.uk/
http://thelesserfeat.blogspot.com/

Pubrick

are you kidding me?

this looks like a straight to video piece of shit that should only have a home in the marketing copies thread.
under the paving stones.

children with angels

No way to tell either way from the little we have here. But I'm up for seeing an American variation on the immigration themes of District 9: Mexico/U.S "border protection", as the poster puts it. Riffing on similar, already well-worn, sci fi concepts doesn't necessarily make it a rip-off. Even if it is a rip-off, that doesn't necessarily mean it will be bad either. It's a very potent basic idea that I feel can probably profit from various cultural inflections.
"Should I bring my own chains?"
"We always do..."

http://www.alternatetakes.co.uk/
http://thelesserfeat.blogspot.com/

Pubrick

i'm not getting anything but schlock and shitty special effects from that trailer.

D9 only worked because of the concept of one of "us" becoming one of "them".

if this film copies that too then it will be nothing but a cheap knock off for ppl who were turned off by south african accents. i would call it dreamworks to D9's pixar but that would be giving too much credit to its production value.
under the paving stones.

Alexandro

so, americans are going to rip off movies because they don't like accents too???

MacGuffin




New Trailer

Release Date: October 29th, 2010 (limited) 

Starring: Whitney Able, Scoot McNairy

Directed by: Gareth Edwards 

Premise: Six years ago NASA discovered the possibility of alien life within our solar system. A probe was launched to collect samples, but crashed upon re-entry over Central America. Soon after new life forms began to appear there and half of Mexico was quarantined. Today, the American and Mexican military struggle to contain these alien creatures. In particular, here, we focus on a US journalist who agrees to escort a shaken tourist through the infected zone in Mexico to the safety of the US border.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


Skeleton FilmWorks

modage


From my blog:


Possibly one of the most frustrating movies I have ever seen.  With a title like Monsters, you think you would have some idea of what you were going to get, but you would be wrong.  Magnolia Pictures is doing it's best to sell this as a District 9/Cloverfield for 2010 and they're doing a damn good job.  They've gotten some good festival buzz, cut a great teaser and gotten Neil Kellerhouse to design one of the best posters I've seen this year.  But do not be fooled because this is not that film.

Monsters is essentially a Richard Linklater movie with aliens present for about 3 minutes of the films 90 minute running time.  The rest is 2 characters crossing the "infected zone" in Mexico on their journey back to America.  You keep waiting for the film to ramp up and it just never does.  The finale of the film reaches for some kind of poetic beauty but you will be too angry by that point to care.  They should cut 15 minutes of the characters talking and replace it with some suspense or action setpieces and have a pretty good movie, or cut 3 minutes of aliens and change the title to "People".
Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.

Marty McSuperfly

Completely agree. I saw it last night and it's a contender for the worst film of the year in my book.
It's only 90 minutes long but it honestly felt closer to three hours. It's basically just two unlikeable people wandering about talking about uninteresting stuff for ages.
The Linklater analogy is spot on. Like Monsters, not a lot happens in some of his films but at least he makes the dialogue the star of the show to compensate.
I totally admire the special effects and the DIY vibe the film has - it certainly doesn't look low budget - but I wish more effort had been put into telling a compelling story with characters we care about.
Nice posters, shame about the film.

polkablues

This movie had three things going against it: having a slight superficial resemblance to District 9 while that movie was still fresh in everyone's mind, having a marketing campaign that played up that resemblance, and having entirely the wrong title.  And it's a shame, because separated from these false expectations, it's a fantastic film.

It's not a movie about aliens.  I want to make that abundantly clear.  There are alien creatures in it, but they're incidental to the actual story, which is that of a man and a woman who have to journey through a dangerous land to get back home to the lives they were trying to escape all along.  It could have been a war-zone, it could have been a plague quarantine area, it could have been a fucking zombie monkey apocalypse, it really doesn't matter to the story being told.  It's not a movie about aliens.  It's not a horror movie.  Despite the title, it's not a "monster movie", with all the genre requirements that implies.  It's a movie about two complex, well-written characters forced into an impossible situation.  And it's a goddamn good one.

Mod, all I can say is watch it again.  Forget the movie you expected it be and let it be the movie that it is.  And anyone who hasn't given it a chance yet should.
My house, my rules, my coffee

socketlevel

agreed i was really impressed with it. especially knowing how low budget it was, the director pulled off a lot. that's not a reason to like the movie, because it offers so much more, but as icing on the cake it's pretty sweet.
the one last hit that spent you...

MacGuffin

'Monsters' Sequel 'The Dark Continent' Moves Forward With 'Misfits' Director Tom Green
Source: Playlist

One of the big successes of the 2010 indie world was "Monsters," the ultra-low budget sci-fi picture which became a sensation after it premiered at SXSW. Made on a miniscule budget, with hugely impressive effects created on an off-the-shelf computer, it followed two Americans trying to travel across an area of Central America devestated by huge alien creatures. It was an off-beat, original take on the genre, and marked the arrival of some major new talents -- and indeed, helmer Gareth Edwards was picked out to direct a new reboot of "Godzilla," which remains in development, while star Scoot McNairy has gone on to major roles in "Killing Them Softly," "Argo" and "Twelve Years A Slave."

The film wasn't a huge crossover hit (we'd argue that it got a rather botched release stateside), but made some impressive coin internationally and on home video, and as such, talk of a sequel has been going on even before the film arrived in theaters. While Edwards has expressed little interest in returning, he's on board to executive produce, and last year, short film helmers Brent Bonacarso and Jesse Atlas were announced as directors. Word's been quiet since then, but it seems that there's been a bit of change in personnel, with two fast-rising talents coming on board.

Screen Daily have announced their latest annual line-up of Stars of Tomorrow, and in the process have checked in on some of their picks from last year, including names like John Boyega, Douglas Booth and MyAnna Buring. Also among them was screenwriter Jay Basu, who has a new take on "Merlin" in development at Working Title Films, and who co-wrote the script for sports drama "Fast Girls," which just hit U.K cinemas this past weekend. And it would seem according to Screen that he's now been brought on board to tackle the "Monsters" sequel, which now has the title "Monsters: The Dark Continent."

And there's a new director to go with him. Bonacarso and Atlas seem to have have fallen off, and Tom Green (not that one) has come on board to replace them. Green's been on our radar for a while now, since his outstanding student film "Brixton 85," and has gone on to serious success as one of the major directors on cult British superhero drama "Misfits." He's come close to a feature debut a few times now -- he was linked to the Stone Roses movie "Spike Island" for a while, before Mat Whitecross replaced him, and he's also attached to a low-budget crime thriller called "Grass" at Focus Features. But he seems to be firmly in place on the "Monsters" follow-up, and we have to say he's a great choice, someone more committed to story and character than simply being a visual effects whiz.

As far as we can tell, there's no firm start date on the project, so we wouldn't go counting all your chickens before they hatch. But backers Vertigo Films could easily have turned this into a quickie sequel, and that they're taking their time on it, and that they've hired some impressive young talent to make it, gives reason for optimism that this could be more than just your average sequel. More news as it comes in on this one.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


Skeleton FilmWorks

MacGuffin

Monsters sequel shoot underway
EXCLUSIVE: Sci-fi sequel stars Johnny Harris, Sam Keeley and Joe Dempsie.
Source: Screen Daily

Principal photography is underway in Jordan on Monsters: Dark Continent.

Misfits director Tom Green's feature debut, written by Jay Basu, is a co-production between StreetDance 3D producer-distributor Vertigo Films and fledgling management and production company 42, whose co-founders Ben Pugh and Rory Aitken were behind Shifty and Welcome to the Punch.

Gareth Edwards, who directed Monsters, will executive produce.

Welcome To The Punch actor Johnny Harris stars alongside Sam Keeley (What Richard Did) and Joe Dempsie (Game Of Thrones) in the anticipated sequel, set "some years after" Edwards' cult hit original, which won four British Independent Film Awards.

In Dark Continent, Infected Zones have spread across the world. While US military try to wipe out the monsters, they soon realize they face resistance from a number of corners.

Filming will take place in Jordan for five weeks, followed by a week in Detroit.

Vertigo Distribution will release in the UK with Protagonist handling international sales.

Producer Allan Niblo of Vertigo said: "Monsters: Dark Continent is a sci-fi action film that remains true to the artistry and intelligence of its prequel Monsters as well as providing the excitement, thrills and set pieces of a genre film. We're very excited to see Tom Green's vision unfold".

Producer James Richardson added: "We are delighted to be working with this incredible new team - 42's Ben Pugh and Rory Aitken are two very talented producers, Jay Bassu has written an excellent script, we have a brilliant cast and Tom Green is one of the most exciting new directors coming out of the UK."

42's Pugh said: "Gareth Edwards created a rich and evocative sci-fi world with Monsters and it's a privilege to go deeper into that world for Monsters: Dark Continent with Tom Green, Vertigo and a very exciting cast".
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


Skeleton FilmWorks