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There's no escaping James Franco. In little more than a decade, the 30-something actor has risen up from relative obscurity to become a worldwide sex symbol and Hollywood leading man with tremendous star power, despite making some career choices — after receiving critical acclaim for his performance in Milk (2008), Franco returned to TV in 2009 with recurring roles on 30 Rock and the soap opera General Hospital — that would have derailed the careers of other actors.
Passed over for several major roles earlier in his career, Franco was chosen to bring Fox's Planet of the Apes franchise back to life and to headline Disney's Oz the Great and Powerful, which is currently the highest grossing movie of the year by a wide margin. How did Franco go from being a TV "geek" to the king wizard of the box office? Just watch the movies on the list we've put together for you and, in under eight hours, you'll be able to dazzle your friends and co-workers with your understanding of the ascension of Franco.
Be conversant in James Franco >> Posted 04.09.13 by BrentJS -
The Cold War was one of the most frightening periods of American history, a roughly 44-year period marked by tense relations with the Soviet Union and the constant threat of mutually assured destruction. During the 13-day Cuban missile crisis, the standoff between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. brought the world closer to the brink of global nuclear war than ever before or since, with President Kennedy and Soviet Premiere Khrushchev "eyeball to eyeball" until Khruschev "blinked" and war was averted.
By the '80s, economic stagnation and the rise of strong nationalist and separatist moviements combined to tear the Soviet Union apart, finally putting an end to the Cold War. But, would Khrushchev have blinked at all if he had had an army of obedient, tireless, super-strong soldiers at his command? The world we live in today would be a very different place indeed had the Soviet Union's experiments in breeding humans with non-human apes come to fruition. Think Red Dawn meets Planet of the Apes, but for real!
Hybrid humanzees and chumans! Oh, my! >> Posted 03.21.13 by BrentJS -
"Never send a human to do a machine's job."
When Star Wars (now titled Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope) debuted in May of 1977, it forever changed sci-fi — and Hollywood’s perception of the genre — with its epic fantasy story and groundbreaking technology. It quickly became the highest grossing movie of all time and garnered numerous accolades, winning six of the ten Academy Awards categories for which it was nominated. Star Wars continually ranks near the top of just about every movie list category out there, including our own recent Best Sci-Fi Movies of the 1970’s and ‘80s, as voted by you, the Reelz.com readers.
The long-awaited prequel trilogy that was launched in May of 1999 with Star Wars: The Phantom Menace was a huge success for Lucasfilm, but, even though it boasted far superior special effects, it failed to make the same sort of impact on moviegoers as the original. Was Jar Jar Binks really the source of the ambivalence that many fans felt toward The Phantom Menace or was it that they had already had their minds blown by The Matrix, which opened two months prior? And how do the Star Wars prequels and The Matrix trilogy stack up against other sci-fi movies with next-level special effects like Avatar or more cerebral movies like Donnie Darko? Sit down, jack in and upload your choices of the best sci-fi movies from 1990 to today.
Rate the Top 10 Best Sci-Fi Movies (1990s - 2010s) >>
Posted 03.14.13 by BrentJS -
Everything old is new again
Reboot. To many self-styled movie aficionados, the word has come to represent everything they perceive to be wrong with Hollywood. They complain that the increasing number of reboots — six already this year, with many, many more on the way — is a sign that movie studios have simply run out of ideas. But, though the word describing them may be relatively new, Hollywood has been rebooting franchises for a very long time. Sherlock Holmes, Superman, Tarzan, James Bond, Batman — the longevity of these characters as cinematic icons has depended upon periodic reinventions to keep them fresh (we're still waiting for Tarzan's). Obviously, some reboots are better than others, which is why we want you to help us rate the Top 10 Best Movie Reboots.
Rate the Top 10 Best Movie Reboots >>
Posted 10.02.12 by BrentJS -
Twentieth Century Fox likely surprised itself last summer by creating not one but two prequel franchises. Considering the popularity of the X-Men franchise, the studio probably expected that X-Men: First Class would perform well enough to illicit a sequel (the studio backed a pretty extensive marketing campaign in hopes). However, the studio probably didn't expect Planet of the Apes prequel Rise of the Planet of the Apes to earn $481 million worldwide. Unsurprisingly, Fox CEO Tom Rothman announced sequels last November and the studio is pressing forward, scheduling both sequels for summer 2014.
There's still little known about the Rise sequel, other than it will continue seeing humanity fall as the apes, well, rise. Director Rupert Wyatt, who is returning, said last December that the sequel will show "why humanity is going to be vulnerable enough for this ever growing army of intelligent apes and their offspring to be able to take us on." According to Box Office Mojo, the sequel will be titled Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (don't worry, we're pretty sure it won't feature zombie-apes) and will open on May 23, 2014.
more about Thor 2 and the First Class sequel >> Posted 06.01.12 by Ryan -
Now that Twentieth Century Fox has its X-Men: First Class sequel lined up to shoot early next year, the studio is concentrating on its other successful 2011 franchise reboot, Planet of the Apes prequel Rise of the Planet of the Apes. According to THR, Contagion screenwriter Scott Z. Burns has been hired to work on the script for the sequel.
Seems like a good fit. Rise saw chimpanzees start to gain a level of human intelligence after being exposed to a gene therapy drug intended to help cure Alzheimer's Disease. The closing moments hinted at the spread of a pandemic virus throughout humanity, a synopsized version of the entirety of Contagion, basically. Rise screenwriters and co-producers Amanda Silver and Rick Jaffa have already had a turn on the sequel script, but it's possible that Fox wanted Burns to make the script a bit more "Contagion-y." With the report claiming that the sequel will see "the apes on the path to emerge as society’s new rulers," it's also likely that the studio wanted Burns for the action work he did on The Bourne Ultimatum as well.
Returning for the sequel is Rise director Rupert Wyatt, who said last December that he was "going to level the playing field for the next part of the story, which is the real conflict between humans and apes on a far bigger scale." Clearly, Caesar, the chimp that leads the revolution, is involved, as actor Andy Serkis, who played Caesar in motion capture, is already set to return. No word yet on when production will begin.
Posted 05.16.12 by Ryan -
With the end of the year came an abundance of lists from critics and fans alike for the top movies of 2011. However, a new list has been released that deserves a true movie-lover's attention — one from writer/director/producer Quentin Tarantino.
True to Tarantino form, his list contains some surprises (mostly mainstream movies?) and is heavily action, horror, and sci-fi saturated.
See which movies made Tarantino's list >> Posted 01.17.12 by reelz -
Even if you haven't seen Rise of the Planet of the Apes, you probably noticed in the trailers and other promotional footage that none of the apes spoke in this Planet of the Apes prequel. While speech is a cornerstone of the franchise starting with its 1969 debut movie, we don't want to spoil whether the apes do in fact learn to speak in Rise (though, after earning a surprising $481 million in worldwide box office, we recognize that plenty of you know already or are figuring it out as the movie has debuted at the top of the national home sales chart this week). Now that Fox is prepping a sequel to the prequel (a presequel?), will speech play a larger part in the next installment?
possible spoilers ahead >> Posted 12.22.11 by Ryan -
Planet of the Apes prequel Rise of the Planet of the Apes was a surprise hit, earning a surprising $481 million worldwide while becoming one of the most successful comic book movies of the summer. So it came as no surprise when 20th Century Fox decided to lock down actor Andy Serkis (who played the ape Caesar through motion-capture), co-producers and screenwriters Amanda Silver and Rick Jaffa and director Rupert Wyatt for a sequel last month, and then admitted over two weeks ago that all a Rise sequel required was a "great script".
an army grows for the sequel >> Posted 12.16.11 by Ryan -
Director Rupert Wyatt's Rise of the Planet of the Apes relaunched the classic sci-fi franchise by going back in time to tell how a human scientist (James Franco) seeking a cure for Alzheimer's disease became the catalyst for the evolution of ape intelligence that eventually leads to the topsy-turvy world in which apes are civilized and humans are little more than animals. To promote the movie's upcoming home video debut, Fox has released one of the many extra features included on the Blu-ray, a featurette titled "A New Generation of Apes" that offers a look at how the actors and stunt performers brought the apes to life like never before by using state-of-the-art motion capture technology.
watch the featurette >> Posted 12.08.11 by BrentJS