'Jurassic World' just keeps getting bigger!

'Jurassic World' just keeps getting bigger! Two significant casting announcements have been made this week that have got people talking. The first announcement was that B.D. Wong will reprise the role of Dr. Henry Wu that he played the first 'Jurassic Park' movie. 

In the Michael Crichton book, the character played a larger role in the story, having been instrumental in the process to re-create the dinosaurs. Wu was an important character because the 'Jurassic Park' novel goes into much more detail about the morality of what John Hammond has created by bringing the dinosaurs back from extinction. Wu represented the 'scientific' view point, but becomes a victim of his own creations when he is killed by the Velociraptors, who have escaped their enclosure when the park's power shuts off.

Given the character's death in the novel and his 'disappearance' half-way through the first movie, it will be interesting to see how Colin Trevorrow will use the Henry Wu character in the upcoming film ... Perhaps, the film may address that a way will have been found not only to clone dinosaurs, but humans as well!

In other casting news, French actor Omar Sy, who is in the upcoming 'X-Men Days of Future Past', has announced via his Twitter account that he has also landed a role in the film

There have been no reports about what role he will play in the film, but his involvement adds to an already impressive cast list that is rumoured to still have roles to be cast. This is one film +Future Fantastique is following closely, as the original is one my all-time favourite films and I think the subsequent films never quite fulfilled the potential of the premise.

Is 'The Empire Strikes Back' The Greatest Sequel Ever?

Just recently I posted on article on +Future Fantastique about 'The Empire Strikes Back' with the heading 'The Greatest Sequel of All Time'. I was discussing the article with a friend of mine and he said that he thought 'The Godfather Part II' was the best movie sequel that's ever been made. 

As a fan of movies, part of me agrees that the continuing saga of the Corleone family is a more worthy holder of that title than 'Empire'. It's a far more realistic film, but that's not really a fair comparison. 'The Empire Strikes Back' is an action film set in a "galaxy far, far away"; 'The Godfather Part II' is set in turn of the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Italy and America. 

The characters in 'The Godfather Part II' are largely made up of criminals and thugs. Women are subjected to domestic violence and children are treated as if they should be seen and not heard. 'The Empire Strikes Back' is the story of a group of friends who get into trouble, sometimes get on one another's nerves, but - ultimately - watch each other's backs.

'The Godfather Part II' is the story of a father and a son where the father - Vito Corleone - becomes a criminal so he can provide for his family. Years later, the son - Michael - despite his father's desire for his son to be something more, ends up being tempted by darker forces and goes on to run the family business. 'The Empire Strikes Back' is the story of a father and a son where the father - Dart Vader - reveals his previously unknown parental status in an effort to lure his son Luke to the "Dark Side" of the 'Force". Unlike Michael Corleone, Luke Skywalker has the strength to resist when confronted with his moment of truth.

I could go on with comparisons between the two, as my friend and I did for a good half-an-hour. Ultimately, I came away from the conversation convinced that I had mounted a very strong argument as to why 'The Empire Strikes Back' is the greatest sequel of all time. It took the premise of the first +Star Wars movie and turned it on its head. It placed the story's heroes in much greater jeopardy and left the fate of Han Solo - one of the three main characters - completely unknown!

By way of tribute to the film, as mentioned at the top, I've written a substantial piece on 'The Empire Strikes Back' and posted it to the +Future Fantastique site. I've also included a section for the film's posters, photographs and lobby cards that were used for the film's marketing.

Here's the link:

http://www.futurefantastique.com/star-wars---episode-v---the-empire-strikes-back.html

Like so many +Star Wars fans, 'The Empire Strikes Back' is my favourite of the six films, but it's also one of my favourite films of all time. In the late 1970s and 1980s, fans of science fiction and fantasy films were blessed with some of the greatest genre movies ever made and I sure am glad I was there to see them!

The Empire Strikes Back movie trailer

Is there more to the new 'Godzilla' movie than we've been told?

It's been a while, but I'm finally back on the blog. I've changed the name to mirror the website, the Google+ page and the Facebook page, so people will be able to move backwards and forwards between all of the +Future Fantastique  content.

'Godzilla' - new international trailer

The new international trailer for +Godzilla  has additional scenes showing the destruction that occurs in the film and, up to this point, I thought this film looked like a standard 'World Vs Monster' film; something along the lines of last year's +Pacific Rim , but set in the present day.

One brief scene in the trailer leads me to believe that there may be more going on in the film than anything released to this point in time would indicate.

Possible Spoiler Alert!

Please be aware that, if anyone goes and checks this out, they may be armed with the same information that has now seriously piqued my interest in Gareth Edwards' reboot of this classic monster movie.

Use the attached link to have a look at the +Future Fantastique site and check out the trailer. I've used the highest possible resolution on the trailer download, so the screen can be expanded and you can see for yourself ...

http://www.futurefantastique.com/godzilla.html

Pause the trailer at the 1 minute and 19 second and tell me if I think what I'm seeing is really what I'm seeing ...

I was apprehensive about +Godzilla, as it seemed among the least appealing movies due out this year. Just the 'Destruction Porn' element of it was enough to give me 'Man Of Steel'-like chills, however, the possibility of a more complicated dynamic between mankind and 'Godzilla' has increased my interest levels in this film dramatically!

Update ...

In addition to the trailer, two new posters have been released along with a number of new still photographs.