Ben's Daily Movie News

Notice of Decommission

2009-12-15T17:02:00.003-05:00

It's a sad day at Ben's Daily Movie News. I've decided to shut this blog down indefinitely. If you're reading this at all, then you're a bigger fan than I could have imagined. Since my posting on this site has been lackluster at best over the past couple of months, I figure I'll end the disappointment for everyone and go out with a bit of dignity still intact.

It's been a great run here, and I truly appreciate your readership. I'm still contributing to Ben's Movie Reviews at http://notjustnewmovies.blogspot.com, so you can read all of my reviews and editorials over there, along with the occasional post from a fellow blogger. For your daily movie news, I'd recommend adding GeekTyrant.com to your bookmarks in place of this site - I've been writing over there for a while, and it's a pretty cool environment with a slick layout. I'd also recommend checking out the weekly podcasts over there, since I've been contributing to them for a few weeks now and plan on continuing for many weeks to come (with the exception of the holiday break, of course).

Thanks again for reading, and I hope you'll stick with me over at Ben's Movie Reviews and elsewhere throughout the interwebs. And you never know - there's always the chance that I'll reinstate this site back to its former glory. If that happens, I'll be sure to make an announcement on Ben's Movie Reviews so it removes the need to randomly check this site for updates.

Vengeance and Taken 2 News

2009-12-08T15:32:00.002-05:00

Did you like the Liam Neeson action flick Taken? If so, click over to GeekTyrant to find out the status of the sequel.

Jeremy Renner in upcoming Marvel movies?

2009-11-27T00:23:00.001-05:00

Jeremy Renner, the breakout performer of this year's The Hurt Locker, is rumored to play a role in the upcoming Marvel films, including a potentially large role in The Avengers.

See what I'm talking about at GeekTyrant.

Rumor: Potential Khan for Star Trek Sequel?

2009-11-18T01:32:00.002-05:00

What's up, people? Thanks for coming back to the site, and again - my apologies for not updating as often as usual.

Check out this rumor at GeekTyrant. It's only one click away. If you're a LOST fan, an Abrams Star Trek fan, or just curious to see who might fill Ricardo Montalban's shoes, you know where to go.

Travolta and Cruise: The Next Butch and Sundance?

2009-11-12T02:53:00.003-05:00

(I'm not posting the picture here because I want it to be a surprise when you read on. It's fairly ridiculous. Don't get your expectations too high, though.)

John Travolta recently heard a rumor that he and Tom Cruise were doing a remake of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. It wasn't true, but it got him thinking...

Jean Reno Cast in 22 Bullets

2009-11-07T14:06:00.002-05:00

Jean Reno, probably most famous for his future casting in our Aaron Burr television series (ask me if you don't know what I'm talking about and I'll explain), has signed to star in a badass French action movie that sounds almost exactly like The Punisher.

Roundup 11/1

2009-11-02T02:29:00.002-05:00

What's up, people. I've got a little update for this site. As you know, I'm spreading myself pretty thin these days writing for a bunch of different sites, and I really want to contribute to this site but can't seem to find the time. This is a result of my writing at GeekTyrant.com, where essentially I write what I would have written here. So instead of ignoring this site like I have been over the past few weeks, I've decided on a temporary solution.

From now on, any time I post something on GeekTyrant I'll give it its own post here and link to the article over there. I've been lucky enough to only post stuff over there that I actually care about so far; if you've visited other movie news websites, you know that the sheer volume of crap that people report on is overwhelming. So I'm happy that I've only posted stuff that I'm interested in over there, and I'll continue to do the same thing over here. If I'm really pressed for time, I might link to another GeekTyrant author's post if they beat me to the punch on a story that I normally would have posted here - otherwise, I'll write it up here myself like I normally would.

So for this post, I'll just link to all the news pieces I've done at GeekTyrant so far (reviews excluded).

Ryan Reynolds Might Join Motorcade

Trailer Mashup: The Dark Knight Vs. Blade

D.J. Caruso and Chris Pine Picked To Make Money

Ridley Scott Might Direct Adaptation of Red Riding

The Mechanic Adds Two More Cogs

Adam Shankman Directing Rock of Ages

Support the Cause: Bring Lucky Luke to America

Sandler Suits Up For Jack and Jill

Anthony Hopkins Joining Thor?

Mark Millar Teases His Directorial Debut

Uncertainty Trailer

2009-10-24T15:31:00.002-04:00

Laugh it up, D-bags: I'm posting a Joseph Gordon-Levitt trailer. It's well known that the dude is one of my favorite actors, so go ahead and chuckle amongst yourselves. The movie is called Uncertainty, and also stars Lynn Collins (I don't know who she is, either).

I've never heard of this movie before my co-writers at GeekTyrant posted about it, but half of it looks awesome. Guess which half - the pregnancy part, or the murder/extortion plot? Check out the trailer for yourself and decide what you think.

New Trailer: The Wolfman

2009-10-21T15:09:00.002-04:00

The newest trailer for Joe Johnston's (The Rocketeer, October Sky) The Wolfman was released today, and it's a vast improvement over the first footage we saw a couple months ago. This actually looks pretty solid, but I'm telling you right now: if you're looking for a fantastic werewolf movie, look no further than the epic French masterpiece The Brotherhood of the Wolf. Yes, I know - "French masterpiece" is an oxymoron, except for BotW and the occasional bread loaf.

Irregardlessly-ness-tion (an inside joke, obviously not a real word), Joe Johnston is also directing the upcoming Captain America for Marvel Studios. I'm pretty stoked for it - if he brings the same blatant patriotism to that story as he did to The Rocketeer (one of my favorite films), then we're all in for a treat. Enjoy the trailer for The Wolfman below.

Spike Jonze/Kanye West Short

2009-10-19T13:55:00.004-04:00

What's up, guys and girls? It's been a while since I've updated anything on this site, and I promise a Roundup is coming soon.

For now, though, I'll leave you with a short film directed by Where the Wild Things Are director Spike Jonze starring Kanye West. It's pretty freakin' weird, but I'd say worth checking out.

Adrien Brody in Predators

2009-10-06T22:18:00.005-04:00

In a weird bit of casting news, Variety reports that Adrien Brody has signed on for the Robert Rodriguez-produced, Nimrod Antal-directed upcoming action reboot Predators. Brody will play the main role, the leader of a human group dropped onto the home planet of the Predators and forced to survive.

In another bit of WTF news, The Hollywood Reporter is claiming Topher Grace is close to signing as a dangerous serial killer with an unassuming air about him. I'm hoping this is the turnaround Topher Grace is looking for after the clusterbomb that was Spider-Man 3: it seems like the guy might have a little talent, but I'm not sure this is the right project to showcase it. Who knows? Maybe he just wants to hang out with Adrien Brody in the jungle for a while. After seeing The Brothers Bloom again, I'd be down for that. (Although Mark Ruffalo's character was a lot cooler).

Thomas the Tank Engine: The Movie

2009-09-30T04:37:00.002-04:00

Oh yeah, it's comin' atcha like a freight train (get it!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!) Thomas the Tank Engine: The Movie. Read this quote, and tell me how people can say things like this with a straight face:

"Thomas & Friends is a...successful brand that appeals to children...worldwide. Generations...have grown up with [the show] with its storytelling tradition, positive values, timeless lessons, and rich train history."

Seriously? "Rich train history?" Are you F-ing kidding me? I watched that show briefly as a child and didn't learn a freakin' thing about trains, other than the conductor was batsh*t insane. I can't believe the gall that these people have.

DiCaprio Attached to The Deep Blue Goodbye

2009-09-29T15:12:00.003-04:00

The Deep Blue Goodbye. Sounds like Samuel L. Jackson would know a little somethin' about that, eh? (Spoilers for Deep Blue Sea in the video.)

Busy McWorksALot (Leonardo DiCaprio) has thrown another project onto his pre-production plate: The Deep Blue Goodbye, a film based on a 1964 novel that was the first in a mystery series. DiCap will (eventually) play a Floridian beach bum named Travis McGee, a man who works as a "salvage consultant": recovering stolen items and taking half for his finder's fee.

Sounds like something straight out of a Carl Hiaasen or Tim Dorsey novel, but I'm always down with more movies set in Florida.

George Clooney is The American

2009-09-29T15:09:00.004-04:00

Fresh off the success of Jason Reitman's Up in the Air at film festivals across the country, George Clooney will be starring in a film called The American for relatively unknown director Anton Corbijn.

Focus Features is behind the movie, which shares plot elements with the fantastic Martin McDonagh film In Bruges. Clooney plays an American assassin who retreats to the Italian countryside after a hit gone bad.

This will be Corbijn's second directorial effort, and as much as I'd like to write this off as a complete knock off of In Bruges, Clooney's involvement makes me hesitate before making that blanket statement. If you look at the roles he's chosen in his career, it seems like he rarely makes bad decisions and always seems to make interesting choices, so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.

Roundup 9/23

2009-09-24T02:19:00.002-04:00

It's been a long couple of days for me on a personal level (12+ hour days aren't easy), but that's not going to stop me from bringing you the most relevant movie news of yesterday and today. Onward...

I'll lead off with forehead-slapping news: Universal is quickly losing my respect and their latest offense comes in the form of greenlighting a live-action Barbie movie. If what I know of Barbie is true, then this movie is going to be awesome - she seems to be a shape-shifting organism who has the ability to perform nearly any job, AND she has an outlandish number of vehicles at her disposal. Sounds like your standard superhero movie to me. On a serious note, it's gotta totally mess with your mind if you're the actress who gets the lead role. How can anyone live up to those plastic standards?

Columbia Pictures is officially moving forward with Ghost Rider 2 (with Nic Cage probably reprising his iconic role) and reboots of Daredevil and Silver Surfer films as well. Sure, Silver Surfer never had a proper movie of his own, but his introduction in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer was close enough and will most likely be completely retconned since Fox is rebooting Fantastic Four anyway. Jason Statham has expressed interest in playing Daredevil, and although I doubt that will happen, I'd still like to see it.

More Columbia Pictures news - the company is interested in buying the rights to a live-action He-Man: Masters of the Universe movie. Screenwriter Justin Marks recently wrote a script for this film that seemed to garner fanboy approval (I wouldn't know: I refuse to read scripts that leak online - it ruins all the surprises in the actual movie!). Unfortunately for those excited for Marks' take, his version has been scrapped by Warner Bros. and Columbia is going to start from scratch if they end up scoring the rights to the property. I've seen Masters of the Universe already - the classic 1987 Dolph Lundgren Version - and that's all I need to see.

I previously told you that DJ Caruso, director of Eagle Eye and Disturbia, was set to direct a movie called Jack the Giant Killer. This film is a live action adult take on the Jack and the Beanstalk legend. It appears that his deal has fallen through, and Bryan Singer (X-Men 1 and 2) has stepped up to take the reins. Singer's involvement is out of left field, since he's so freakin' busy right now doing EVERYTHING BUT what we all want to see, which is of course his version of The Man of Steel. I still quasi-like the concept of this story, but as I mentioned before, it sounds a little too close to the Fables TV series that ABC is supposedly creating as I type. (When is THAT coming out? That's what I really want to see.)

And finally, the cast for The Other Guys (formerly titled The B Team) is quickly approaching fantastic. In Adam McKay's (Anchorman, Talladega Nights) latest directorial effort, Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg play New York City cops who, for once, aren't the center of attention. They are the guys in the background, the normal cops, and they watch supercops (played by Samuel L. Jackson and Dwayne Johnson) take all the badass cases and get all the ladies. Eva Mendes, Michael Keaton, and funnyman Steve Coogan fill out the rest of the cast so far, with Coogan playing the villain. It reminds me of Mystery Men, except this will hopefully be funny. The Other Guys sounds stupendous - I've always talked about making a movie very similar to this, except mine was going to be about a citizen in a town of supercops whose car gets blown up as collateral damage.

Another Stephanie Meyer Movie? Kill Me Now

2009-09-23T02:07:00.003-04:00

Stephenie Meyer is the quadjillionaire author of the Twilight series who has parents who don't know how to spell "Stephanie." Apparently she wrote a "horror" novel called "The Host," the alien villains of which sound pretty freakin' similar to the old "Animorphs" books from my elementary school days. (Come on: click that wikipedia link and spend an hour refreshing yourself on the Animorphs - you know you want to.)

Predictably enough, the rights to "The Host" have been secured and the book is set to be adapted into a movie. Blargh.

What I could totally NOT predict is the man attached to the property: Andrew Niccol, writer/director of Gattica and Lord of War. I'm kinda baffled as to why such a seemingly high-class guy would attach himself to a property from an author whose skill with a pen has been seriously questioned by countless people over the age of 13. (Then again - I'm sure the answer has to do with money.) Niccol is slated to write and direct the movie version of The Host, and the dude must either A) have a hell of a take on the material and hope to bring credibility to Meyer and her work or B) must be in serious need of a payday.

I just find it hard to believe that the same guy who wrote The Truman Show is getting involved with Stephanie Meyer. Also, it must be noted that I've never read Twilight or seen any of the movies, so take all of my snark with a grain of salt.

Monaghan Joins Due Date

2009-09-18T21:09:00.005-04:00

Michelle Monaghan (whom you can find on my list of "Favorite Actresses Right Now - 2009 Edition") has signed on to join Robert Downey, Jr. and Zach Galifianakis in a new comedy from director Todd Phillips.

I covered all the plot details, trivia, and everything in my last post about this movie, so head over there to refresh yourself.

I'm obviously glad Monaghan is getting more work; I can't get enough of her performance in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and I truly believe we have only just begun to see her full talent on display. Whether or not that talent is revealed in THIS movie? That's another story. But at least she's on track and in the public eye.

"You've Failed To Maintain Your Women"

2009-09-18T20:59:00.002-04:00

This is the trailer for the new Sir Michael Caine movie Harry Brown. Caine has gone on record saying this will be the last lead performance of his career, which I have mixed feelings about. On one hand, he's a great character actor who thrives well in the company of other big names and can definitely hang with the best of them. On the other, seeing him in something like Harry Brown or Deathtrap (where he also plays the lead role) proves he can hold the weight of an entire film on his shoulders.

Let the comparisons to Death Wish fly.

RDJ To Play Spielberg's Harvey?

2009-09-15T02:33:00.002-04:00

"They call me Boomer. You gonna do somethin' about it, chief?"

If you read the headline, that's really all the news there is. Variety speculates that Robert Downey, Jr. could play the man who sees an invisible rabbit in Steven Spielberg's reimagining of the Jimmy Stewart classic.

Seems like most people assumed Tom Hanks would play the lead, considering his long-time working relationship with Spielberg. But Robert Downey, Jr. strikes me as an interesting choice simply because he's not as clean cut as Hanks. If this casting holds true, then perhaps Spielberg's Harvey will be a little more edgy than the original.

Hahahahahahaha

2009-09-10T22:41:00.003-04:00

If you can make it to these words without laughing at the poster above, I commend you. (See it in its true size here.) I've done better Photoshop jobs in 10 minutes.

FirstShowing gave me a hearty chuckle tonight by featuring both the poster and the trailer for Takers, a new heist film from director John Luessenhop. The dialogue is so awful that it rivals the Street Kings trailer from a while back. (Quicks? Not quick enough!)

Has there ever been a cast where an actor (Hayden Christensen, I'm lookin' at you) has been so unintentionally out of place with the rest of the group? Hit me with answers in the comments, and enjoy this trailer if you can.

Warner Bros/DC Comics Finally Getting Act Together?

2009-09-09T13:06:00.003-04:00

UPDATE: It was just announced that Warner Bros. has created DC Entertainment, a branch devoted to utilizing the full potential of the vast range of DC characters across multiple platforms. Again, solid move. Original post follows.

It's about time. Jeff Robinov, the director of Warner Bros. Pictures Group, is implementing a plan that he's been brewing for a couple years. DC Comics now reports to him and Diane Nelson (the president of Warner Premiere, who do the direct-to-DVD animated DC films).

Robinov has apparently "called back their high profile DC titles in development like The Flash and Wonder Woman." After the recent hiring of Marv Wolfman, Geoff Johns, and Grant Morrison, Warner Bros./DC is finally taking steps in the right direction in competing with Marvel. Now, who wants to see Ryan Reynolds as Green Lantern AND The Flash? Eh? Eh? Anybody else?

Up in the Air Teaser Trailer

2009-09-09T12:05:00.003-04:00

UPDATE: Hmm. It looks like the trailer is down due to massive amounts of people watching it through the host site and other sites that have linked to it. Keep checking back and hopefully it goes back up soon - trust me, it's worth watching.

I rarely post trailers to this page, but I think this one is very well done. Up in the Air is the newest directorial effort from director Jason Reitman (Thank You For Smoking, Juno), and Reitman himself cut this teaser together.

The film was the big hit of the Telluride Film Festival, and from the trailer it would appear the praise is warranted. Check it out for yourselves. Slashfilm got this exclusive trailer from Sony, and I've embedded it below.

Supermax Altered Drastically: UPDATE

2009-09-09T01:59:00.008-04:00

UPDATE: Due to some lazy researching on my part (not to mention trusting The Movie Blog for information for the first time in like six months - that'll never happen again!), I've come to find out that DC Comics version of Super Max (I knew it was spelled that way!) and the Sony/Columbia one mentioned below are actually two completely separate properties. Stunningly similar in concept and characters, I expect some sort of legal battle to ensue. But most likely, one of these projects will simply be shelved in favor of the other. I sincerely hope that the DC one sees the light of day. Original post follows.

It would appear the worst has befallen Supermax, the project which has excited fanboys (myself included) for a year or two now.

The original story featured Green Arrow (of DC Comics fame) wrongfully imprisoned in a high security jail specifically built to house supervillains (similar to Arkham Asylum). Oliver Queen, without his trademark bow and arrow, would have to escape the prison and the villains he himself locked away there and clear his name. Justin Marks (who hasn't actually written anything good) wrote the project as a spec script, and it's been floating around Hollywood for a while now.

According to The Movie Blog, Sony has picked up the rights for Columbia to develop the project into a horror/action movie. Gone is the Green Arrow - he has been replaced by a security guard. Here's their plot synopsis:

“Supermax” takes place in a Maximum Security Prison for the Super-Natural as a skilled guard must join forces with a lethal inmate after a riot ensues in order to fight his way through various monsters and mad-men in order to survive.

Sounds awful to me. If you're not going to include Green Arrow, then why are there supernatural dudes chilling out in this prison? If it's not going to be a DC hero, are they going to be DC villains? That would be incredibly stupid. Just unidentifiable monsters in cells? Come on. So assuming neither are used, I guess they're just going to make up their own cast of crazies to fill out the prison. Weak sauce! Most of the fun to be had with Supermax was going to be picking out obscure villains and watching the dynamic of "good guy in prison with guys he put in there" play out, ala Tango and Cash. I've just lost a lot of interest in this project. Great casting might be able to save it, and attaching a solid director won't hurt - but this one is drowning quickly in my book.

Rambo 5: Seriously, The Real Plot This Time

2009-09-08T13:03:00.002-04:00

It would appear that I've made an incorrect assumption about the plot of the next Rambo film based on the information I had at the time. I posited that the film would be akin to John Rambo taking on a team of Universal Soldiers. Stallone left a voicemail with Harry Knowles at Ain't It Cool News which completely disproves this theory and sets us all in the right direction.

Listen to it here.

Basically, the story doesn't have anything to do with a squad of cyborgs. Stallone makes the story seem much more primal than technology-based, implying possible connections to "The Immortals" from Zack Snyder's 300. He claims that the thing he fights is a "feral beast," a form of human being that hasn't reached our level of evolution yet. Part of the appeal is that this "thing" is such a primal creature that its will to live matches only Rambo's, which should translate into some very interesting storytelling and provide Stallone the opportunity to delve deeper into the psyche of one of his most well-known characters.

Rambo 5: The Real Plot

2009-09-05T13:51:00.003-04:00

In my August 31st Roundup, I told you guys that Rambo 5 had gotten the greenlight and the story was going to be about Rambo saving a kidnapped girl from drug traffickers and warlords near the US/Mexico border.

Apparently, the trades that initially reported this story had no clue what they were talking about. Stallone stepped up and called them out on it, and gave us the real plot for his next film (which sounds WAY more badass than the drug/warlords one).

In Rambo V: The Savage Hunt (the real working title), the U.S. government has a secret facility where they are trying to create "brilliantly instinctual killer soldiers that have no qualms about taking life." Rambo is brought in with a Black Ops squad to hunt and kill these creatures gone bad.

Sounds like Universal Soldier meets Rambo, and I'm all for it. We've seen far too many captured girl stories lately, so at least this one won't have that stupid emotional subplot attached. (That means more action!) I hope Van Damme is one of the bad guys and Stallone rips him apart for his refusal to guest star in The Expendables.

Guy Ritchie Directing Lobo Movie

2009-09-02T16:13:00.004-04:00

Wow, Maddox is going to be uber-pumped about this one. Lobo, the DC Comics interstellar bounty hunter/badass, is getting the big screen treatment with director Guy Ritchie (RockNRolla, Snatch, etc) at the helm.

Variety says Lobo "is a seven-foot tall, blue-skinned, indestructible and heavily muscled anti-hero who drives a pimped out motorcycle, and lands on Earth in search of four fugitives who are bent on wreaking havoc. Lobo teams with a small town teenaged [sic] girl to stop the creatures." Sounds like Wolverine on steroids.

Warner Bros. is apparently aiming for a PG-13 rating, which (from what I can gather) completely undercuts the entire existence of this character. It needs a hard R rating, or nothing at all. I'm hoping Mickey Rourke is cast as Lobo anyway, and maybe Megan Fox for the small town girl.

P.S. - Holy crap, I'm loving what Wikipedia says about this character. Here are a couple excerpts:

"Lobo is a formidable combatant with expertise in multiple forms of armed and unarmed combat. His favorite weapon is a large titanium chain he keeps wrapped around his right wrist with a large gutting hook connected at the end, which he typically uses in hand to hand combat. At times, he also uses high-grade explosives and advanced firearms."

"Despite his violent and loutish nature, Lobo seems to have a genius-level intellect in matters of destruction and violence. He can create complex virulent agents and the necessary antidotes to them such as the one he let loose on Czarnia, resulting in the deaths of the entire population in the span of one week. He was also able to scavenge parts from a destroyed time hopper and attach them to his own bike, producing a working time machine."

Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day Trailer

2009-09-02T16:03:00.003-04:00

The long awaited sequel to the cult classic Boondock Saints finally has a trailer and a release date: October 30th, 2009. Looks like all you Saints fans out there don't have to wait much longer. Here's the red-band trailer.

Three Musketeers...in 3D!

2009-09-02T15:41:00.002-04:00

Oh yeah, you read it correctly. The guy who brought you Death Race and Alien vs. Predator is bringing the Three Musketeers to 3D life on the big screen.

Paul W.S. Anderson, the aforementioned director, commented on the upcoming project:

"We are definitely modernizing 'The Three Musketeers' without compromising the fun of shooting a period piece, but in our film, corsets and feathered hats don't take center stage. Our version is rich in eye-popping action, romance, and adventure."

Disney's The Three Musketeers is one of my favorite adventure films of all time (read my review comparing it to 2001's The Musketeer here), so I honestly don't think any Musketeer film can improve on what they did with that version. There are very few directors that I would approve to work on 3D Musketeer movie, and Paul "Mortal Kombat" Anderson is not one of them. This sounds abysmal.

Favreau and Downey, Reunited?

2009-09-01T22:11:00.003-04:00

"No! You never make them touch!"*

Cowboys & Aliens is a project I could have sworn I mentioned before, but now that I'm actually looking back, I apparently never have. Something fishy's going on here. ANYWAY, in case you've never heard about it before, I'll sum up the plot: it's basically exactly what you'd think with a title like that. Cowboys battle Native Americans, aliens invade, the two warring factions have to work together to save Earth. Kinda cool, imagining laser blasts vs. arrows and six shooters. Oh yeah, and it's based on a comic book which I've never read.

Robert Downey, Jr. has been attached to this project since 2008, but now The Hollywood Reporter is, uh, reporting that Iron Man and Iron Man 2 director Jon Favreau has signed on to direct the movie. The script was (I think?) originally written by the guys who wrote Iron Man, and Kurtzman and Orci were slated to produce. Now, the latter duo has joined with frequent collaborator Damon Lindelof (co-creator of LOST) to rewrite the script and get it ready for a 2010 start date.

Kurtzman and Orci have a pretty hit-or-miss track record as far as most people are concerned, but I dig those guys. They've written Star Trek, both Transformers movies, The Island, Mission Impossible: III, and episodes of "Alias" and "Fringe," as well as produced Eagle Eye. I think I liked all but one of those things (*cough* Transformers 2). I think this team-up with Favreau and Downey will be successful at the box office, but more importantly, I have confidence they could all collaborate and bring us an entertaining movie.

*Ask Joe what that quote is in reference to. I forget the name of the comedy troupe that put together the video it's featured in.**

**Freakin' A, both sentences in that paragraph ended with prepositions.

Dawn of the Dead on Hulu

2009-09-01T03:07:00.001-04:00

Hello all. I just wanted to pass on word that Zack Snyder's debut film, the 2004 remake Dawn of the Dead, is now available for free on Hulu. I really liked this movie, and I hope you will take the time to check it out in some capacity, even if it isn't on a computer screen.

Roundup 8/31

2009-08-31T20:29:00.003-04:00

I'm all settled in here at my new place (which you can see here). I just got my cable and internet hooked up, found a little sense of direction, and have recently read through my backlog of bookmarks since I left on Wednesday (including the recently released A Winter's Knight at The Solar Sentinel). Here are some stories you may have missed while I was gone.

The big news today is that Disney is in the process of buying Marvel Entertainment for 4 billion dollars. There has been excessive speculation on what this means for the future of Marvel movies, and many of these speculations have been stupefyingly insulting. The online world is in a huff about this, but there's no need to worry. Your precious comic book movies won't be softened up by the Mouse House. Disney CEO Robert Iger said (I'm paraphrasing) that they were basically going to leave Marvel Studios alone and let them do their thing. The only thing this acquisition means is that Disney is going to make a lot of money from the rights and licenses to the Marvel characters (over 5,000 of them) and their distribution teams will better promote the Marvel films when they are released. Since Disney also owns Pixar, there have been some talks regarding a Marvel/Pixar team up. Either way, I'm sure the (mostly) high quality products we've been getting from Marvel won't change anytime soon.

Kevin Conroy, the actor who provided the quintessential voice of Batman in the animated series of the 1990's and the new Arkham Asylum video game, joined the rest of the world and said that Christian Bale's Batman voice in The Dark Knight was "over the top and distracted from his scenes." This isn't really news, but this just proves that Conroy is a badass who isn't afraid to be straight up with how he feels about something. That's not your typical Hollywood response - Conroy craps on being nice for the sake of being nice.

There was a rumor a week or so ago stating that Guillermo del Toro's The Hobbit would be shot in 3D. Utter crap, and I knew it. Del Toro recently debunked this rumor on a message board to the fans, simultaneously debunking rumors that Tom Cruise would play Bilbo Baggins. Look, I'm a bigger Tom Cruise supporter than most, but that casting would have been possibly the worst in the history of film. Yeah, I said it. Good thing GDT's an awesome director and knows what he's doing.

Sony has started development on Bad Boys 3. A writer has been hired, and neither Will Smith nor Martin Lawrence has officially signed on yet. Jerry Bruckheimer's involvement is still in question at this point as well. I don't think this is necessary (or wanted) by anyone, but whatever. This is years away from being released, if it even gets the greenlight at all.

Speaking of Bruckheimer, he just bought the rights to a short story by Derek Haas (3:10 to Yuma, Wanted) with the intent to develop it as a film. This is notable because Haas started his own website called PopcornFiction.com where movie writers could post their short stories as a means to express their creativity in a different format. It was a cool idea, and I'm glad to see that his little side project is turning into a lucrative thing for him. Seems like his head is in the right place.

Nic Cage has joined the 3D fever. He's starring in a movie called Drive Angry, by the director of My Bloody Valentine 3D. Cage will play a pissed-off dad who goes after a gang who killed his daughter and stole her child, leaving bodies and tire marks in his wake. Sounds like Cage, Liam Neeson, and Kevin Bacon need to star in a movie together called Taken: Drive Angry to the Death Sentence. I'd pay to see that one. This one? They're going to need a hell of a good trailer to convince me.

Rambo 5 has gotten the greenlight. There has been a lot of talk about this one ever since the last Rambo installment came out, but it's just now finally getting official approval. Stallone is in post-production on The Expendables right now, but as soon as he finishes that, he's expected to start on this project. This time, Rambo will be mauling drug lords and human traffickers at the US/Mexico border and trying to rescue an abducted girl. Hmm...maybe Sly can jump in on that movie with the guys listed above.

Rob Zombie is remaking The Blob. I've never seen the original, but I'm sure Zombie's version will be interesting at the very least.

And finally, an assistant to Michael Crichton found an unpublished manuscript for a book called "Pirate Latitudes" in Crichton's computer after his death. The book will hit shelves on November 24th of this year, and David Koepp (Jurassic Park, The Lost World) has been hired to adapt the story into a screenplay, with longtime-Crichton-collaborator Steven Spielberg attached to direct. The synopsis sounds kinda cool, and the movie is being hailed as a more realistic Pirates of the Caribbean. That said, I'm sure the book is going to be excellent and the movie has a very high suck potential. David Koepp has written some good stuff, but he's also written some truly terrible movies (The Shadow, War of the Worlds, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Angels & Demons) and Spielberg hasn't done anything great since 2002's Catch Me If You Can. I can only hope that this is the project that will bring him out of his slump.

Inception Teaser Trailer

2009-08-24T17:09:00.001-04:00

Here's our first look at the latest film from Christopher Nolan, Inception. His team has done a great job at keeping the film's plot a secret so far, and this is one of my most anticipated films of the next year.

Inception @ Yahoo! Video

Shutter Island Moved to Feb. 2010

2009-08-22T01:14:00.004-04:00

Boo, hiss. Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island, the mystery thriller starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo, has been moved back to February of 2010.

Paramount decided to shift the film out of awards contention for this year's Academy Awards session, and drop it into the same slot where Silence of the Lambs entered theaters back in 1992. Since the Academy is now accepting 10 nominees for Best Picture, I guess Paramount doesn't want to waste the money marketing this as an "awards movie" when they can just hope that they get thrown in next year if the movie plays well.

Awards talk aside, I'm bummed because I really wanted to see this movie sooner rather than later. The creepy/mystery factor would have played out great in a theater in October (you know - with Halloween and all), but now it's being released near Valentine's Day. Weak sauce.

Bruce Willis? You Better Believe It

2009-08-18T00:35:00.003-04:00

"Come on, babe! You married THAT guy?
His name is Ashton, for God's sake! KUTCHER!!"

What could I possibly write here that would make fans of Bruce Willis even BIGGER fans of Bruce Willis? No, not that there's a free all you can eat buffet next door to your house (see what I did there?!?) - this is something much more potentially epic.

Bruce Willis has joined the cast of The Expendables. I've written at length about this movie in the past, and so far it's lived up to every expectation I could possibly want (with the exception of a possible PG-13 rating instead of a hard R). Willis told MTV that he's set to cameo on screen at the same time with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone. Momentous occasion, if I do say so myself. Is it 2010 yet?

You Asked For It, America

2009-08-18T00:24:00.003-04:00

Shelling out $113 million for tickets to the 2004 Wayans brothers "comedy" White Chicks qualifies as "asking" for a sequel, and now you've got it. The Wayans are now in development on a sequel, where the FBI characters who got dolled up as white girls are coming back to the big screen.

I'm going to tell you right now I've never seen White Chicks and I don't ever plan on seeing it. The film was a major plot point in the 2005 short film Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? but that's as close as I came to watching it. I can only assume it was trash reserved for the likes of those jackasses who keep making Meet the Spartans and all of that crap. So obviously there's no way in Hades that I'm going to check this out. But for those of you who enjoy this kind of thing (what is that, like a bad movie fetish?), you can get your jollies if and when this thing hits theaters - probably a year from now.

Spider-Man Updates

2009-08-17T01:22:00.006-04:00

What the heck is going on? James Vanderbilt, screenwriter of Zodiac, was hired back in February of '08 to write Spider-Man 4. He turned in two scripts (for Spidey 4 and 5) and intended for the filmmakers to shoot the two movies back to back. Since then, other people have been brought in to rewrite his script for Spider-Man 4, so I assumed his ideas for connectivity between sequels were brought to an end.

Looks like that's not the case. Sony has just hired Vanderbilt to write Spider-Man 5 and 6! I guess they actually liked his ideas so much that they've decided to stick with his vision all the way through to complete another trilogy. The thing is, it's not looking like they're going to shoot these movies back to back: they're not even sure if they're going to make any Spider-Man films after the fourth installment.

I'm kind of confused by this - on one hand, pretty much everyone didn't like Spidey 3 as much as its predecessors, and the webslinger has vanished from the public's eye for the past few years. So I guess it makes sense that they wouldn't want to commit to another trilogy and spend the time and money to shoot it back to back in case Spidey 4 tanks nasty style at the box office. On the other, why would you hire this guy back if you like his ideas so much and then not film them all at once in order to get them out in theaters as quickly as possible and make your money while Spider-Man is fresh in the public's mind again?

The other questionable thing that's mentioned is that Vanderbilt has been told his scripts could be used to continue a trilogy that will begin in Spidey 4 OR be used as a blueprint for a series reboot. Does that make sense to anyone else? How the hell could a script written for the express purpose of continuing a franchise and bridging the gap between 4 and 6 double as a blueprint for a reboot? It's not possible. I don't get it. Either way, we're a long way away from seeing the fruits of any of this labor. Spider-Man 4 hits theaters in May of 2011, and neither the cast nor Sam Raimi has signed on for any further installments.

In other news, there are rumors flying around that Julie Taymor's Broadway production of Spider-Man: After the Dark (you know, the one that Bono and The Edge are doing the music for?) has been either canceled or put on hiatus. People are saying the budget is out of control and there's no way (even with a packed house every night) that they could make their money back. I've also heard conflicting reports that everything is fine, but that could be spin control coming from Taymor's camp. We'll see what happens with this, but if you're looking forward to the stage show, just know that there seems to be some trouble brewing.

Superman Confused

2009-08-16T21:31:00.003-04:00

[That title was supposed to read like "Superman Returns? No, Superman Confused." I'm sure you didn't get that from the title alone. So instead of coming up with another one, I explained myself to you. Deal with it.]

A little while back I updated you with the goings-on regarding Superman and the legal battle of the heirs of Siegel and Shuster vs. Warner Bros./DC Comics. Now the jury is in (literally), and the results do not bode well for the good guys.

Elisabeth Rappe from Cinematical breaks it down nicely, and it boils down to this: the courts awarded the heirs various portions of the mythos of Superman, including the origin story (meaning Krypton, Kal-El, Jor-El, etc). All this adds to what they ALREADY owned, which was the rights to the Superman character (including Clark Kent), Lois Lane, The Daily Planet, and Perry White. DC still owns Jimmy Olsen, Lex Luthor, kryptonite, Superman's ability to fly, and any expanded powers and origins. What a headache.

This means that if we want to see a normal Superman movie again, we're going to have to see it go into production before the deadline of 2011. Otherwise, who knows what kind of ridiculous incarnation will make its way onto the big screen? How can they employ the use of kryptonite but not explain where it came from? Also, as Elisabeth points out, in 2013 it's game on for the heirs to shop their property around to whatever studio they want. Does that include the previously mentioned possibility of Supes traveling across the street to arch-rival Marvel Comics? It's unclear...but times are dark for the Big Blue Boy Scout.

Roundup 8/16

2009-08-16T10:50:00.004-04:00

Wow, I've already reached 250 posts on this site. That was fast - doesn't seem like I've been writing for that long over here. Anyway, I'm back from my recent travels and I've been gone for a couple days, so it's time to catch up with another Roundup. Let's get to it!

The poster at the top of the page is a fan made poster for Tron: Legacy. I liked it enough to feature it here, so maybe you'll dig it, too.

Aside from boring casting announcements and more unnecessary remake news, there actually hasn't been that much going on. This has very little to do with movies, but Seth McFarlane confirmed what he's alluded to for years: Stewie from Family Guy is gay. Was it necessary to make an announcement about that? I'm pretty sure we knew that from somewhere around Season 2.

Remember that Bob Marley documentary I mentioned a while back that Scorsese was going to direct? I've been ignorant of updates, but I've got the info now if you're interested. Apparently Scorsese dropped the project because he was too busy with other things, and director Jonathan Demme (Silence of the Lambs, Rachel Getting Married) signed on to take over. But after he showed the producer his first cut and the producer didn't like it too much, Demme walked. I would, too, if someone laughed at my hard work. Screw those guys. Nobody else has signed on, so in the meantime it's languishing in development hell.

Ron Shelton, the guy who directed Tin Cup and White Men Can't Jump, is returning to a golf themed comedy with a movie called Q School (which stands for qualifying school). Dennis Quaid and Tim Allen are interested but haven't signed yet. Sounds interesting enough, since there really is (as pointed out by FirstShowing) a shortage of great golf movies out there. Maybe this one will be another addition alongside Caddyshack.

There's a pretty badass trailer out for Law Abiding Citizen, the new Gerard Butler/Jamie Foxx movie I've mentioned a few times. It's gone through a lot of variations (Frank Darabont was once attached to direct), but now it's in the capable hands of the awesomely named director F. Gary Gray. Looks standard, but with good action - just like all of F's other movies. Check the trailer here.

Kate Winslet (one of my favorite actresses) is moving to television as Mildred Pierce, a character featured in the classic 1945 film noir of the same name directed by Michael Curtiz. Director Todd Haynes (who I've never heard of) has approached the networks for the show, but apparently HBO is in the lead right now. By the way, HBO is coming out with a FANTASTIC-looking new show called "Bored to Death" featuring Jason Schwartzman and Zach Galifianakis about a fake private eye. It's on my "must watch" list when it comes out next month.

I've never seen an episode of the television series (new or 1970's version), but some of you may be interested to hear that Bryan Singer (Superman Returns, X-Men 1 and 2) will be directing a big screen version of Battlestar Galactica for Universal. Apparently the movie will have nothing to do with the recent show and is supposed to be a complete reimagining of the 70's show. Somewhere, somebody is pleased with this news. Personally, I'd rather see Singer bring the Man of Steel back to the big screen one more time to try and give audiences what they were expecting with Superman Returns - some action. Doesn't look like that's going to be the case: both because he signed for Battlestar, and also because of my next post...

Lego: The Movie

2009-08-12T00:49:00.003-04:00

No, I'm not kidding. Warner Bros. (a studio I normally love and have a lot of respect for) has decided to take my good will and hurl it out a thirty-story window; after G.I. Joe opened number one at the box office this weekend, they're making a Lego movie.

Not only are they seriously doing this (I can't stress enough this isn't a joke), but the man they've hired to produce this movie is responsible for an upcoming live action Tom and Jerry movie. And if THAT isn't enough for you, Variety says Warner Bros. is "keeping the plot tightly under wraps." Bite me. Like everyone is chomping at the bit to discover your super-secret plot to a movie about freakin' building blocks.

Mark my words, a Silly Putty movie is on the horizon.

Spielberg Producing Halo Movie?

2009-08-08T17:34:00.002-04:00

Peter Jackson, Spielberg's co-director in the Tintin series they're currently working on, was once attached to produce a Halo movie (which was to be directed by District 9's Neill Blomkamp). That project fell through, and now it would appear that Spielberg wants down on the video game adaptation.

Rumor has it (via IESB) that Spielberg is in negotiations to produce Halo: Fall of Reach, the spec script written by Collateral writer Stuart Beattie. This film has been struggling in production limbo for years, and if anybody has the clout to pull it out and kick-start it into action, it's Steven Spielberg. I can only hope that Beattie's script is as good as he makes it out to be - we can't forget that this is the guy who directed the wretched Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

From what I can gather, Spielberg backed off on the Indy script since George Lucas would have eaten his hand if he went in for a rewrite - so maybe Steven's just been making a few bad decisions lately. Halo is certainly an epic enough story to rekindle the wonder that the world famous director is known for producing, and maybe he'll even slide into the director's chair if he feels confident enough about the project once they get some casting decisions made.

Machete Cast Unveiled

2009-08-05T12:58:00.002-04:00

I've spoken at length before about the feature version of Robert Rodriguez's Machete, the fake trailer from 2007's Grindhouse, so I won't bore you with recycled plot summaries or anything like that.

The rumored cast has been officially confirmed since shooting began this week on the project. Danny Trejo plays Machete, and joining him are some pretty big names: Robert DeNiro, Jessica Alba, Steven Seagal, Michelle Rodriguez, Lindsay Lohan, Cheech Marin, Don Johnson, and Jeff Fahey. OK, so maybe only three of those are big names.

No word yet on whether this will be a theatrical release or straight to DVD. There was talk about it going to DVD at one time, but with bigger names attached I wonder if it will at least see a limited release in theaters.

Spielberg Directing A Harvey Remake

2009-08-02T15:38:00.004-04:00

Spielberg's next project will not be the long-rumored Lincoln biopic starring Liam Neeson. Looks like he's taking on a blast from the Jimmy Stewart past and directing a remake of Harvey, the black and white classic in which Stewart's character sees a six foot tall imaginary rabbit.

This isn't Spielberg's first trip down Remake Road. He did the 2005 War of the Worlds with Tom Cruise, and directed the little seen dra-mance Always in 1989, which was based on the 1943 film A Guy Named Joe. As far as remakes go, I guess enough time has passed to warrant this one; we'll see how relevant the story turns out to be with Steve at the helm. No cast has been announced yet, and I'll keep you posted when those announcements are made (which will probably be soon, since the movie is going into immediate pre-production).

Rob Marshall to Direct Pirates 4?

2009-07-31T15:24:00.003-04:00

Acclaimed (I guess) musical director Rob Marshall (Chicago, the upcoming Nine) is in talks to direct the fourth installment in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.

Director Gore Verbinski has already dropped out, and Johnny Depp is already signed to reprise his now-iconic role of Captain Jack Sparrow, but there's not much that could get me excited about this series anymore. They ran it into the ground with the second and third films, and even a story about Sparrow and Barbossa searching for the Fountain of Youth (as rumored) does little to pique my interest.

Rob Marshall might as well turn this movie into a musical. It'd be like Sweeney Todd, but with pirates. Set it in space, and have a crossover with the new Captain Blood remake, and they can start a whole new offshoot with some characters featured in both. It'd be like "CSI: Miami," but with secondary pirate characters. In SPACE.

Captain Blood...IN SPACE!

2009-07-31T00:40:00.002-04:00

Yeah, you read that correctly. Captain Blood, the 1935 Errol Flynn pirate adventure movie that I once reviewed at Ben's Movie Reviews is heading for the stratosphere.

Almost exactly a year ago, I mentioned that the director of Clear and Present Danger had signed to develop a remake of Captain Blood for Warner Bros. Looks like that has fallen through, because the studio has greenlit a pitch from the Spierig Brothers (who?) that sets the classic tale in space. Fear not, purists - the central storyline remains intact - a doctor clashes with a French pirate who has captured the woman he loves.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Whoa. (This is not my Batman glass.) The French? In space? I didn't realize this version of Captain Blood was going to be a comedy! (ZING!)

Say It Ain't So

2009-07-29T00:42:00.005-04:00

More like "Twice Phallus Howhard." Yeah? Anybody?

One of my favorite up-and-coming actresses, Bryce Dallas Howard (pictured, total hottie), has gone to the dark side: she's signed to play a role in The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. For those of you who care (if this describes you, I'm guessing you probably shouldn't be reading this site), Bryce will take over the role of Victoria from some other girl because Other Girl had prior commitments to some other movie. Whatever. It's not like I'm ever going to see this movie.

Seems like ol' BDH is jumping onto every huge franchise she can right now: with her stepping in as Gwen Stacy in Spider-Man 3 (best part of the movie), her minuscule role in Terminator Salvation, and now the Twilight series, she's looking to make some serious bank. She must still be trying to make everyone forget about Lady in the Water. Good luck, hot stuff - it's going to take a good while for that pile of mediocrity to leave the collective consciousness of America.

In better news, my home girl Gabrielle Union has joined the cast of ABC's newest not-targeted-at-females show, FlashForward. You may remember Union from Bad Boys II, or, more likely, from my Valentine's Day post over at the Solar Sentinel. I'm still on the fence about this show, but the addition this salacious female has almost tipped me to the "watching it" side.

Jonah Hex Poster

2009-07-25T17:52:00.001-04:00

Here's the new poster for Jonah Hex. I've been talking about this one for a while, so I figured I'd throw the poster your way so you all could see it. (The only real reason I'm doing it is because Megan Fox is heavily featured.)

Ninja Assassin Trailer

2009-07-25T11:46:00.002-04:00

James McTeigue (V for Vendetta) has a new movie coming out November 25th, and it looks like a Tony Jaa movie without Tony Jaa. Will I be seeing it? Definitely. Check this action out - it involves a lot of swinging rope weapons and slick action choreography.

For Your Viewing Pleasure

2009-07-25T02:29:00.002-04:00

Man, I am on a roll tonight. Here's three more trailers for you guys.

First, the trailer for Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland 3D, since I know that some of you are slobbering at the very mention of the flick. Wipe yourself off and check this out.

Next, the long-awaited red-band trailer for Hot Tub Time Machine. I've been touting this since day one, and I'm glad to see that the film looks hilarious. I'm hoping this one doesn't disappoint. If it's anything like this trailer, I'm sure I'll dig it.

Finally, Denzel Washington's newest post-apocalyptic movie Book of Eli gets a trailer. It's nowhere near as impressive/funny/entertaining as the other two, which is why I saved it for last. It's like I Am Legend with swords and chainsaws, so I guess I'll probably see it.

Comic Con 09: Tron Legacy Trailer

2009-07-25T02:22:00.003-04:00

This was actually footage released to the Comic Con '08 crowd, but it has just become available for all to see. From what I understand, director Joseph Kosinski put this together to prove that technology has come far enough since the first Tron movie to warrant a second journey into that universe (kind of like Robert Rodriguez pumping out that opening scene for Sin City [you know, with Josh Hartnett] and shopping it around to Frank Miller and the actors to get the rest of the movie made).

I've never seen the original Tron (I hope to remedy this shortly), but this teaser trailer for the sequel looks really badass. I'm very excited about this movie now, whereas before I had little to no interest in it at all. I'd highly recommend checking it out below.

Here's the plot synopsis (thanks to Slashfilm for providing it): TRON Legacy is a 3D high-tech adventure set in a digital world that’s unlike anything ever captured on the big screen. Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund) [a great up-and-coming actor - Ed.], the tech-savvy 27-year-old son of Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges), looks into his father’s disappearance and finds himself pulled into the same world of fierce programs and gladiatorial games where his father has been living for 25 years. Along with Kevin’s loyal confidant (Olivia Wilde), father and son embark on a life-and-death journey across a visually-stunning cyber universe that has become far more advanced and exceedingly dangerous.

Comic Con 09: The Prisoner

2009-07-25T02:01:00.003-04:00

The AMC network ("Breaking Bad," "Mad Men") has produced a mini-series based on the 1960's cult classic TV show "The Prisoner." I believe it will be six parts, and it begins in November of 2009. At Comic Con this week, the network has released a nine minute sizzle reel to hook audiences and get them excited about what they're calling "the most anticipated television event of 2009."

The series stars Jim Caviezel as Number Six, a regular man captured and trapped in a utopia-esque environment called The Village. Ian McKellan (Gandalf, Magneto, you know who he is) co-stars as the leader of The Village who tries to convince everyone they've always been there and there is no life outside of his created environment. It looks like a great cross between The Truman Show, "LOST," and Michael Bay's The Island. Here's the nine minute preview from AMC.com. I'm really pumped about this.

Stan Lee Drops Huge News

2009-07-25T01:47:00.002-04:00

Stan Lee recently dropped the bombshell of all bombshells at Comic Con. Are you guys ready for this? I don't think you are. Prepare yourselves...

When MTV's Splash Page asked Stan Lee about an upcoming Dr. Strange movie, he responded with the most outlandish bit of Marvel-related news we've ever heard.

"You know there are only so many movies that Marvel can do at one time or one after another, but I will promise you 'Dr. Strange' will be on the list. They just have to get to it. In fact, every one of the characters -- they're not going to let one go. Why should they?"

You heard it here, folks! Marvel is planning on making a movie about every single character in their entire library/universe! With approximately 2700 characters on the list, that's a LOT of movies. We're going to be seeing the most obscure characters in Marvel history trotted out on the big screen, so prepare yourselves and your unborn children, because this is going to take a while.

(NOTE: I'm aware these are just the ramblings of a really old dude. I don't honestly believe they're going ahead with a movie based on every Marvel character. This is simply a lesson to Mr. Lee in the trouble one can get into when using hyperbole instead of a normal answer.)

Gary Oldman Spouts Noise

2009-07-25T01:37:00.002-04:00

In "I'm not believing this until I hear it from a legit source" news, Gary Oldman said that filming on Batman 3 will start in 2010. Keep in mind we haven't heard anything about a script being completed yet, let alone Chris Nolan signing on as the director.

Oldman's exact quote: "The next Batman is next year, so I think it's two years away." While this may seem confusing at first, I'm sure when he said Batman "is next year" he meant the filming, and the final product is "two years away."

As I said - I'm not buying into this yet. Michael Caine spouted off about how Phillip Seymour Hoffman was playing the Penguin and Johnny Depp was the Mad Hatter, and he obviously had not idea what the hell he was talking about. He admitted later that he "read it somewhere," meaning he was perusing the web like the rest of us and stumbled across the rumor, and later reported it as fact. The same could be said for Oldman - he may have heard an online rumor about the production start date and is reporting that as truth.

Then again, maybe Chris Nolan told him what's up and he just gave us all a big exclusive. Who knows? I'll keep you posted.

Downey and Galifianakis Together At Last

2009-07-25T00:59:00.004-04:00

In a pairing I'm sure you've all been waiting for (that was sarcasm, for those of you who can't intuitively sense my tone of voice through reading words on a screen), Robert Downey, Jr. and Zach Galifianakis will join forces for The Hangover director Todd Philipps' newest movie.

The flick is called Due Date, and centers around a workaholic (Downey) who has to travel cross-country with a mismatched partner (Galifianakis) to see the birth of his firstborn kid. Sounds wacky. Why doesn't he just catch a plane? I guess that makes too much sense.

As Cinematical points out, there is some pretty heavy stuff riding on the line for this one: Downey's last comedy performance (Tropic Thunder) earned him an Oscar nomination, and ZG and Todd Philipps' The Hangover recently became the highest grossing R-rated comedy of all time. Does any of that mean that Due Date will be any good? As long as we never see the kid, then I'm sure it'll be all right. Although The Hangover succeeded at the delicate task of featuring a baby and not becoming violently annoying in the process, so that's a good sign. "Not at the table, Carlos!"

DC Films Update

2009-07-20T00:40:00.002-04:00

Warner Bros. recently revealed that they secretly hired Geoff Johns, Marv Wolfman, and Grant Morrison (all three of which are prolific comic writers) last fall and have been using the three gurus (guri?) as their own personal team to pitch and develop new ideas for DC comics-based movies.

Badass. This sounds like the first step towards making some real progress against Marvel, and I'm glad that Warner Bros. hired these guys so long ago (even if they haven't told us until now). So which projects are they working on? Johns has a new treatment for a Flash movie (which he would produce and Dan Mazeau would write), but we don't know specifically what Wolfman and Morrison have been working on. I'm still hoping for Ryan Reynolds as The Flash (Wally West only), by the way.

DC has also thrown down the gauntlet and has issued an open call for treatments of an Adam Strange movie and an Aquaman feature. Leo DiCaprio's Appian Way Productions is apparently attached to make the Aquaman flick, but that means that particular project is just one of approximately thirty the company has in development. Aquaman was featured heavily in an early season of HBO's "Entourage," where the fictional film broke the box office record for most money in a day. [Some news stations reported this as fact. Jackasses.]

Less famously, a television pilot for the CW was created under the working title of "Mercy Reef," featuring Justin Hartley as Aquaman with a "Smallville"-esque vibe. Coincidentally, Hartley went on to play the Green Arrow in "Smallville" and has been one of the high points of the show over the past few years. The pilot of the show was released on iTunes and actually became the number one most downloaded show at the time, but it wasn't picked up because the UPN and WB were in the process of forming The CW at the time and didn't want to take a chance on it with the fledgling network. I've embedded the trailer below (thanks to Slashfilm for the reminder).

Hong Kong Phooey: The Movie

2009-07-12T23:58:00.003-04:00

Boo. Yah.

Joining the ranks of live action/CG hybrid cartoon adaptations is a show from the 70's - Hong Kong Phooey. I'm sure many of you have never seen or even heard of this show before, but I actually watched it quite a bit in my younger days. It was one of those Hanna-Barbera shows along the lines of Quickdraw McGraw and Snagglepuss, but this one featured a janitor dog who moonlights as a kung-fu-fighting crime fighter.

Yes, this movie has the potential to be terrible. But give Hollywood some credit this time - at least they're going for obscure-as-hell cartoons from the 70's instead of giving us a live action/CG hybrid of some of the garbage that passes for kids' television now. At least this gives me something ridiculous to write about...

Bonus note: I love Wikipedia's matter-of-fact statements veiled as complaints. "Although [he] appears to be the only anthropomorphic dog in the entire city where the series is set, no one ever connects his two identities."

Green Lantern Update!

2009-07-10T02:00:00.003-04:00

Looks like that rumor of Justin Timberlake trying on the Green Lantern suit had some truth behind it.

The Hollywood Reporter now says that Timberlake, Bradley Cooper (The Hangover), and Ryan Reynolds are the big three in contention for the role. The trifecta had a deal worked out that expired this past Monday, so now they are free to accept offers for other projects. Various producers had different favorites, so they couldn't make a final decision, but expect the casting announcement soon.

Man, I wasn't even aware that Ryan Reynolds was in serious talks for the part. I love the guy, but I think his wise-ass sensibilities are much better suited for a role like Wally West (aka The Flash) than Hal Jordan. Cooper or Timberlake, for the win.

UPDATE: I was totally wrong. Ryan Reynolds has indeed won the role of Green Lantern. My feelings on the matter still stand.

Superman Returns Again?...and More!

2009-07-10T00:19:00.002-04:00

I'm not going to bore you with the legal jargon, but the essence of the story is this - Warner Bros. and DC were in a courtroom battle (not a literal one, but that would have been awesome) with the heirs of Jerome Siegel (co-creator of Superman, durh) over the rights to the character, and the movie studios have been awarded the rights until 2013, at which time the entire Superman copyright will return to the heirs of Siegel and Shuster.

What does that mean? It means if Warner Bros. and DC want to make another Superman movie without paying a shizload of money to the heirs, they better get their asses in gear and put The Man of Steel up on screen by 2012. It also means there is a slight chance that there could be no more DC Comics involving Superman or Superman movies ever again after 2012, or (brace yourselves) that the heirs could sign a deal with Marvel and Superman would switch to the Marvel Universe! I'll give you a minute to let that sink in.

Also coming along the wire is news that Clark Kent may have a cameo in the yet-to-be-cast Green Lantern film, directed by Martin Campbell. But perhaps the studio has found their Hal Jordan and just haven't announced it yet - Justin Timberlake is the newest actor rumored to don the ring. But then again, Nathan Fillion and Rainn Wilson met with DC Comics today for an unidentified meeting, so perhaps the awesome fan-trailer posted a few months back could come true and Fillion could be the guy for the job.

My two cents? I'd prefer the once-rumored Chris Pine as Green Lantern instead of Timberlake, but it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world if he snagged the part. Most of you probably haven't seen him actually act (ahem, Black Snake Moan), but he's good when he wants to be. Superhero-good? We'll see. Fillion really would be great, but I honestly hope he turns it down to be Nathan Drake in Uncharted: The Movie. Again - there have been no real talks of him actually being in consideration for that role, it's just wishful thinking on my part.

Spidey 4 Getting Another Rewrite

2009-07-09T00:34:00.003-04:00

"They're making a FOURTH one?!"

Looks like James Vanderbilt's plans for back-to-back Spidey flicks aren't going as smoothly as he anticipated.

Going into its second round of rewrites, Gary Ross is taking a crack at the script for Spider-Man 4. Production starts early next year, and the movie will be released on May 6th, 2011. Both Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst (blargh) are returning to reprise their roles, and Sam "Drag Me To Hell" Raimi is directing.

Is this news? Not in the truest since of the word, but I've talked about the movie here before and figure I'd give you a little update on what's going on with the flick. I also find it interesting that they brought "A-list writer" Vanderbilt onto the project, he comes up with this master plan for a huge story spanning (at least) two movies, and now the studios don't really dig what he's cooked up for them. I have no idea what he had planned, but I can almost guarantee that it'll be better than Spider-Man 3.

Tony Jaa vs. Live Alligator

2009-07-03T18:51:00.002-04:00

Uncharted: The Movie!

2009-06-26T01:28:00.002-04:00

This is one of those days where I'm happy to be a movie geek. One of my favorite video games of all time is being turned into a movie - I'm speaking, of course, about Uncharted: Drake's Fortune.

The game is so awesome - I can't recommend it highly enough. Nathan Drake, descendant of Sir Francis Drake and treasure hunter extraordinaire, goes on a quest for El Dorado along with a stubborn hottie (obvs) filming a documentary. When rival treasure hunters get involved, it turns into an all-out dash for the treasure.

It's almost as if it were made to be adapted; the game was so cinematic that if they transcribed the script and added a few scenes here and there it would be perfect. If Nathan Fillion (Serenity, "Firefly") becomes attached to star, this could go down as my most anticipated film since The Expendables. PLEASE - somebody out there with some Hollywood casting power - make this happen. This has a legit shot at becoming the first great video game movie adaptation.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves drops for PS3 in November of 2009.

Ryan Reynolds is Buried

2009-06-25T09:34:00.004-04:00

Nice beard, bro. Russell Crowe would be ashamed.

Now this sounds like an awesome project. Sarcastic man's man (and newlywed husband of Scarlett Johansson) Ryan Reynolds has signed on for a film called Buried for Spanish director Rodrigo Cortes.

Reynolds' character is a civilian contractor who is captured in Iraq and wakes up buried in a coffin in the middle of the desert. As if that isn't enough, the only items he has on him are a candle, a knife, and a cell phone. The movie will be shot entirely in Spain.

Michael Bay Leaves Transformers?

2009-06-18T12:43:00.005-04:00

Hot on the heels of the ridic technical stats from T2: Revenge of the Fallen, Michael Bay is making headlines again. In semi-shocking news, Bay told wenn.com (via IMDB) that Transformers 2 will be his last directorial entry into the series.

Speculation arose a while back about Bay's future film intentions, but I don't know if anyone actually saw this coming. True, I suppose the exiting of writers Kurtzman and Orci from the franchise (they said they won't be writing the third film, if there is one) could have been a sign of things to come from the boom-happy director, but I honestly thought he'd stick around for one more and top off the trilogy. But he was pretty clear about his stance:

"After three and a half years of making these movies, I feel like I've had enough of the Transformers world. I need to do something totally divergent, something without any explosions."

I'm not sure how reliable this source is, but I would imagine that they wouldn't just conjure up a quote out of thin air, so I guess we can take this as truth until proven otherwise. Slashfilm suggested that Bay's small project with no explosions would be Pain & Gain, based on a couple of Miami bodybuilders who get involved in a drug deal gone bad.

I guess it would be wrong of us as an audience to demand that Bay make the same type of film over and over again, refusing to allow him to stretch his creative wings. But at the same time, that type of movie is what he's great at doing and is a proven way to make some money for the studios. It'll be interesting to see who will greenlight a Bay film that doesn't fit the profile. In my mind, this next project will be like a concept album for a singer - if it works, it'll establish some indie cred, and if it tanks, he'll go right back to the bread and butter.

UPDATE 6/19/09 - Well, it's a good thing I put a question mark in this title. Apparently the source DID conjure this quote out of thin air. Michael Bay responded today by saying he never said that and merely talked about taking a vacation. It's good to know that he appreciates his place in pop culture and isn't completely separating himself from the type of projects he's simultaneously loved and hated for.

Machete Actually Happening?

2009-06-16T12:57:00.003-04:00

Robert Rodriguez has been getting some bad habits from his buddy Tarantino over the past few years, announcing projects and kind of bailing on them after a while. Granted, not much of that was his fault per se, but the fact remains that Sin City 2 is nowhere near being made and his remake of Barbarella has died a horrible death.

Good news, then, that Danny Trejo told Gordon and The Whale (via Slashfilm) that Rodriguez and Co. are starting production on Machete within five weeks. Machete, if you'll recall, is the ultra-awesome explotation trailer featured in 2007's Grindhouse. I'm glad we're definitely going to see this, whether it comes to theaters (not likely) or direct-to-DVD (much more likely). Trejo is fantastic in these roles, and it seems like a project where Rodriguez can have some good old fashioned fun directing it (or, to be more specific, co-directing it with his editor).

You can refresh your memory with the trailer here, although I can't verify that this link will work. I'll fix it later on tonight if it doesn't work.

DiCaprio Joins Poker Stars?

2009-06-16T12:24:00.002-04:00

The guys who wrote Rounders, Brian Koppelman and David Levien, have sold an untitled pitch to Paramount about online casinos, and Leonardo DiCaprio and his Appian Way Productions have signed on to star and produce. Those dudes beat the "poker craze" by a good five years with Rounders, so maybe they'll be able to recapture that feeling with this new flick. They've worked on other projects since then (Walking Tall, Ocean's 13, The Girlfriend Experience, etc), so it'll be interesting to see if they just wanted to go back to the basics here.

In related news, the whole package (DiCaprio, Appian Way, Koppelman, and Levien) have teamed up for Beat the Reaper, which I mentioned back in January. To jog your memory: that one's about a former-mafia-hitman-turned-doctor who goes into witness protection, but is recognized years later by a patient who is still in the mafia. Sounds pretty clutch to me. And since we're on the DiCaprio train right now, check out the trailer for Scorsese's newest, Shutter Island (which comes out in October of this year), over at Ben's Movie Reviews.

LaBeouf Says No To Y: The Last Man

2009-06-09T12:36:00.004-04:00

I know it's been a hot minute since I've updated this page, but this post completely defines the type of stuff that I do on this site. I post things that I find interesting and I don't bother with every insignificant update that floods the internet on a daily basis. For all of those updates, you can check out my man Head Hero's blog here. (I'm not saying that he deals ONLY with insignificant things, because he covers the good stuff, too. But the amount of coverage he provides just isn't my bag. I could care less about half of that stuff, and I know you guys don't give a crap either.)

Shia LaBeouf has turned down the role of Yorick Brown in DJ Caruso's long-in-development adaptation of Y: The Last Man. Such a shame, but Shia's got a point on this one: he says the character is too similar to Sam Witwicky from the Transformers movies.

"You take Sam and you put a monkey on his shoulder. I don't know if that's a big differential. It seems like he's the ordinary guy in an extraordinary situation again. I'm not willing to make that movie currently, and may be too old to play the role by the time it does come around."

As much as I would have loved to see Shia in this role, I guess he's right. If he has any chance of breaking out of his stereotype and not coming down with a bad case of Michael Cera syndrome, he needs to start taking some parts that are a little off the beaten path for him. Here's hoping he finds a good one soon.

Aliens Vs. The Pearsons??????

2009-05-21T21:51:00.002-04:00

My friend Jared sent me a version the poster for this film that said "The Aliens Vs. The Pearsons" on it. I was just as confused as he was as to what the hell this movie was all about, so I checked out the trailer and this is what I found. It's a shame that the Pearson name is sullied like this.

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

Roundup 5/19

2009-05-19T08:27:00.008-04:00

There's been an Information SuperStorm(TM) sighted in your path, so get ready for the whirlwind of destruction and movie mayhem that's about to blow you right out of your computer chair.

In a shocking series of events, Hollywood has actually decided to greenlight some original material. [It IS based on a book, but at least it's not another mindless remake, sequel, etc.] The project is called The Minotaur Takes A Cigarette Break, and centers around the actual minotaur from Greek mythology. Apparently, he has survived Thesus's attempt on his life, and is now living in modern times working as a short order cook in a diner. He lives in a trailer park and falls for an epileptic waitress named Kelly. John Stevenson, co-director of Kung Fu Panda, will direct this as a live action movie.

Contradicting previous reports that Stallone will appear in a Cliffhanger sequel, now the word comes that Cliffhanger is getting the reboot treatment. The producer made a comment about how "they just rebooted Star Trek, we're going to do the same to Cliffhanger." What the F is this guy smoking? There were ten Star Trek films, let alone hundreds (if not hundreds of thousands) of episodes of television devoted to the franchise; Cliffhanger has one movie. I hardly think the two can be compared. That said, I really enjoy the Stallone version for it's cinematography and intense swearing by John Lithgow, so rewatch that if you haven't seen it in a while.

Martin Scorsese is planning a film about Frank Sinatra, approved by the heirs to Old Blue Eyes' estate. Frank's daughter Tina "trusts Scorsese implicitly" to present the truth about her dad. The guy who wrote Field of Dreams and Sneakers (also directing the latter) is writing the screenplay, (keeping in the tradition of one-word titles) called Sinatra. Johnny Depp is reportedly being considered for the role, but that claim hasn't been corroborated yet. I'm guessing it'll be a little while before we hear anything else about this project - Scorsese's a busy guy post-Oscar - but if they fast track this thing, we should be hearing some more confirmation regarding casting in the next couple months. And to those Sinatra enthusiasts out there, fear not - apparently the role won't require any singing.

A while back, Disney had a bevy of announcements regarding their upcoming film projects. Updates included Johnny Depp as Tonto in the Lone Ranger, confirmation of National Treasure 3 and Pirates 4, and more. One of those updates now gets a little more light shed on it - the Mouse House will make a live action film based on the Tomorrowland ride, trying to capitalize on the success of the first Pirates of the Carribbean. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson has been pegged to star, playing a test pilot named Rip who gets thrown 350 years into the future while testing a concept plane. It's being written by the same guys who wrote The Hangover, the upcoming flick that could end up being my favorite comedy of the summer, so I have a little faith in this. It's gotta be better than Race to Witch Mountain, right?

In "Why God, Why?" news, Peter Berg (The Kingdom, Hancock) is directing a Battleship movie, based on the classic board game. Robert "Twilight" Pattinson is rumored to be a part of the project. Humanity collectively weeps.

In Marvel film news, Kenneth Branagh's Thor is finally getting some casting under way. Chris Helmsworth (George Kirk from J.J. Abrams' Star Trek) will play the hammer-wielding hero, and British actor Tom Hiddleston will play his conniving brother Loki. The movie is scheduled for release in 2011. What happened to Josh Hartnett as Loki? Who the hell is Tom Hiddleston? And is Natalie Portman still being considered for the love interest? All this and more in future episodes here at Ben's Daily Movie News!

Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes has a trailer. I'm sure action adventure fans will be pleased, as it features many slow-mo punches, explosions, jumping through windows, etc. I don't know about how quality it will be overall, but it looks kinda fun. We'll find out on Christmas Day.

Keanu Reeves in...Jekyll

2009-05-08T19:32:00.003-04:00

This sounds fake. Like it could be one of those "Funny or Die" parody videos. But bake me a cake and call me grandma, it's real.

Keanu Reeves has been signed to play the dueling personas of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in a modern retelling of the tale from Universal.

Look, Universal - I'm not trying to tell you how to do your jobs, but you might want to hire someone with actual acting ability to play such a classic character. If you're going to make ANOTHER Jekyll and Hyde adaptation (how many times has that been done?), then just make a movie out of the outstanding BBC TV series that came out a few years ago. To the readers, I'd highly suggest checking that out any way you can get your hands on it.

Hey Mikey - This One's For You

2009-05-07T00:53:00.003-04:00

Yeah, these shirts are on sale at this website and you can get them for around 18 bucks. Thanks to Cinematical for tracking these down. (There's one that looks like John McClane's shirt from the original Die Hard, and a Bruce Lee one as well.)

DC Drops The Ball Again, ETC

2009-05-07T00:28:00.004-04:00

Big surprise, DC has done it again. By delaying Green Lantern until the summer of 2011 (are you kidding me?), they have proven that they honestly have no plans to even try to catch up with Marvel Studios' recent dominance.* Mind boggling. By the time GL hits theaters, Iron Man 2 and Thor will already have been released, and The First Avenger: Captain America will finish out the summer on a high note building anticipation for The Avengers, which will come out that next summer (2012, assuming the world doesn't end). Effectively, this leaves Green Lantern stuck in the ver forgettable territory of mid-summer heatwaves.

Speaking of Green Lantern, forgettable actor Bradley Cooper (Wedding Crashers) is rumored to be at the top of the pile of candidates for donning the green spandex and ring. I don't take this to mean anything as of yet, since both Anton Yelchin and Chris Pine (both of Star Trek fame) have been talked about for this slot as well - and both quickly debunked. I'll be sure to let you know about the official announcement whenever it occurs.

In unrelated news, Warner Brothers has pushed Zack Snyder's live action follow up to Watchmen, called Sucker Punch, back from 2010 to 2011 as well. Weak-freaking-sauce. I hate it when films that I'm excited for get delayed. Synopsis has been compared to "Alice in Wonderland with machine guns."

One thing that IS coming out in 2K10 is the third entry into the Harold and Kumar series, appropriately titled A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas. Expect massive blasphemy, nudity, and copious amounts of drug use - all possibly on or near a nativity scene. And you better believe NPH is getting down on that action.

*OK, OK - The Dark Knight is a pretty freaking huge exception, but it's been a few months now and we haven't actually heard any commitment from Nolan and his crew on a sequel. I know Warner Brothers is being nice to the guy who made them some serious bank, but you've got to put your foot down at some point if you ever want to lock anything down.

20,000 Leagues Adds A "Rock" Star

2009-05-03T11:00:00.003-04:00

*UPDATE* - Apparently the "facts" presented in this article have already been disproven. McG said yesterday that he has never spoken to The Rock about this role. I guess that's what I get for trusting a .pdf picture. Thanks a lot, Production Weekly.
*END OF UPDATE*

Sorry - I just threw up at my own article title.

According to Production Weekly, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson has joined McG's adaptation of Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea. McG has recently said he wanted Will Smith to star in the movie, but no announcement to that effect has arrived yet. Filming should begin in Australia later this year.

Even if Will Smith doesn't join this (which he still might), I'm fine with this because Dwayne Johnson is the man. If the two are in the same movie, that would be extra awesome. Here's hoping Terminator Salvation is as good as we all think and McG can start making some solid movies instead of more Charlie's Angels sequels.

Roundup 5/1

2009-04-30T23:46:00.003-04:00

Dear readers, I know you missed me. But don't fret - I'm back with a vengeance from LA. You know what that means: we've got a hell of a lot of catching up to do. Onward!

Christian Bale has revealed that he is signed on for a third Batman film whether Christopher Nolan returns or not. Interesting. I'm guessing Bale is praying on a nightly basis that Nolan decides to come back and the sequel doesn't end up in the hands of someone less qualified. Because let's face it - if your name isn't Christopher Nolan, you shouldn't be directing a sequel to The Dark Knight.

Speaking of Nolan, two more have joined the cast of his next film Inception. The "sci-fi actioner set within the architecture of the mind" will now feature Joseph Gordon-Levitt (replacing James Franco due to scheduling conflicts) and Michael Caine. Freaking brilliant. They join the already-stellar cast of Leo DiCaprio, Marion Cotillard, Ellen Page, and Cillian Murphy. If the cast, writers, and director are any indication, this is shaping up to be one of my favorite science fiction movies of all time.

And back to speaking of Bale, he has apparently joined the cast of The Fighter. No, not the sequel to that Channing Tatum movie. The Fighter is a movie that tells the tale of "Irish" Mickey Ward, a Boston boxer coached to the world title by his half brother. This film has gone through some serious changes recently: Matt Damon and Mark Wahlberg were originally going to star as the brother and the boxer, respectively. I think I remember Wahlberg saying he's been training for two (maybe three) years. Brad Pitt then jumped in to replace Damon. The latest has Bale replacing Pitt and Wahlberg staying on board. Visionary director Darren Aronofsky (The Fountain, The Wrestler) was set to direct for a long time, but left the project due to creative differences. David O. Russell (who?) has stepped into the director's chair to fill the void, but what a void to fill. Can't imagine this will be as good without DA behind the camera.

These pictures are a bit old, but still worth posting. To your right is the first look at Megan Fox in the new Jimmy Hayward western Jonah Hex, based off the comic book cowboy. If you needed another reason to see this movie besides the cast of Josh Brolin, John Malkovic, Will Arnett, and Michael Shannon, Megan Fox-y (see what I did there?!?!?!) just gave it to you.

And finally, Oliver Stone and Michael Douglas have signed on for Wall Street 2. This is actually good news in my opinion, as I found the original to be a fantastic film and I think that Stone is better off tackling this kind of film than another war movie. Plus, it has the chance to be topical (i.e: the current economy) and not be too preachy - the fault of many of the war-based films of the past few years. Added bonus: Shia LaBeouf is in talks to take on a Charlie Sheen-esque role in this edition. (Sheen played the fresh faced youngster in the first film.) Gordon Gekko is the man.

Trick 'R Treat Might Have Release Date

2009-04-20T22:21:00.010-04:00

Spooky. I was sitting in my room, recouping from a screening of Crank 2: High Voltage (which was disappointingly terrible), changing my desktop background from the Crank poster to get the bitter taste out of my mouth. I scrolled through all the pictures I've used in posts on this site, and quickly stumbled across a pic of Anna Paquin from this Trick 'R Treat post a while back. I sighed and shook my head, wondering why we would never get to see the film whose trailer was attached to 300 way back in March of 2007.

Well, the horror gods must have heard my disappointment, because literally an hour later I checked Slashfilm and they have an update about Trick 'R Treat. Spooky, indeed. The gist of it is that on a new trailer for the movie, it ends with "Coming to Blu-Ray & DVD This October." They are dubious of a theatrical release, but I don't care - as long as I get to see the freakin' movie soon, I'll be happy. I've seriously been jonesing for this flick for two years, and I still think it has the potential to be one of my favorite horror films. I'll let you know what happens with this, and hopefully you'll be seeing a review come October.

This is the last post before my trip to LA (I leave early in the morning), so posting will be nonexistant for the next week. Feel free to check out the archives if you're bored, or keep up with This Week in Comics over at The Solar Sentinel and the recent resurgence in sports posts over at The Playing Field.

Who Will Direct Pirates 4?

2009-04-08T10:33:00.004-04:00

Gore Verbinski, director of all three Pirates of the Caribbean films, has announced he will not return to the director's chair for the recently announced Pirates 4.

Johnny Depp has signed on to return as Captain Jack Sparrow, and no other details are known for sure about this project as of yet. I've heard rumors over the past few months that the story will revolve around Geoffrey Rush's Barbossa character and Captain Sparrow searching for the Fountain of Youth, and that Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley will not return.

So what's next for Verbinski? He's working on a film adaptation of the video game BioShock, which is supposed to be pretty awesome from what I can gather. I'm glad he's decided to step down, since I'm sure he watched just like the rest of us as that series was run into the ground. He's probably sick of it, even though he must have made massive bank from the record breaking numbers it earned at the box office. Perhaps he'll return in a producing capacity or something; either way, the next film should be much better without the return of Will and Elizabeth.

Inception Adds More To Cast

2009-04-02T08:30:00.003-04:00

Christopher Nolan's Inception, the mystery project he's directing next, has some more big names attached to it.

Cillian Murphy (a Nolan favorite), Marion Cotillard (upcoming Public Enemies), and Ellen Page are in talks to join Leonardo DiCaprio in the sci-fi action flick. Fantastic news, as I am a fan of all of the above. More on this as it arrives.

The Hangover

2009-04-02T08:29:00.002-04:00

I don't normally post trailers on this site, but this one is my most anticipated comedy of the summer (at the moment). Check it.

It's Alice! In 3D!

2009-04-01T01:54:00.002-04:00

To appease the fans (cough Becky Ashley cough), it's time for a little Alice in Wonderland update.

Tim Burton's newest film has been confirmed for an IMAX 3D release. This will surely excite the legions of fans for this sure-to-be-insane movie. Mark your calendars, Crispin Glover fans - March 5th, 2010 can't come soon enough for you.

More Ong Bak 2

2009-04-01T01:24:00.002-04:00

To appease the fans (cough, Mikey Boze Branz, cough), I'm showing this kick-tacular clip featuring the one and only Tony Jaa. Ong Bak 2 is sure to be immaculate, and I'll let you know when it is going to be released over here in the States. Honestly, I don't even care if it hits theaters or not - as long as I can see it in some form (DVD, Blu-Ray, Dick Tracy Watch Viewer, etc.), I'll be happy.

Gemma Arterton in Clash of the Titans

2009-03-29T22:14:00.003-04:00

Gemma Arterton, better known as "Strawberry Fields" from Quantum of Solace, just announced that she will be playing the character of Io in Louis Letterier's (The Incredible Hulk) remake of Clash of the Titans.

This is the second high-profile project in a row for the up-and-coming actress (she's only 23), after next summer's Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time with Jake Gyllenhaal. Clash will be a reimagining of the stop-motion influenced 1981 film, and definitely has the potential to be awesome if handled correctly. I don't have any knowledge about her character in this film (I don't remember an "Io" in the original, but it's been forever since I've seen it), so I can't say with certainty that she's a good choice for the role. But Gemma's uber-cute, so I'm just glad we'll get to see her up on screen again.

Captain Kirk = Green Lantern?

2009-03-24T00:14:00.003-04:00

Chris Pine, the actor who portrays Kirk in J.J. Abrams' Star Trek movie out this summer, has been narrowed down as a candidate for the upcoming adaptation of Green Lantern. Conflicting sites say this isn't true, but who cares? It's amusing to talk about.

A DC superhero and member of the Justice League, Green Lantern can form any object he imagines with a special ring, bestowed on him from a dying alien. The movie version is being directed by Martin Campbell (Casino Royale, Goldeneye) and is said to be close in tone to Iron Man.

Pine hasn't really been in anything other than chick flicks so far (a forgettable role in Smokin' Aces doesn't help), but director Kevin Smith had nothing but praise for the young actor after seeing an early cut of Star Trek. I'm pulling for him - he seems like a good dude and a respectable young Kirk, so hopefully his team of representatives can pull the strings that will allow us to see him as Hal Jordan in the near future.

[Plus I'm holding out hope that Ryan Reynolds will one day be in a Flash movie, and they'd make a pretty good team in a Justice League movie. God forbid they ever decide to make that, at least those two would probably be enjoyable.]

Natalie Portman in Thor?

2009-03-24T00:06:00.002-04:00

First ScarJo joins Iron Man 2, now Natalie Portman could be the love interest in Thor? Marvel Studios, I'm beginning to like you more every day.

This is a bit of old news, but I just felt it was worth mentioning since Portman falls on my list of Favorite Actresses Right Now and has a little more credibility to her name than the aforementioned busty blonde.

Also worth mentioning (to me, anyway) is that Josh Hartnett has tested for both the role of Thor and Thor's brother, Loki. I think he'd be great as a mischievious character, since I don't really see him as a hammer-wielding superstar. We'll see how it all plays out.

Marvel/Iron Man 2 Stuff

2009-03-16T00:53:00.003-04:00

In case you guys haven't already heard about this, I want to give a small update on the recent happenings over at Marvel Studios.

The big news is that they have pushed back almost all of their films by nearly a year. The original announcement had Thor and Iron Man 2 coming out in 2010, and the Captain America and Avengers movie would hit in 2011. I wondered (along with Jon Favreau) if this insane pace was going to be feasible - turns out they're playing it safe and pushing everything back instead of pumping out a less-than-quality project.

New Dates
Thor - June 17th, 2011
First Avenger: Captain America - July 22nd, 2011
The Avengers - May 12th, 2012

Sony Pictures still has the rights to Spider-Man, so they're releasing Spider-Man 4 on May 6th, 2011. Looks like the death of the superhero is a long way away...

In Iron Man 2 news, Mickey Rourke has finally been confirmed as the villain for the sequel, and Scarlett Johansson will be playing the Black Widow, a character that I have never heard of before. Keep in mind that I've read exactly four Marvel comic issues in my entire life. She's hot, so I'm pumped. Look at it this way - there's no way it can be worse than her performance in The Spirit. And with Sam Jackson signing that massive 9 pic deal with the studio, you can guarantee there will be at least one scene in it that will make this film worth seeing.

Site Update

2009-03-15T21:16:00.002-04:00

Greetings.

I realize that I've been horrible about keeping up with this site lately, and I'm going to try to explain why, but the gist of this post is: I'm going back to the way I used to do things.

Ever since we did that first "Ben's Video Roundup," I had grand visions of making those once a week and doing most of my "daily" movie blogging in that format, with the occasional text post in between. This obviously didn't happen, and it's due in part to 1) me working a full time job and 2) me being lazy. Plus, my technical errors on that second episode really threw a wrench into my cog.

I used to horde stories and wait until I could fit them into a video post, but after I couldn't find the time to make one, the stories weren't relevant anymore. So I'm going back to my text posts and giving up the idea of making videos on a consistent basis (I'll save that for my other site). So keep checking back, and I'll be hitting you with the movie news that I deem worthy at a more regular interval soon.

Leo DiCaprio Joins Inception

2009-03-04T00:08:00.003-05:00

Doth my eyes deceive me? Two of my favorite people in Hollywood will be working together for the first time on a project that sounds extremely interesting. (High fives all around.)

Leonardo DiCaprio (who has officially worked his way to Number One on my list of Favorite Working Actors) is set to star in Christopher Nolan's upcoming film Inception. The project is veiled in mysterious phrases like "contemporary sci-fi actioner," taking place within the "architecture of the mind," so we really have no idea what it is actually about.

I have blind faith in both Nolan's directing - as I've said many times, The Prestige is one of my favorite films - and DiCaprio's acting. The two joining together is a match made in fanboy heaven. 2010, here we come.

Sam Jackson Signs Huge Marvel Deal

2009-02-25T20:27:00.002-05:00

There was word last month that Samuel L. Jackson might not return as Nick Fury in the upcoming Marvel slate of films. That rumor has been shot to hell today, as Jackson has signed a NINE picture deal with the studio!

The deal includes appearances in Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America, The Avengers, and any spin-offs (even a possible one for S.H.I.E.L.D. itself). If you stayed until after the credits of Iron Man, you saw Nick Fury inform Tony Stark that he was putting together the Avenger Initiative, hinting at the upcoming Avengers movie. Now it is assured that he will be a part of every incarnation in the coming years. Awesome stuff - congrats to everyone involved with this deal. Mostly to us, the fans - since we get to see more Sam Jackson badassery for a while.

Hot Tub Time Machine Gets A Cast

2009-02-24T00:12:00.002-05:00

Hi-ho! After first hearing about this movie almost a year ago, I never would have thought this type of film would get a cast like this. In case you forgot about the plot (shame on you), here's a refresher:

"Hot Tub" follows a group of guys, adults who used to be cads back in their heyday, who, after a night of vodka and Red Bulls in a hot tub, travel back in time and set out to rediscover their "mojo."

So on to the cast. John Cusack, Rob Corddry (Harold & Kumar 2), and Craig Robinson (The Office) have joined as the three main characters. Corddry and Robinson definitely feel like they belong here, but Cusack? I'm not saying it's a bad thing, but it's certainly not expected from me. I'll definitely be interested to see the normally-straight-laced actor in a ridiculous sex comedy.

Jonny Quest to Hit The Big Screen?

2009-02-21T10:18:00.002-05:00

There's been a script for Jonny Quest floating around Hollywood for some time now, and apparently it's pretty darn good. As a matter of fact, it made it onto the 2008 Black List, which is an underground list compiled by studios, assistants, and people who actually read the thousands of scripts that come around each year and choose the best ones that didn't make it into production that year.

So now we get a rumor that instead of Peter Segal (Get Smart) directing the movie as previously indicated, it looks like Andy Fickman (She's The Man, The Game Plan) will be taking over. Perfect. Also in the "this sucks" category, Zac "High School Musical" Efron is supposedly lined up for the lead role.

That combination of information makes me hope this project never sees the light of day. But the one ray of light that comes out of this is that Dwayne Johnson (The Rock) is rumored to play Race Bannon. Now THAT is some solid casting. I can't see anyone else doing justice to the role.

I watched a lot of Jonny Quest when I was a kid, both the original 60's show and The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest. Because it was such great source material, I'm still holding out hope that this could be a good movie and maybe even the start of a new franchise for Warner Brothers. Just get the right people attached (ahem, keep The Rock and start over), and you're money in the bank.

Christopher Nolan Directing Inception

2009-02-11T20:15:00.003-05:00

Nolan has decided to make another movie with Warner Brothers before he decides to return to his Batman franchise.

Inception, the title of his new movie, is described as "a contemporary sci-fi actioner set within the architecture of the mind." Nolan wrote the screenplay and hopes to film in the summer for a release date of next summer (2010).

He did the same thing with The Prestige, which turned out to be one of my all-time favorite films, so I'm totally down with giving the dude a break between Bat-Flicks. I just hope it's better than the similar-sounding Jennifer Lopez-Vince Vaughn film The Cell.

* Wow, this is already my 200th post. Time flies when you write tiny news stories/rumors instead of full-on reviews or editorials. Thanks for reading.

The Wachowskis Might Direct A New Superman Trilogy

2009-02-11T20:10:00.002-05:00

Holy crap, this would be insane. The directing duo is rumored to be off their previously mentioned superhero project Plastic Man and offered a new Superman trilogy by Warner Brothers.

No word yet on if this is true, but keep checking back for more news as it becomes available. My two cents? I'd say give it to Mark Millar (he seems to have an epic tale already well planned out), but if you're going to give it to some big-name directors, the Wachowskis aren't a bad way to go. I just hope we see a GOOD Superman film on screen sometime in the next five years.

Michael Bay Is Awesome

2009-02-10T20:49:00.003-05:00

I just saw this interview of Michael Bay and thought it was pretty funny how ridiculous he is. Check it out. He "fake punches" at least two people. He obviously thinks pretty highly of himself. It's excellent.

As an added bonus, check out his "awesome" Verizon commercial from last year.

Ong-Bak 2 Gets A Distributor

2009-02-10T20:32:00.002-05:00

What does that mean? It means we will be seeing this movie in US theaters later this year. Righteous.

But potentially bigger news comes in the same press release that divulged the previous information - they say that Ong-Bak 3 is currently in production! Apparently OB2 will feature a cliffhanger ending that leads directly into OB3, which is itself a prequel to the original Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior.

Want to hear the weird part? The only information that is known about the plot of the third film says that Tien's (Tony Jaa's character) limbs are tortured and damaged, so he has to fight without using his bones. I have no idea what that means, but he's fighting the dude who plays the main character in Dynamite Warrior. Should be interesting.

Fun fact: Tony Jaa directed most of Ong-Bak 2 before going into exhile in the jungle for weeks due to massive stress, leaving the project in the hands of the dude who directed Born To Fight. They both will supposedly be sharing the directing duties of Ong-Bak 3.

Four Score and A Possible Lincoln Film

2009-02-10T20:20:00.002-05:00

Steven Spielberg's Lincoln movie is one that has been in development for years. Liam Neeson has been attached to play the role in the past, but it always seems like Ol' Steve jumps onto another project at the last second before finally committing this one to film.

Looks like all that could change, with the announcement coming that a decision regarding the film should be made this week. Tony Kushner, the writer of the movie, said that there are meetings going on and they should know by the end of the week whether or not the movie is getting the immediate greenlight.

The amazing part is that Kushner says if the movie DOES get the go-ahead, it will most likely be completed and in theaters before Christmas of this year! Pretty incredible turn-around for a film that hasn't even confirmed casting decisions yet. Neeson is apparently still attached to play the bearded ex-President, Sally Field (she's still around?) would supposedly play Mrs. Lincoln, and Harrison Ford is rumored to be up for the role of Andrew Johnson.

Call me crazy, but Spielberg has been slipping in recent years (War of the Worlds, Indiana Jones and TKOTCS). Could this be the project that brings him back to previously achieved heights?

Lantern...Green Lantern

2009-02-04T23:46:00.002-05:00

Director Martin Campbell (Goldeneye, Casino Royale, The Mask of Zorro) is in talks to direct the upcoming Green Lantern film.

If this holds true and Campbell locks down the director's chair, this would be an excellent move for DC. Scoring big-name high quality directors is something that has been done before with the superhero genre, but for a film like Green Lantern where action would most certainly play a huge role (instead of the dark, brooding Nolan-tone), you need a guy who has primarily done action movies in the past. I feel like Campbell would be a great choice and would be a welcome addition to the ever-expanding list of comic book movie directors.

Megan Fox as Lara Croft?

2009-01-25T00:50:00.002-05:00

Holy crap, I'm breaking this story before all of the major blogs out there. No offense to Hitfix (the source where I read it and am subsequently referencing), but they're not exactly top shelf when it comes to internet movie news sites.

Megan Fox is rumored to take over Angelina Jolie's role as Lara Croft in the Tomb Raider franchise. Seems like some good casting if they want to breathe some new life into the series after a couple of poor attempts (2001's Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, and 2003's Tomb Raider: Cradle of Life). The only better way to rebound a series based on a heroine that wears short shorts? Actually writing a good script and hiring a competent director. I know some of you may balk at this suggestion - but how about getting Michael Bay down on this action? At least we know it would be a fun summer movie if he was attached. The original article suggests that the film would start shooting in 2010 for a 2011 release.

Roundup 1/22

2009-01-22T19:35:00.003-05:00

While many of you are expecting another edition of Ben's Video Roundup, I simply don't have the time to get one together right now (especially since I wrote most of this at work). That being said, I hope to get a BVR going next time a Roundup comes around. On with the show...

John August, the screenwriter behind one of my favorite movies (Big Fish) and frequent Tim Burton collaborator, has signed on to write the film adaptation of Preacher. Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Revolutionary Road) is still attached to direct. This news bodes well for the project - hopefully August can craft the script into something filmable. I'll keep you posted.

500 Days of Summer is the runaway hit of the Sundance Film Festival this year. Everyone has been giving it positive reviews, and I'm glad it turned into such a good project. Fox Searchlight has picked it up with intentions of releasing it to the rest of us sometime this year. If you'll recall, I've been hyping this one for quite a while now.

Tom and Jerry will become a live-action movie in the vein of Scooby-Doo and Alvin and the Chipmunks. But get this - they're doing a freaking origin story. You think you might be taking it a little too far, filmmakers? That's like doing an origin story of the Three Stooges. Who gives a crap how they met? This movie will be so bad it'll induce instant vomiting, but inexplicably manage to be the number one movie in America during its release weekend.

Dakota Fanning is in talks to join the Twilight sequel New Moon as some character named Jane. Children scream with delight. Apparently she didn't even audition - they just offered it to her straight up. No word yet on the final outcome, but it will assuredly make Hot Topic a little bit richer.

Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard (the writer of Cloverfield and some LOST episodes) have teamed up for a movie. They both co-wrote the script, and Goddard is directing. It's called Cabin in the Woods, and hopes to re-invent the sub-genre of horror that gives the film its title. There is no telling how this will turn out - both guys have considerable geek cred, but time will tell if they'll be able to handle a serious horror film.

The Shadow is coming back - but not in Alec Baldwin form. According to a producer of the new project, the film will go back to concentrate more on its pulp and radio roots. He says The Shadow may be multiple people instead of just one guy; I'm guessing something like The League of Shadows from Batman Begins.

William Monahan, screenwriter of The Departed, will make his directorial debut with a film that he wrote called London Boulevard. Colin Farrell and Keira Knightley will star, with Farrell as an ex-criminal who becomes "a handyman for a reclusive young actress." Unless he goes all Liam-Neeson-in-Taken on somebody, this could be questionable at best.

A bunch of film sites are just now getting around to reporting on the Ong-Bak 2 trailer that I posted to the site seven months ago, thanks to the guys at Twitch. Way to drop the ball, you other jackholes.

Oh yeah - and the trailer to Outlander hit the net a couple weeks ago, but I guarantee none of you (save Branz) has seen it yet. A brief excerpt:

"Who are you, Outlander? And why were you there?"
"I was hunting."
"Hunting what?"
"Dragons."

Jackie Chan is Mr. Miyagi???

2009-01-13T22:20:00.004-05:00

"Wash my car, fool. I didn't tell you to take a break."

You've got to be kidding me. Jackie Chan as Mr. Miyagi? This sounds like it's going to put the "ass" back in "disaster."*

Not only are they remaking The Karate Kid (unnecessary and probably insulting, by the way), but the jackhole who is directing The Pink Panther 2 is taking over the directing duties for the movie. And Will Smith's son is still going to play the Ralph Macchio part. In China, instead of America. Do me a favor right now, and promise me that you won't see this movie when it comes out, or ever - even on DVD. The only way the studios are going to learn their lesson is if their films don't make money, so for the love of Pat Morita - boycott this one.

*Yeah, I had to switch some letters around for it to work. Bite me - I'm pissed about this movie being made.

Ninja Assassin Training Video

2009-01-10T11:51:00.002-05:00

This post is pretty much specifically for Mikey and Boze, but anyone with a hint of "Ultraman" in them should get excited for this as well.

This is a training video for James McTeigue's (V For Vendetta) new movie Ninja Assassin, written by the Wachowski's (The Matrix). The movie stars Rain (the Asian dude from Speed Racer) as one of the best assassins in the world, raised by a secret clan from childhood. But after they murder his friend, he goes on the run. He saves the life of a government agent who stumbles across the clan's ties to politcal assassinations, and they both go on the run from the killers that are now hunting them.

The flick should be released sometime in the first quarter of 2009, so keep your eye out for a trailer sometime in the next couple months.

DJ Caruso Directing Jack The Giant Killer

2009-01-10T11:26:00.002-05:00

In what sounds amazingly close to the Fables spin off comic series "Jack of Fables," DJ Caruso is directing a live action adult look at the Jack and the Beanstalk legend called Jack The Giant Killer.

Caruso (Eagle Eye, Disturbia) sounds like a good choice for this project, and since I like most of his movies, I hope this goes well for him. No word yet on whether this will be his next project or if he will finally be able to start production on his long-waiting plan for Y: The Last Man trilogy before this one. Either way, I'm glad to hear he's attached to both of these projects. Sounds like it could be a cool movie.

DiCaprio's Company Picks Up Another Title

2009-01-10T11:09:00.003-05:00

This story is a few days old, but I think it's worth mentioning because (as most of you know) DiCaprio is one of my favorite actors. His production company, Appian Way Productions, has recently picked up the rights to a novel called "Beat The Reaper."

The story follows a New York City surgeon who is in the witness protection program when he gets noticed by a mobster who recognizes him from his previous life as a hitman.

Obviously since Appian Way picked this up, a connection could be made that this could be a starring vehicle for Leo, but nothing has been announced yet. Sounds like an interesting project that I hope to see hitting theaters within the next couple years.

The Slammin' Salmon Trailer

2009-01-07T19:51:00.003-05:00

This red band trailer for Broken Lizard's newest flick The Slammin' Salmon hit the web yesterday, and I thought it was funny/rare enough to share. The guys who brought us Super Troopers (and are currently writing a sequel that may or may not get made) are back with this story about a restaurant run by a famous boxer.