Jonah Hex Poster

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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!

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

"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

Uncharted: The Movie!

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

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?

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?

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?

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

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.