TV Guide recently conducted a very good interview with George Lucas where he talked about a number of things including the future of Star Wars; specifically the new Clone Wars cartoon, and the HIGHLY anticipated live action tv series. I'd really encourage you to go read the 2 part interview (part 1, part 2). Or if you just like the SW highlights, please read on...
- It takes place between Episode II and Episode III - Expect dark, sophisticated, and PG-13 - They're making 100 episodes total (they're on 40 now, and plan to have 50 or 60 done by the time it goes to air) - They hope to have it on the air next Fall (ie in one year) - They're shopping it around, but it will have to be on after 9pm
- Scripting will begin in October/November - It takes place between Episode III and Episode IV - Follows some minor characters from the films, and makes them central - No jedi, no Vader, it's much more about the regular people of the universe - They plan to do 100 episodes total - They are planning on shooting and producing themselves (ie without network help) then selling them once they're done (IMO a very smart idea)
Also worth mentioning: George is a big fan of Rome, and Jon Stewart.... somehow that doesn't surprise me.
Its a very fun interview, and enlightens a few details about the new Star Wars series' that we didn't know yet. I'm sure there will be more to come on both these shows in the months ahead. I'm definitely looking forward to it.
So I'll try not to make this post too long, because other than as a public service, its really not worth it. But iTunes has a number of the new shows of the season available for free from their store and I thought I'd comment on two that I just watched.
K-Ville is a cop drama that takes place in New Orleans in the aftermath of Katrina. It's about people rebuilding their lives, following their dreams, and rediscovering hope, aka very heavy handed attempt to pull at your heart strings. The show is trying to play off the endless possibilities and fresh start clean slate mentality of this kind of a situation but for the most part it feels too engineered to make me anything but a little disgusted. I don't think I'd go so far as to say this show is capitalizing on the misfortune of a terrible situation; it is after all filmed in New Orleans, bringing some good revenue to the city, and in general I think New Orleans is a good city with a fresh look not seen on screen much, but I still can't recommend this show. Based on the pilot it seems like they're going to be aiming for a mostly emotional show with a large action element. This is a cop show with, I expect, a lot of car chases, and gunplay. But like every bad cop buddy movie these guys are way too transparent, they go over the line a lot. Police would and could never get away with acting like this. And to top it off in the final minutes of the pilot they threw a totally unnecessary, yet major, plot twist into the mix. K-Ville is not worth your time or the trouble. It might succeed to a degree just because it's subject matter is still a very emotional issue for people, but the fact that FOX placed it against Heroes tells me either they legitimately think it can compete, or they are going to let it die quickly. Check out the trailer for K-Ville below, it airs Mondays at 9pm on FOX.
Big Bang Theory is a pretty traditional sitcom. It follows two genius nerds, who are roommates together and have a very odd couple sort of relationship. They are geeks whose only friends are other uber nerds. No social skills, no cool, no women. But what wacky hijinks will these socially inept dorks have to deal with? In fact its a hot new neighbor girl who moves into the next door apartment. So now they've got to learn to be cool and hopefully make a new friend. Cut to laughtrack, hilarity ensues...
There is a place for these kind of shows, there is a market for them, and this isn't anywhere near some of the truly awful ones that pop up every year, but if you want traditional sitcom I'll still stick with How I Met Your Mother, or even Rules of Engagement over this. Big Bang isn't bad, but if the best thing I can say is theat it has a cool title song, then it probably wont last. Than again, who would've thought According to Jim would still be on the air. Miracles never cease.
The Big Bang Theory airs at 8:30pm Mondays on CBS. Watch this trailer to see pretty much every "joke" in the pilot...
After Canada, New Zealand is the greatest place I've ever been. I was really lucky enough to get a chance to spend just over 2 months there back in 1998. It's just such an amazing place.
So last night I decided to finally try Amazon Unbox, which I talked about here before. Now that NBC has made the decision that it will not go with iTunes for its next season tv shows, a horrible move if you ask me, they are launching themselves onto Unbox exclusively with a bang.
NBC is offering a number of its new season pilots for free on Unbox, and as you know I've been waiting impatiently for Journeyman (officially premiering after Heroes on the 24th), so I decided I just had to partake in the Unbox revolution. And for the most part I was very impressed. Despite the whole DRM thing and having to watch it on the Unbox player, it was a very good experience. Thankfully their player is extremely nice, so I feel like it was well worth it.
But that's not really what I wanted to talk about here. What I wanted to talk about was the Journeyman pilot. See you have to understand that I have terrible luck picking shows. From Invasion, to Daybreak, and Smith, to The Black Donnelly's. Sure some of the shows I get into are popular, but it seems like when I pre-pick shows to be the best of the new season they often fail. Journeyman has been my most anticipated new show of the season, so you can imagine my trepidation. I want it to be great, even better than its obvious progenitor Quantum Leap, and despite a few murky leaps in logic I think it just might be.
Journeyman has a lot going for it. Especially Kevin McKidd the lead, who thankfully plays it smart. I get extremely frustrated when people in movies or tv shows wont admit the obvious, because 'that's just too incredible...' This protagonist realizes pretty quickly that hes traveling in time, he realizes what he's doing and he even acknowledges the dangers and potential paradoxes right upfront. Also a big plus in my book, it doesn't stumble into the pitfall of Early Edition in that yes he CAN tell people about the time traveling. And while yes I admit a few scenes like 'the Intervention' were really a bit too fast coming, overall this show plays it very smart and realistic. My only concern within the context of the show is the as yet unexplained physics and rules of his travelling; even in this pilot episode I felt like it didn't really make a lot of sense.
I hope this show can find an audience. The Heroes lead in is great, and I think the show has a lot of potential. We'll see if the world is really ready to accept a new time travel show. For my money I'll say yes, and hope my luck with predictions is changing.
Last night while I was on the bus going home we got into a pretty bad accident.
But not with another car. I was on the 48 bus and we were on 24th street almost at Mission. We had just stopped at Bryant i believe, and so thankfully weren't going very fast when it happened. So as we're just pulling away from the curb, there was this huge THUMMPPP. and the bus stops.
Oh my god, we actually hit someone. It was totally fucked up. everyone got off the bus very upset. The guy, an older mexican man was actually lying under the front on the bus. yes, I mean he was actually under the bus... lying on his back with one arm definitely broken going totally the wrong way. Thank god the bus driver stopped and the guy didn't go under the wheel.
It looked to the people in the front of the bus that the man had honestly just tried to cut across the street in front while the bus was still stopped. So scary...
I left after the ambulance arrived. They told the crowd that he was breathing and talking which was a good sign that he would be ok. The whole situation was definitely screwed up though. It's crazy how fast it all happened.
Hey guys, are you getting excited about Heroes yet??? only one more week to go ! Check out this new commercial for the second season. pretty sweet :)
As a side note I just read on Comingsoon.net that Del Rayt is going to make a Heroes season 1 book all about those 6 weeks that Hiro spent in the past trying to save and falling in love with the waitress Charlie. The book is aptly titled Saving Charlie. Nice...
So earlier this week someone at my work sent out an offer on the internal e-bulletin board offering free tickets to see The Plain White Ts in concert on Wednesday. While normally I would be podcasting that night I knew that Devon is a fan of the band, and figured free is free. So I snagged a few tickets and last night went and saw a truly 'interesting' show.
Here's a video to listen to while you read the rest of this post. It's the single-tear-rolling-down-the-cheek-rock-star-posed video below for their ballad Hey There Delilah. OMG like TOTALLY the BEST SONG EVER!!1!
So by 'interesting' I mean, I really would've loved it, if I were 13 years old, and a girl. I wasn't familiar with The Plain White Ts other than the Delilah song that's on the radio all the time, but I knew they'd been touring around the country with Fall Out Boy and Gym Class Heroes, so I think it was a fair assumption that they'd be on the rock, emo, indie scene. And they sure were, but they were also totally corporate, really clean cut, and brandishing a really fresh faced teeny bopper image. I don't know if I've ever been to a show that was so "Disney".
And these guys really should be on the Disney Channel. The Jonas Brothers should be opening for them, and there should be tweenage girls with posters of them plastered all over their walls. And there probably are. Its not to say the band was bad; they were doing their thing very well, and musically they really were very tight; I was just surprised how bubble gum everything was.
The funniest thing though was that this show was 18+. What a stupid idea. I mean these guys core audience has to be like 14 or 15 years old. Also the crowd was pretty corporate. Speaking of which, the event was put on by Samsung, and not open to the public was really over-branded. I don't know why no one told the band that this is definitively not cool, but they literally twice during the performance took a moment to plug their sponsor. While some tickets were given out on the radio and such, I actually think a lot of people who were there came by their tickets in the same kind of way I did, through some corporate connection. But that, and the age restriction didn't lend itself much to very dedicated fans. I honestly felt that probably a third of the audience was there under some sort of ironic circumstances. It really felt like a lot of the crowd was just humoring the band to an extent, at least I know I was.
It really wasn't a bad show, it just wasn't what I was expecting, and it really wasn't my cup of tea. These scruffy little rock stars are the band that you really want you 13 year old daughter to like because she think they're totally Alt and badass, but really they're completely not. Check out their MySpace for a few of their admittedly catchy pop songs, or watch the super awesome video for the fairly fun song Hate (I Really Don't Like You).
Since this isn't officially supposed to be up until tonight I'm not sure it will last, but for now you can definitely head over to the Apple trailer page and see the awesome Iron Man trailer.
Its basically a cut down version of the trailer I saw at comic con, with maybe a handful of new shots added, and damn is it ever cool. I'll update this post once I can get it off youtube or somewhere.
Apparently in the script by Stuart Beattie they have decided to leave the US centric version of the Joe team and make them into a more internationally representative force...( might we even call it a coalition of the willing?) Anyhow, they have also added a backronym to G.I. Joe, expanding it to mean Global Integrated Joint Operating Entity. director Stephen Sommershas also said specifically that it is now "an international co-ed force of operatives who use hi-tech equipment to battle Cobra, an evil organization headed by a double-crossing Scottish arms dealer. The property is closer in tone to X-Men and James Bond than a war film." I think we can safely assume that the Scottish arms dealer is Destro. But odd that there's no mention of Cobra Commander, eh?
The scuttlebutt over all this is of course that Paramount is worried about dealing with and representing a very pro-american agenda in an international film market. The War on Terror, is obviously very topical, but is that what we need from G.I. Joe? Maybe its a great opportunity, and maybe its a really REALLY bad idea. Either way, I think these changes are a smart move, and screw it, I'm not going to be too upset if we have to hang out more with Quick Kick than Bazooka, or they change it so Snake Eyes is from Bulgaria or wherever. Maybe it will be a more responsible film for it.
Anyhow, that's the tidbit of news. More, of course, as it develops :)
Get ready kids, cause on May 28th, 2008 it's coming for you
That is the brand new, official title for Indy 4. The title was revealed by Shia LaBeouf at the MTV VMAs tonight. You can watch video of his announcement over at MTV.com Pretty cool if you ask me. I have no idea what the Kingdom fo the Crystal Skull means, but it sure sounds like a good Indy title. What do you guys think?
I frickin love Robotech! Care of The Hollywood Reporter comes some news that just makes me smile :D Tobey Maguire (yes, that Tobey Maguire) and Warner Bros have picked up the rights to Robotech and plan to bring it live action style to the big screen. While at the moment Maguire's company is producing, he is said to be eying up the lead role of ace pilot Rick Hunter.
After the success of Transformers, and the impending ramp up for the live action Voltron film, this was really the next logical step. Of course nothing will beat my favorite mech movie Robot Jox, but while great that story was still a total Gundam ripoff. Robotech however was a legitimately taken Japanese product (really 3 products), reedited, relooped, with a new easier (yet far less sensible) storyline that made it as American as apple pie and baseball.
If you don't know I suppose I'll just on a really basic level say that the story is about mankind fighting off an invasion by an alien race who we've recently discovered some advanced technology from. It features hot shot space pilots in these transformer like robots (called mechs, or mecha), that kick all sorts of ass and... oh man there's really just a heck of a lot more to it. But I'm not sure how much to get into here. The show was just great fun but maybe I'll wait for an easier description before I go overboard. I will say it was one of the first Mech shows to make it Stateside and was beloved by many a kid of the 80s.
There's not really much other info on the project except that it has indeed been picked up. I really am a very big fan of the property, having watched the entire series twice, and read all the books, as well as a number of the comics. Even just a few months ago I finally picked up the ultimate Protoculture collection of dvds for the entire series. I've been slowly trying to get Erica to get into the show, but its tough when we're talking anime. Anyhow, I am very excited about this film and franchise potential. You can bet I'll be keeping my eye on this one closely.
Superherohype! which, as I hope you all know, is one of my most favorite sites on the internet, was recently doing an exclusive interview with Kevin McKidd of Rome fame, on one of my most anticipated new shows this fall Journeyman.
In NBC's own words the show follows "Dan Vasser (who) thought he had it all: a loving wife, a great son and a steady job. But life suddenly throws him a curve ball. Dan finds himself traveling into the past with a purpose — impacting people's lives for the better — and sometimes the worse. While doing so, Dan reconnects with Livia Beale, his ex-fiancée, whom he lost in a mysterious plane crash. Now armed with the knowledge of the present, will he be able to save her? What would that mean to his own future? And how would it change a man who thought he had it all?"
Not totally but VERY similar to Quantum Leap, wouldn't you say? Maybe with a bit more personal mystery involved too. Anyhow, I'm pretty excited about the show. You should check out this trailer.
One of the most telling things I took from the interview I mentioned was that this show unlike Lost of Invasion will not be relying on chasing down the mystery, but rather dealing with the more immediate and intimate story. I think that's smart in a way, but it also worries me that we'll end up with too contained episodes. If there's one things that grates on me its purely episodic television. They also mentioned the two main practical rules of the time traveling element of the show, firstly that Dan can only travel within his lifetime, and secondly he is always traveling in or around the Bay Area (ie - San Francisco, California). Dan has to help people along the way, and like Quantum Leap most of the people have nothing to do with his personal life. Unlike Quantum Leap though because Dan obviously stays the same person when he travels back, and because he keeps flipping back and forth from the present to the past he has access to modern information (although yes technically Sam did have Al). Besides all that though the series creator Kevin Falls swears that he's never seen Quantum Leap so it really has no impact on the show...uh huh, sure...
The show looks pretty sweet regardless; and I'm interested to see where it goes.
As a final point, the fine people at SHH! did ask McKidd about those Thor rumors and he responded by saying that they are "semi-true" although that the last he heard they were looking for someone closer to 19 or 20 years old. Maybe he'll be up for someone else in the Norse pantheon? Time will tell on that front.
Journeyman is set to premiere on NBC on Monday nights starting on September 24th, at 10pm. Yup that's right, they even gave it the Heroes lead in. I hope it helps :)
I think I might've missed posting this a while back. But in case you haven't seen it yet, check out this teaser trailer for The Dark Knight. Its pretty cool for not actually showing you anything.
On a side note I just saw 3:10 to Yuma today, and Christian Bale gives a stellar performance.
I think somehow I missed actually mentioning this story before; but that shall be rectified right now. While we all know that Warner's is working hard to try to get a new live action Conan film (without the govenator) off the ground, there has been been some interesting developments on another front of the Cimmerian barbarian, those being work on the upcoming Conan: Red Nails animated feature.
Red Nails is another hearty adventure following Conan as he stumbles across a long lost city in the desert. Once there he finds political plotting, vengeful feuding courtiers, evil sorcery, beautiful scantily clad, yet demur warrior women, and a load of complex and interesting characters or creatures to bed, or kill. Basically its everything you love about any Conan story, and is considered by many to be one of Howard's best. Now this tale is coming to dvd sometime... soon.
Hard to say exactly whats happening with the film as its been in development for a very long time, and was even rumored to be scrapped after some legal disputes with Dark Horse and the Howard estate, but recently the official website for the film has gone online, and the excellent Ron Perlman (who we all know and love as Hellboy) has been announced as the man voicing the barbarian. So i think its safe to say that this film will at some point, probably very soon, see the light of day.
I know I'm a fan of the material, and Conan in general, but since you might not be as familiar with it, why not go over and browse around the official website, and check out these great pieces of art for the film. I think this will be a really fun, and cool film. Still a few things to see, like what the rating is and how far they can really push it, but I am very interested and I hope you are too. Maybe we'll get a trailer soon. I for one hope so... Until then check out these pics.
On Tuesday night I went and saw The Brian Jonestown Massacre at The Independent here in the city. I wasn't very familiar with their stuff before but I have to say I was both impressed and a bit scared. The music, when they actually played was fantastic. But these guys were on stage for probably 3 hours solid and only made it through 10 - 15 songs total. Every song, I mean like EVERY single song must've had a 10 minute bridge in the middle of it. And on top of that the lead singer and backbone of the group Anton Newcombe would regularly stop the songs midway through, like literally force everyone to stop playing, just so that he could yell at member of the audience or his bandmates. It was such an odd experience. Definitely one of the weirdest shows I've been to, but also really good. Their music has a lot of heart, and you can feel the Rolling Stones influence. Check out this sweet performance of Nevertheless...
The reason I went to see them, and really how I heard of them is through my friend Chris, who considers them, alongside BJMs arch-rivals The Dandy Warhols to be one of his favorite bands. He told me about this documentary called DIG! which chronicles something of the rivalry between the two bands, and it sounds just fascinating. Chris called it the best rock documentary he's ever seen. Check out the trailer below.
My passion is media, especially new media. I love this explosion of technologies and innovative new ways to entertain, and educate ourselves especially in web and interactive media, be it online games, artist owned music, podcasting, vlogging, micro-budget filmmaking and so much more.
The landscape of mass media is in a massive flux. Consumers are savvy and educated enough to know how things work now, and informed media consumers are seeing through the spoon-fed subterfuge of the powers that be. I firmly believe the future of media lies in not just consumer controlled, but consumer generated content. And I love to engage my media actively.
McLuhan said the “medium is the message” over 40 years ago now, and while in ways that still holds true, the context that frames that statement is fundamentally changing. Image may be more important than ever, but content is making its voice heard. It’s like people are finally waking from a dream, and it’s this brave new world that excites me. Technology and media are giving us the tools to write our future. That is my passion and what I am compelled to be a part of. Challenge the system and ourselves to be better.
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This is what I just now entered into the Prego: What's Your Passion? contest. They're doing monthly drawings and are accepting essays of 200 words or less, or 2 minute videos. Hopefully next month I will have time to throw together a video entry. There is a monthly prize of $500, and a Grand Prize of $5000. The first judging period (of 9 total) ends tomorrow.
Finally it's arrived! Despite a fairly mishandled (aka non-existent) marketing campaign up until this point we are finally FINALLY getting some of the goods that we, or at least I, have been waiting for. Aliens Versus Predator 2, subtitled Requiem is a film that I know some people might be inclined to wonder if we really need it. Well I am here to tell you Yes. This film is a true cinematic necessity.
We all know the first AVP film had some... lets just call them conceptual issues, but I really feel that both of these franchises have more life to them still than the naysayers might argue. I mean despite what we got in the last film, we all know that the characters themselves are strong. Both the Aliens and the Predators are good solid characters, it's just the stories that need work. I definitely don't think this is played out yet; give it a good script and these fantastic movie monsters can be as great as they ever were. Check out the brand new, R rated trailer below, care of IGN, and see if you agree :)
Some documentaries have to work to create conflict, drama and tension, but King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters seems like it was a story truly destined to be told. Its amazing how this real life story is so clear and powerful. It has so much going for it with the tension of competition, good guys vs bad guys, justice striving against tyranny, man battling machine, a whole lot of heart, clean honest fun, and a very satisfying message. This is the kind of movie that had everyone in my theater cheering, and laughing, booing and clapping. It is the best kind of documentary, and a fantastic film, because it engaged the audience.
King of Kong follows family man Steve Wiebe as he challenges the champion Billy Mitchell for the title of worlds best Donkey Kong player. Steve strives to beat the top score of Billy time and time again, and to play a fair, honestly game. But this film isn't just about records, and classic gaming though, it is so much more. Through interviews with Steve Wiebe, and Billy Mitchell, their friends, family, and colleagues we sees a story unfold of men with skill, passion, and precise determination. It is a story that manages to focus the audience, and rally them to a clear, common goal. But also by focusing on something so straightforward, albeit incredibly challenging and intricate, the film has the ability to show us some larger themes, because these people are so sincerely passionate, and feel larger than life. Of course we end up rooting with Steve for the win; not just because he is the underdog though, but because he really seems like a genuinely good guy. And we end up booing the pretensions of Billy Mitchell because he is quite clearly a pompous jackass.
These are real people who quite naturally have become archetypes. If it had been scripted this movie wouldn't have been as good. Sure it might have been slightly more dramatic, but this film has a wonderful organic quality. Behind all the caricatures, and very 'serious' fun, lies some honest and absolutely fascinating people.
Watch the trailer for King of Kong right here. It is really an great film that I hope people see. It should release in most cities this weekend, but you might have to look for the more art house kind of places to find it.
I've been waiting for this movie for a while now. A biopic on the tortured genius Ian Curtis, and the band Joy Division. Check out this trailer for the movie Control.
Now enjoy an awesome video for the song Atmosphere.
Here are some trailers for new movies about some of the greatest musicians ever.
The first is for the Bob Dylan film I'm Not There, while the trailer doesn't show much, the film sounds fascinating. It's a biopic following the enigmatic songster throughout his very strange and interesting life from his roots up to now. But maybe even more interesting is that it stars six different actors as Dylan! And not just as a case of a young actor playing a younger version of the man, this film has a really eclectic cast (including Cate Blanchett as Dylan), and I have a feeling could really go anywhere. On the wiki for the film, one of the producers talks about the style as poetic narrative reflecting Dylans musical work, and perhaps thats not surprising considering this film is coming from director Todd Haynes who also brought us the amazing glam-fest Velvet Goldmine. Check out this quick teaser trailer care of IGN.
Ok, its official. The geeks have taken over network programming. Despite recent rumors that the former star of Veronica Mars, Kristen Bell might be joining the cast of Lost, it has just been announced that she has in fact be joining the ensemble cast of the other great geektastic hugely successful genre show: Heroes.
Bell will apparently be joining the other Heroes in mid October for a multi episode arc in which she plays Elle, a woman described as "a sexy, mysterious young lady who has ties to the supposed death of Peter, H.R.G.’s past and the future of Claire. Elle will kick off her arc by committing a serious crime, though it’s unclear whether she’s good or bad."
Very very cool news. While I've only ever watched a handful of Mars episodes I like Kristen, I mean look at her, shes adorable, how can you not like her. I also think she's a perfect fit for Heroes, so its pretty cool that they were able to woo her for a few episodes. I wonder if she'll show up on Lost as well???
In additional and awesome recent Heroes casting news, Nichelle Nichols who played Lt Uhura on the original Star Trek series, will be joining the cast next season as well. She will of course once again be working alongside her former Star Trek castmate George Takei. On Heroes however she will be taking the role of Nana, a wizened New Orleans grandmother to another new hero, Dana Davis of one of last seasons most interesting shows that enver got off the ground fame, The Nine.
Call this a large rumor for the moment, but Comicbookmovie.com is reporting that the Norse god himself Thor may have been found, in Rome. Whether this is real or just a fanboy rumor spawned by the recent casting of Ray Stevenson as Punisher has yet to be seen, but the word on the street is that Kevin McKidd is going to be the Thunder God Thor.
While this actually seems like good casting, I think it really could be total bull. Especially because McKidd is already set to star in this fall's new time traveling genre show, Journeyman... Maybe they're just planing early for that show's demise ;) Of course, I'd love to see it succeed, but shows like that don't usually last. And Thor is a pretty hefty role waiting in the wings. All that said though this is definitely just a rumor for the moment. I'll keep hunting for more info as it is revealed. We'll know for sure soon enough.
Word is that the film's plot will be origin heavy. Which in my opinion is a mistake. I don't think you really need much to go into Thor. I mean, he's a Norse God, who controls thunder, can fly, and has a magic hammer. That's all you really need. I'd rather seen the origin revealed organically. And in my ideal version we wouldn't even see Asgard until the end of this first film. But that's presuming Thor will be a successful series of films, and of course it's just my opinion. The real details of the plot will be revealed in due time.
Finally it looks like this whole shebang is coming together! The culmination of all the banal 80s properties revamped for my consumerist generation has reached its pinnacle, as the Real American Hero himself, G. I. Joe is making the big jump to the silver screen in a live action film. I know I talked in some depth about this here before, and even speculated on who, and what the movie should be about, but seriously folks, hiring a writer is not the same as the big big news from today. As IESB.net reports Hasbro has hired on a perfect director to helm the film: Stephen Sommers. As we all know Sommers is the man behind such cinematic opuses as The Mummy series, and Van Helsing. And while I admit most of those films have problems, I do think that they also have a bunch of really good style, and I like their sense of pacing and action.
Sommers brings pulp film experience, an obvious love of genre pictures, and a name big enough to garner a worthy budget to this film. I am honestly stoked about this news. Sommers also is dedicated to his work. I appreciate the fact that he has been involved in offshoots of his works, like The Scorpion King, Van Helsing: The London Assignment, and the Revenge of the Mummy ride at Universal Studios (which I went on and really enjoyed). I care about how G.I. Joe is handled and I want to see someone who I know is dedicated to his projects involved.
Speaking of IESB and their great reporting, it seems like they have the scoop on all things Joe, with more info and rumors on the script to be found here, and a major casting rumor of Mark Wahlberg as Duke, heroic leader of the Joes...
According to Variety, Marvel has inked a deal for Matthew Vaughn to direct their live action film version of Thor, and I have to say I am quite happy. Vaughn is the man behind the excellent L4yer Cake and upcoming Stardust, he also produced Guy Ritchie's great films Lock, Stock..., and Snatch. So we know Vaughn can handle himself around an action film, and considering the buzz on Stardust I think we can say that Vaughn has a pretty good grasp of dealing with both fantasy comic books and a reverence for mythology. Which is absolutely perfect for something like Thor.
I'm interested to see where he takes it. No word on the script, the villains, or what I'm sure everyone is clamoring for, the actors who will be involved. But we're really at very early stages of this. I personally would like to see something more along the line of Ultimate Thor than the traditional old school one, especially in terms of origins. I mean wouldn't it be cool if we really weren't even sure he was a god until later on in the film, or even right at the very end. Retaining some of that sense of mystery, and keeping it in the real world more. I think people would really go for that. I don't really have any villian in mind that I think would be right, I really haven't read much Thor over the years, but I definitely intend to. He always struck me as a very cool character. And as for casting... well, I personally lean towards an unknown. But who knows, there's probably some great actor waiting in the wings that I've just never heard of, and he'll have been like one of the background actors in 300... that seems to be how it always works.
Whichever way it goes down, I am happy to hear this news. We'll definitely have to keep our eyes on Thor as it develops further :)
Sure everyone knows you get spam IMs from sexy young Chinese girls on Skype. I mean I get those all the time, but Yahoo?! I received my very first Yahoo IM spam yesterday. What is the world coming to...
For the record I use Yahoo IM, Skype, and Google Talk regularly. I can't handle anymore... and refuse to use AIM. Hit me up if you'd like to chat. Just make sure I don't think you're a spammer
Care of Marvel Entertainment via the fine folks over at Comingsoon.net, here is Marvel's upcoming slate of in the works projects...
Licensed Marvel Character Feature Film Line-Up Wolverine - Fox - Director engaged (Gavin Hood) Punisher 2 - Lionsgate - Director (Lexi Alexander) and lead actor engaged (Ray Stevenson)
Film Projects Being Developed by Marvel - partial list Iron Man, Marvel - Completed principal photography; May 2, 2008 release The Incredible Hulk, Marvel - Commenced principal photography; June 13, 2008 release Ant-Man, Marvel - Writer (Edward Wright, Joe Cornish) and director (Edgar Wright) engaged Captain America, Marvel - Writer engaged (David Self) Nick Fury, Marvel - Writer engaged (Andrew Marlowe) Thor, Marvel - Writer engaged (Mark Protosevich) The Avengers, Marvel - Writer engaged (Zak Penn)
Marvel Character Animated TV Projects "Spider-Man," Sony - In development; US distribution agreement with Kids' WB "Wolverine and the X-Men," First Serve Toonz (India) - 26, 30 minute episodes in development "Iron Man" Method Films (France) 26, 30 minute episodes in development
Marvel Character Animated Direct-to-DVD Projects Doctor Strange, Lionsgate - August 14, 2007 release Teen Avengers, Lionsgate - Targeted July 2008 release Hulk Smash, Lionsgate - Targeted October 2008 release
Marvel Character Live Stage Projects "Spider-Man the Musical," Hello Entertainment/David Garfinkle, Martin McCallum, Marvel Entertainment, Sony Pictures Entertainment- In development/opening date to be determined; Julie Taymor director; music & lyrics by U2's Bono and The Edge
Marvel 2008 Video Game Releases (Release dates controlled by Publishing partner) "Iron Man," Sega - Targeted 2008 "The Incredible Hulk," Sega - Targeted 2008
Awesome all around :) This makes me very happy. The only thing I'm dissapointed by is that they havent offciially announced a Silver Surfer film yet. But I'm especially glad to see the continuation of the direct to dvd animated films. I've been really enjoying that line. Also, I think that's the only stuff on this list I wasn't previously aware of. I'm sure in the weeks and months ahead we'll be talking more about everything on this list. Hooray!
As I said before the biggest showing at the entire SD comic convention had to be for the Marvel panel, and in particular the Iron Man footage they showed. Not that there wasn't other very exciting stuff elsewhere to be found. And of course the announcement that Karen Allen would be in the new Indy movie was also huge news, but of all the movie studios and of all the films present that showed off their wares to the comic crowd, Iron Man outshone them all.
The first half of the Marvel panel though was dedicated to The Incredible Hulk movie. I was at the same time both impressed and left wanting more with this panel. The panel was attended by producers Gale Hurd and Avi Arad, as well as the director Louis Leterrier, of Transporter fame, and the main actors Ed Norton, and Liv Tyler. As they'd literally only just begun shooting the film 2 weeks prior to the con they didn't have too much they could seriously discuss. But they did show one brtief glimpse of the newly redesigned Hulk....
And they went into a bunch of stuff about the direction, plotting and their general 'take' on the character. I was really surprised and impressed to learn that Ed Norton actually wrote the screenplay himself! Yeah seriously, that was kind of out of left field. But it was actually really cool. it helped me accept that he really understands the character extremely well. Norton was drawn to the character because of the issues of duality but wants to make this film more straightforward action, that the last film. Avi Arad discussed how this new design for the Hulk is all part of their approach at a restart. He's not an apologist for the Ang Lee Hulk movie at all, but he does recognize that this film is a new start. I really liked how he put it after someone in the audience posed the question of why do the Hulk at all after the "debacle" of the last one. He said in a very matter of fact way, and excuse me for paraphrasing here, that 'this is The HULK, you don't just give up on a character with such a rich 40+ year history just because a version or story doesn't please all the fans. This character has been extremely popular in the past and no matter what, will be again at some point. There's just so much to work with.' Louis Leterrier also referenced the old 70s Incredible Hulk tv series as a lot of his personal inspiration. And while I'm not overly familiar with that series in particular, I understand what they mean when they talk about the themes from that series being really on the right track, despite the technical hurdles of the time. Overall I was pretty impressed that they have a good sense of what they're doing and where they're going. Unfortunate that there wasn't any footage to see, but I'm definitely looking forward to more on this film as it develops.
Moving onto Iron Man I have to say I was very excited. Favreau has made a surprise appearance at the Paramount panel on Thursday and shown his Iron Man footage to rave reviews. Now at the Marvel panel, where he was actually scheduled to appear alongside the cast, he brought the goods and definitely did not disappoint. The panel started off with the amazing footage which I cannot currently find online to share with you, but take my word, was completely awesome. Basically an extended trailer, the footage shows the highlights of Tony Stark as an industrial tycoon, being a playboy jackass, getting captured and thrown into some foreign jail, building the Mark 1 Iron Man suit, and busting his way out of captivity. How to put this.... it was AWESOME. I hope it shows up online again sometime soon because it would be great for everyone to get a chance to see it. The footage was just so sweet. Everything looked great, and Robert Downey Jr is perfect for the role of Tony Stark.
On stage for the Q&A afterwards, we had director Jon Favreau, Gwyneth Paltrow, Terrance Howard, and Robert Downey Jr. They were great too. All of them were joking and laughing together, really creating a very fun atmosphere for us. Robert Downey Jr in particular was especially charming and he did a great job fielding questions. Everyone was really stoked to be there, and then they brought out their special secret guest, Stan 'the Man' Lee, and the crowd went nuts. It was very cool to see the legend right there. Anyhow, Favreau began by making a point to mention how the Iron Man film is really different than any of the past Marvel movies, or at least how it was made. This is the first film that Marvel has produced on it's own. All of the past movies have had serious external studio involvement, but now that they can do it alone and then just shop it out to studios for distribution, they have MUCH more creative control of the end product. That can be seen in Iron Man by things like the inclusion of secondary characters Nick Fury and Black Widow. Marvel can now really go after creating a whole universe; and maybe fingers crossed we'll actually get that Avengers movie eventually. Favreau described Iron Man as a really big independent movie. He felt like he could do what needed to be done to best service the character. Oh, and as for the character himself, Downey commented on the need to balance an empathetic, really human character with a business man who demands our respect. He also said that he loved the role. Which is good news because as far as I've heard, the plan assuming Iron Man is successful, is to make a full trilogy of films.
If you want you can watch the entire Iron Man panel, obviously without the trailer, on Youtube, in parts one, two, three, and four. Oh and check out these sweet picture I took of the Iron Man Mark 1 armor which they had unveiled and had on display at the Marvel booth. Click to embiggen. Very cool :)
So it was pretty great news all around. They ended the panel session by showing the Iron Man footage again. Which kicked just as much ass the second time around. I was very happy and very impressed with the session over all. Maybe they'll do another panel session at the next Wondercon and have more fun stuff to show. As it was, this was really great though.
It was all the way back at last years SD Comic Con that they announced that acclaimed comic book writer and artist Frank Miller would be bringing an adaptation of the classic comic hero The Spirit onto the big screen, and since that time frankly, it's been rather quiet. Or maybe I just haven't been paying attention... regardless, the silence has finally been broken, Frank Miller has finished the script and cast his masked protagonist. And the winner is... Gabriel Macht!
I know practically nothing about The Spirit comic except what I've glanced over on Wikipedia. Apparently he started out as a cop named Denny Colt who either under mysterious circumstances faked his own death so that he could more easily fight crime, or was really killed and then reborn as the masked vigilante. I'm not totally sure which backstory is the correct one here. Although apparently his origin story wasn't referenced much if at all throughout the series, so it might not really matter. I know that this story will be based on a run from the 19050s called "Sand Saref", and "It's about the first love of Spirit's life, who has turned to a life of crime, and he has to bring her to justice." It is not an origin story, which is probably for the best. Origin stories are so often handled so badly. The villain in the film, the Octopus, will be played by Samuel Jackson.
It's unfortunate that this never got picked up. Its got some pretty great stuff in it. For the Uncensored, Un-laughtracked, "DUDES" version of the show, with a few different sketches included, check out this Awesometown website. And for more on the fascinating Lonely Island team check out their official website, and the Wiki on them.
The Disney panel was pretty sweet. They only really talked about two movies and both are ones that I am looking forward to: The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian and WALL-E. In fact for me personally I would have to say that the Prince Caspian panel was the most surprising thing I saw at the entire convention. I really wasn't expecting to be as swept up by that film as I was. But it simply looks amazing... And of course as everyone who reads the site knows I am already really into what I've seen of WALL-E, it seems Pixar can do no wrong these days.
TCON: Prince Caspian was up first. They are still filming in Prague for a few weeks so while the producer and art director (i think) were in attendance in San Diego, the director and none of the cast could be there. At least thats what we thought at first, in a surprise we were treated to a live video lik with Prague and both the director and Prince Caspian himself, the very affable young actor Ben Barnes. Here's a short video that has since the con hit the web so that you can see who he is and a tiny bit of the film.
Nice. I know, its just a small taste, but at least you get a chance to see who Caspian is, and if you've read the books, yhou know that he is pretty integral, to 3 of the upcoming books. As a side note if you were tyo check out Narnia.com as Ben suggests you'll be directed to the official site which has some other nice little tidbits on the film, like some cool storyboard, and a production blog..
Anyhow, they began by showing us some footage, and it was this that got me really excited. It was full of pre-visualizations and half finished effects, but all of the practical effects were looking really great. The scene they showed us was the Pevensie kids, now returned to Narnia some 1300 years after the events in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, raiding a castle of King Miraz to rescue Caspian from his cruel Uncles machinations. It involved the kids and a number of animals compatriots, including fan favorite Reepicheep the mouse, essentially sneaking into a castle tower and trying not to alert anyone. Even with simple animatics for many of the characters, I was REALLY impressed with the action. At the end of the scene was a simple trailer. Well, it wasn't simple at all really, but I suspect the final trailer will be longer and involve more effects shots. That said, it was this trailer, with its sweeping shots of the achingly beautiful New Zealand countryside (although most of this film was shot in eastern europe), and the fantastic score that made me really get a bit choked up. The film looks great; I mean just great.
I'm not an over-the-top Narnia fan. I loved the books as a kid, but thought the film of TLTWATW was pretty uneven. Especially in terms of effects. But they really addressed my concerns very well. The panel session was basically about half on the effects of the film and half on the direction, and story.
In terms of the effects stuff they really talked a fair bit about the way things were being done for Caspian. In that as much as possible the are using practical effects and costumes. They brought a, totally redesigned, robotic head of a Satyr for an on stage demonstration . It was pretty sweet, especially when they made the head start expressing itself with remote controlled hydrolics built inside. These Weta people are really impressive! Then they talked about how working on this film is easier in a way because they already have a lot of the technology in place that they developed while making the last one. So they've upped the ante, by doing things like having more than just 30 year old male centaurs. Every animal in the film will now come in male, female, young and old. And the armor! They brought out an actor in full Telemarine armor, check out this pic below care of IGN. It was very cool. Finally they talked about how they've really refocused their efforts on the character of Aslan, to make sure he looks the best possible in this film.
The director Andrew Adamson, talked to us about how, this film is grittier, darker, and far more action packed that the last one, which he also directed by the way. Apparently it was much harder to adapt that the last book. Check out the very interesting production blog from May 4th at Narnia.com on just this subject. They did have to make a few changes in story structure from the book for the screen, especially just to get the character together faster, but everyone seemed to feel that the changes were necessary. He talked about how really while all the books are connected thematically very well, in terms of plotting they are pretty much all completely different. Caspian is an all out action story and has to be treated different than the first film. With that in mind too, I will say I noticed in the scene they showed the character of Peter literally killing four Telemar guards in a row with his sword... I was a bit taken surprised as this will definitely bne a "kids" movie, but this point is the one Adamson was trying to drive home. This film is a different animal than the last one, its much bigger, and much more adult.
Ok, I've really gone on for long enough on this film, but I was, as I'm sure you can tell very surprised and impressed with how interesting this film looks. I think it has some great potential. Oh and the director said that the plan for production after this one comes out in May is to have a new Narnia movie come out once a year every May until they complete the series! Quite ambitious, but something I really hope they can do.
Following that long and involved ramble on Caspian, I'll try to make the rest of my comments more to the point. After the Caspian people left, we were treated to the trailer for National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets. meh...
Then to round things out we moved into a really interesting panel on WALL-E, the newest venture from Pixar. As I've talked about it before here I don't think I need to go into too much detail on the story front. The panel was run by the films director Andrew Stanton, who also directed Finding Nemo. And despite his kind of business like approach to his presentation I was very impressed with what he's doing on the film. Andrew talked about the story some, talked about how unique this film is, especially in that it has little to no real dialogue for almost the entire film. He showed some amazing stills from the film, some of which you can check out at JoBlo.com. And he set up an introduction to the characters, he then brought out legendary sound designer Ben Burtt, of Star Wars and Indiana Jones fame, who literally had a sound mixing board with him and gave us a fascinating look at the process of sound design, while introducing the characters and their noises. Since everyone, or almost everyone in the film are robots who don't speak the noises they make had to be exceptionally expressive. I have to admit I was pretty blown away. I don't know that I've ever seen a sound scape broken down to the level here, and it was just fascinating. All the noises had to be practical, realistic noises; but they also managed to convey such emotion. I don't know if I need to tell you, but it was very impressive.
Considering Pixar's track record and this presentation I definitely think they've got another sure fired hit on their hands. Well, just to add to my success hypothesis, they rounded out their presentation by showing us 7 minutes of exclusive footage from the film! It was from near the beginning of the film, we see a typical day in the life of WALL-E and then watch his fateful first meeting with EVE, who is the catalyst for the entire story really. As you can probably guess, the stuff we saw was charming, funny, and whimsical, with fantastic visuals, beautifully use of colors and light, and a really flawlessly execution. I think this movie will, simply put, be great.
For more fun with WALL-E, you should definitely go check out the BuyNLarge.com site. This is the company that makes WALL-E and other fascinating and hilarious robots. The site is littered with really funny copy and some great robot designs. Check it out.
Ok, well that brings us to the end of the Disney panel. It was a very good session, that really gave a glimpse into two great looking new films. Hopefully they both live up to the expectations created at comic con. So far I think they will :)
I saw this trailer before Sunshine and was pretty taken aback. I don't really know anything about the movie, but I think it looks pretty cool. Check it out.
I'm Geoff Chapman. at Canadian whose been living in the San Francisco for the past few years, I love all things pop culture. I especially love films, comics, kitties, lazers, video games, tv, robots, and kool-aid. I've got a great wife, and two amazing little boys. This is what I call, livin' the dream...
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