New Cloverfield trailer!

Check it out everyone. Not great quality I know, and it might be gone by morning but check out this video of the new Cloverfield trailer. Very sweet.

This is the trailer that will be attached to Beowulf this weekend. so after watching this, doesn't it look like the movie really might be called Cloverfield? That's sure what it seems. Oh JJ you're such a tease. Here's some reaction to the new trailer.

In other news, if you've been following the Jamie and Teddy stuff, here is a link to the newly released video #4. Notice the shiny blue present still sitting on her nightstand. December 5th is the big day for that. And finally, the Bold Futura site is live... or at least it was. wtf?! one sec... hmm, I'm too tired to look this stuff up now, but go nuts over at the Unfiction Forums if you feel like it. Let me know if you learn anything in the comments.

Oh and someone commented today on an old Cloverfield post I'd done here with info on their new Cloverfield Forums at Slusho.ca. Check it out if you can, seems like some dedicated well meaning Canadian Cloverfield fans. Maybe I'll get a chance to post there sometime. Later


UPDATE - hey all, I've just re-embedded a better quality version of the trailer off of YouTube. But for the best quality, head over to Apple.com where they've got glorious high rez versions available. Also since I last posted the above a week ago the official Cloverfield poster has been revealed. Check it out :)

Check out a bigger better version of that over at ComingSoon.net. And for more... theres a lot. check out Cloverfeild Clues. later gators.

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Sarah Connor Chronicles posters

Care of EW.com, check out theis new poster for Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, which as of now at least is still scheduled to start this January on FOX despite the writers strike. Head over to Entertainment Weekly to check out their other three very cool new SCC posters.

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Marvel goes DiG!tA1ll1l...

Wow. Today surely is a watershed moment for comics. The days of Marvel's timid dot-comics are over as the house that Stan built moves boldly into the digital future with the launch today of Marvels Digital Comics Unlimited.

For a subscription rate of $9.99 a month or $59.88 for the year (only $4.99 per month at that rate) you can gain access to some 2500 back issues of comics. These are high quality PDFs of each comic page archived and stored lovingly by Marvel's techheads. The company additionally plans to release at least 20 new old issues a week. In order to insulate the print version of their books Marvel intends to wait at least 6 months between the hard copy release and the digital archive, but we can expect a mix of old and new titles to show up at a fairly rapid pace after that. Here's an article with a bit more explanation directly from Marvel on all this.

For now the collection includes some classic comic milestones that you might never have read before. Sure we've all checked out Amazing Fantasy 15 (the first appearance of Spider-Man), but have you seen the first showdown between the Thing and the Hulk, The Avengers and Power Pack, the first Black Panther, or introduction of the Silver Surfer, or what about some of the newer stuff, like the Civil War issues, or Annihilation, maybe you missed those minis tied into Universe X, or how about some of the Ultimate titles, or some of those great Spidey miniseries like Blue, or India. I know I missed the Captain America: Truth miniseries where they retconned the entire origin of the super-soldier program. Here's some officially selected highlights, and some other recommendations you might want to check out too.

I really recommend you go and at least have a look around the Digital Comics Unlimited site. They are offering 250 comics up for free viewing for a limited time so you can try out their service. I'm not exactly sure whats in that selection of free stuff right now as their site has been so slammed today its only working off and on, but I'm sure there is something you'll find of interest.

Now if only I had a good color version of the Sony Reader, I would be totally set. One day I'm sure that will exist though, hopefully sooner rather than later. Beacause this is a really great move on Marvel's part. Bold decisive action. And I think legitimately still in time for them to figure out how to save themselves with the current and severe drop in print media sales. This won't make them a ton of money just yet, but its a really good start. Thank you Marvel for going for the digital market finally. It may not work all that well at first but I applaud the effort.

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TF2 fake out

In a recent interview with Rotten Tomatoes director Michael Bay said that when news starts coming out for the much anticipated Transformers 2, it might just be more than meets the eye. Ok, technically he never made such a bad pun, that was me, but he did say that he intends to fake out the fanboys.

"We're going to leak a lot of false information all over the place." including fake script treatments and other information, Some of which, one script in particular, is apparently already out there.

I'm not sure exactly why Michael Bay is out to screw with us. Maybe just because he can, and it's fun. I guess I get that. Also, I can see him wanting it to stay as much a surprise as possible. So while I love the Transformers, and plan on talking about "news" that comes out regarding the sequel, we should probably treat the information coming out of that camp as rumor from now on. Frankly, I don't really mind this news, in fact a lot of false information could be kind of fun trying to sort through. I really just want to see more robot ass kicking action. Whatever he does, I have faith in Bay to make another great TF film. So please, bring it on.

Despite the writers strike, and a currently unfinished script, they have progressed enough for some location scouting and visual effects work to be done. Filming is currently scheduled to begin in June of '08.

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Ryder and Nichols in Trek

Well, I know I just said I was done with posts on the casting announcements for the upcoming Star Trek film, but when the news is this pretty I just had to mention it. From Variety this morning comes word that none other than Winona Ryder has been cast as Amanda Grayson, Spock mother. If you'll recall, Spock is actually a mudblood, with a Vulcan dad, and a human mother. As far as I know there has been no word on who will play the infamous Sarek. This is still pretty cool though, especially considering the part will probably be pretty small. And I have to wonder, is it a flashback maybe? I mean Ryder as Quinto's mom? Do those ages really work?

And the other piece of hot casting is for the character Janice Rand, who you might not remember, but let me assure you, is definitely a vital piece of the big picture. While at first glance the character may appear to be the standard redshirt (er red-skirt) but she was a staple of the early episodes of Trek. She was the token hot girl on many an away mission and while not remembered as well, technically had a bigger role in the series than most of the bridge crew for quite a while. The character was written out of the series halfway through the first season. And while this casting tidbit comes from AICN, by their own account it should still be considered a rumor. Word is that Alias super-spy Rachel Nichols will play the role. Nice.

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Strike breakdown video

Check out this video which explains in simple terms a part of the reasoning behind the Writers Strike. This comes from the WGA and Unitedhollywood.com.



For whatever its worth, if you're interested in supporting the writers you can sign this online petition. I know petitions never work, but it can't hurt either.

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My dissapointment

So imagine me yesterday podcasting as usual, without a care in the world, and afterwards I say to my good buddy Devon 'hey man, would you like to see a really hot youtube girl singing rhianna?" Of course he would. We've always got some time after we finish podcasting while the file uploads to the site, and of course Devon is always up for checking out hot new web-lebrities.

Off we go on our way to check out Marie Digby. You remember her? I posted a week or two ago about her. I've still got her acoustic cover of Rhianna's Umbrella stuck in my head, and like I said... she's really hot. If you haven't seen it, check out her appearance on Carson Daily here. She seems so innocent, very Winnie Cooper; doesn't she?

Well, my big disappointment of yesterday came when I found out that she is not as innocent as she appears. After finally getting around to reading her Wikipedia page I saw this controversy section. Marie Digby is not a grassroots folk singer, she is not a diamond in the rough and tumble webscape, while she is definitely still talented, and definitely still smoking hot, she is also a SIGNED artist. And not just signed, but signed with DISNEY. Signed under the same Hollywood Records label that manages the likes of Hilary Duff, The Plain White Ts and so many more...

This Wall Street Journal article lays it all out. It's not that Marie actually lied to anyone, she just conveniently failed to mention that she's been signed to a major record label since 2005. Or that this feigned amateur status 'might' all just be part of an elaborate online marketing campaign designed to build the framework of support for her first full album which drops into stores this coming February.

I don't deny that the girl is talented, or that shes beautiful, but I just am so pissed that I was duped by the Disney corporation. I've no doubt, six months from now, she'll be huge. Just pisses me off. Damn Disney.

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Del Toro and the Champions

Variety reports that Guillermo Del Toro is set to bring back an updated film version of a classic British tv show called The Champions. In usual fashion he will write, direct, and produce the sci fi / spy film about a team of secret agents who are given super powers by an "advanced civilization" and use them to fight crime.

Since I've never seen the original, I can't say for sure if its any good. But from what the wikipedia says on the show, it seems a little confusing. In the show, the trio of spies work for some vague UN backed international espionage agency based in Geneva called Nemesis. Their plane crashes on some mission and the group is saved from certain death by this "advanced civilization" which I take to mean aliens, who grant them all superpowers. Kinda like the Fantastic Four or something. Anyhow, they return to work as normal and proceed to hide their powers from everyone. Or from what I gather, try to find out why they've been given them. It all sounds fishy.

In the show they had to figure out which powers they had over time, but they included telepathy, precognition, enhanced senses and reasoning power and physical abilities enhanced to the known limit of human capability. Those are all funny powers. Like they're not really "superpowers". Aren't they all powers that conceivably we could develop naturally in time. You know, like how humans gaining the power of flight seems pretty outlandish, but telepathy doesn't.

Ok, so I really have no idea, but my prediction is that the "advanced civilization" is actually humans from the future, and they've really just accelerated evolution for these individuals that they save. Kinda like Millennium meets Timecop, meets The One.

Sounds like it could be interesting anyways.

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Greenwood is Pike

It looks like the final major piece has fallen into place for the Star Trek film, as Canadian actor and all around good guy Bruce Greenwood has been cast as Captain Christopher Pike. In case your running behind, Pike was the captain of the USS Enterprise before Kirk. He has show up twice onscreen in the the original pilot to Star Trek TOS, and again as an old man in the Hugo winning Trek two parter episode, The Menagerie. This is Pike more or less in the prime of his life. And Greenwood who I've really enjoyed since Nowhere Man, and Thirteen Days is a great choice.

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TV Show Death Grid

Care of the LA Times and their excellent WGA Strike Blog, they've very nicely put together a very readable grid of what's happening with your favorite shows. Like I mentioned yesterday, its really a different scenario for each show, and for each network. I would feel bad just copying it here, so I'll just say you should definitely check it out. It shed a lot of light on where the tv season stands.

here's the link to The LA Time TV Grid

Also some more shake ups as a fallout of the strike, FOX have announced their plans for the tv schedule in January. Check out a rundown of all the changes over at TV Guide. The biggest note, is the revelation that they will NOT be airing 24 until they have more of a full season to work with.

We can only hope that this logic will apply to ABC regarding Lost as well. The fans don't want to be short changed.

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Kring apologizes

Well this is not something I was ever expecting to hear. Tim Kring actually did an interview with Entertainment Weekly where he apologizes outright to the fans for the problems with Heroes this season. I can't remember really ever seeing a show creator be so frank about their series while its still in production. Extremely unusual but very appreciated. Check out the interview over at EW.com.

In the interview he addresses the issue of pacing, which I know I for one have mentioned here before, the lame introduction of new characters, Hiro's looooong ancient Japan story, and even the Smallville-esque love story with Claire and West. Very enlightening for us fans, and a extremely direct article. I appreciate his point too. He is publicly acknowledging the mistakes made so far this season, and while the protracted nature of this year due to the writers strike will abort attempts to right things immediately, Kring plans to "clean house" on his December 3rd episode and start fresh with season 3. Once again check out the article here.

Oh, and yesterday while posting about the strike I mentioned that it was reported that Tim Kring had not completed writing that final scene that would turn the December 3rd episode from a chapter finale into a season finale. Well, apparently that report was erroneous. AICN followed up the rumor with clarification direct from Kring's mouth on the picket line. "the audience won't be left in the lurch."

Finally if you're looking for some inside scoop on Heroes, check out this very mildly spoiler filled TV Guide interview with Kring on this season of Heroes and beyond.

I really feel better about all things Heroes after hearing this stuff. Also, despite the slow start, Monday night's episode was pretty damn cool. The reveal of Adam at the end was totally unexpected and my jaw just dropped. Good stuff. Too bad they won't get to continue the season immediately.

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Celebrity Big Brother?

Could it possibly be looming on the horizon? Variety reports that with the strike in full swing now, CBS has been quietly prepping the Big Brother house for some new additions. And the rumblings on the street are that this might be the long rumored Celebrity Edition of the show.

While so far the studio has been tight lipped on the possibility of the matter, it would make a lot of sense as the show is fairly popular, and maybe more importantly takes up a solid 3 hour chunk of programming time per week. Once we get into January / Feburary if the strike is still going on and all the new shows start to dry up people will probably be begging for anything new. Even if it is reality tv.

As a fan of the show I couldn't be happier. Of course I want the strike to end quickly, but wouldn't it be cool to get a celebrity edition BB, with possibly stars who are currently busy on other shows? Realistically I' m thinking that celebrity edition BB will only be marginally classier than the Surreal Life, but hey I can dream can't I?

Just for fun :) Here's my dream Big Brother house. My picks aren't necessarily for the big stars, but maybe for people who reasonably might have some time on their hands. For example, say the strike goes into Feburary, and even if it looks like it might wrap up in March, NBC along with Tim Kring decide that they'll have to fully scrap or push forward the next season of Heroes until the Fall. They know they won't go back into producvtion on the show until late summer. The big stars like Ali Larter, and Hayden Panitierre might wait for the strike to end and then go off and film a movie. But what about some of the smaller players. Celebirty Big Brother might honestly be a really good choice for someone like James Kyson Lee, who plays Ando on Heroes. Those are the people that in a dream world make it into my Big Brother house.

The reality is, it probably would never be this cool a cast.

My picks:
James Kyson Lee - currently plays Ando on Heroes
Tyler Labine - currently plays Bert on Reaper
Aaron Stanford - last played Will Traveler on Traveler
Justin Chambers - currently plays Alex on Grey's Anatomy
Seth Green - you'd better dam well know who he is
Will Forte - currently on SNL
Allison Mack - currently plays Chloe on Smallville
Rashida Jones - played Karen on The Office
Mindy Kaling - plays Kelly on The Office
Olivia Wilde - currently plays 'intern number 13' on House
Alexis Dziena - last played Kira on Invasion
Leighton Meester - plays Blair on Gossip Girl
Emmanuelle Chriqui - played Sloan on Entourage
and since I can't seem to think of anyone else, how about
Jessica Lee Rose - aka lonleygirl15


Maybe a totally unrealistic list, but still, that would be a very fun, and I think entertaining BB house. If this does happen, we'll come back and revisit this list and compare it to whatever really comes together.

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Iron Man international trailer

Check out the very cool, Gweneth filled, international trailer for Iron Man.



The movie opens May 2nd, '08.

And the list grows

More casualties of the Writers Guild strike.

Ain't It Cool News has something of a roundup of more shows, and especially showrunners who are picketing. Read their story with personal accounts here. Also check out this piece from EW and Comingsoon.net, as well as this great piece from Michael Ausiello at TV Guide.

Shows affected immediately should include The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, Conan O'Brien, and all the other late night shows, as well as some game shows. I know the writers on Jeopardy were picketing yesterday. But Dancing With the Star this Week is relying on the improv skills of its hosts, so we'll see if that works out.

The Office has should have stopped production with many of its cast members of the WGA. Although NBC claims that work continues as usual. Rules of Engagement however has officially stopped filming. And Julia Louise Dreyfuss and Tina Fey are picketing their own shows, so those will have stopped as well. Writers alongside their respective showrunners are picketing Battlestar Gallactica, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Desperate Housewives, and Pushing Daisies. Also word on unrest from J.J. Abrams and the Lost producers. And Tim Kring of Heroes, who apparently wouldn't complete the last minute weekend rewrite for that final scene expected to round out the season in December. And even more with showrunners for Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice, The Shield, The Oaks and The Unit all picketing.

Another casualty, possibly for good happened when ABC made the decision to remove their new show Cashmere Mafia from the schedule completely... is this the first of many?

These shows still may of course have a few episodes in the can. And some series will have scripts locked down so that they can shoot an additional episode or two, that is if the actors aren't picketing themselves. So its not exactly clear what the picketing will mean, it's being determined on a show by show basis for now. Eventually though even if the shows are filming one or two more episodes they will be forced to shut down. Most will be fine up through November sweeps, and probably last until at least mid December. After that though, who knows.

Variety has set up a strike blog. And so has TV Guide. Those alongside the LA Times strike news should keep us up to speed.

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Upcomming Marvel - 11/05

Once again provided by Marvel via Comingsoon.net. Check it out :)

Feature 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 and director engaged
Captain America, Marvel - Writer engaged
Thor, Marvel - Writer engaged
The Avengers, Marvel - Writer engaged

Licensed Marvel Character Feature Film Line-Up
Punisher 2, Lionsgate - Commenced principal photography, slated for 2008 release
X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Fox - Director engaged, slated for May 1, 2009 release

Marvel Character Animated TV Projects
Fantastic Four, Moonscoop SAS (France) - 26, 30-minute episodes; Running Internationally.
Spider-Man, Sony - In development; US distribution agreement with Kids' WB for Spring 2008 release.
Wolverine and the X-Men, First Serve Toonz (India) - 26, 30-minute episodes in development; Fall 2008 release.
Iron Man, Method Films (France) - 26, 30-minute episodes in development; Fall 2008 release.
Hulk, TBD - In development.

Marvel Character Animated Direct-to-DVD Projects
Next Avengers, Lionsgate - Targeted July 2008 release
Hulk Smash, Lionsgate - Targeted October 2008 release
Thor, Lionsgate - Targeted April 2009 release
TBD, Lionsgate - Targeted September 2009 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 Video Game Releases (Release dates controlled by Publishing partner)
Sega, Iron Man - Targeted 2008
Sega, The Incredible Hulk - Targeted 2008

All looks good there. so according the this list we're getting Iron Man, Hulk and Punisher next year, followed by Wolverine, maybe Thor (if they can get that budget down) and Captain America in '09. I haven't heard too much on Ant Man lately. I wonder how that's all coming along. Good news on the direct to dvd stuff. So far that's been of a very high quality. Looking forward especially to seeing what they do with Thor. The one thing I really miss from this list is the rambling of 'other' projects on their radar. For example I'd just like a little confirmation that Marvel are considering Silver Surfer, or that the proposed Sum Mariner movies haven't been lost along the way.

Just speculation here but from tidbits garnered in the past, Marvel has or should have on the radar: Silver Surfer, Fantastic Four 3, Spider-man 4 (writer has been hired), Daredevil 2, Iron Fist (Ray Park was attached), Sub Mariner (3 films), Doctor Strange, Nick Fury, Black Widow, and Magneto.

Still, its good to see that everything's on track for the Marvel juggernaut of entertainment to continue.

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more strike stuff

Pop Candy has a good post rounding up a few points and links to others regarding the Writers Strike. Apparently Tina Fey was picketing outside Rockefeller plaza this morning. Its good to see that everyone is united on this.

A few things to mention right off. The late night shows, at least The Daily Show and Colbert Report will be immediately affected by the strike. As will shows like The Office where a number of the writers are also actors. Will they cross picket lines.... I think probably not.

As the most recent TV Guide Talk podcast pointed out, the soap operas might just die a quick death. Can they sustain themselves with a potentially long break? I don't think so. Back in '88, the last time the writers went on strike the soaps hired scabs to continue their shows. Will they do that again?

It's hard to see where this will all go. Shows like Lost, and 24 are probably going to have to wait to even begin airing, because I'm sure they would hate to be forced to stop in the middle. Check out this interesting blog post by Brian K Vaughan of Lost. And while new shows like Sarah Connor Chronicles can probably stay in the can until later, will the studio want to keep paying to keep production offices open on a show that no ones seen?

And finally according to this story it looks like the final 6 episodes of the final season of Scrubs can be chalked up as yet another casualty of the strike.

This LA Times blog has good continuing updates on the entire affair.

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Splice ... um wtf?!

Well for starters I didn't think this was a big deal. I mean its cool and all, but at first I didn't realize what exactly this project was that's popped up on the horizon. The film is called Splice, and it's a new sci fi to be written and directed by Vincenzo Natali of Cube fame. Well that's pretty cool in itself right? Add to that the casting of Sarah Polley, and Adrien Brody as the leads, and it sounds like something we should definitely take notice of. Especially with Guillermo del Toro producing.

And then these photos come out... This series of pre-production, and what I assume are concept photos for the film, and wow, they are totally fucked up. Ain't It Cool News has about 10 of them to view, you'll have to go there to check the rest out. and definitely do check them out, because this is just a extremely tame sample picture. These pics are very... i don't even know. Oh and they're not really safe for work either.

According to The Hollywood Reporter "The story explores a dark vision of the world of genetic engineering in which two young scientists become superstars by splicing different animal DNA to create fantastical new creatures. They ignore the legal and ethical boundaries and introduce human DNA into their experiment." They are "the Bonnie and Clyde of genetics."

Filming begins in Toronto in January. Seriously, what the heck is this film....

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Blomkamp on District 9

Well, with the Halo movie, mostly sorta, not exactly dead right now it looks like there is time for Peter Jackson's good buddy, and proposed Halo director Neill Blomkamp to fit in another project, in fact his feature film directorial debut. Variety announced that Peter Jackson will produce the original sci fi screenplay called District 9, to be directed by Blomkamp. It's based on a script Blomkamp wrote with his partner Teri Tatchell. He will shoot in his native South Africa and the effects will of course be done by Weta.

While there isn't any specific indication as to what District 9 is actually about AICN is speculating that it might be an extension, or feature film adaptation of his previous short film Alive in Joburg. If this is the case, then truly this is awesome news. Alive in Joburg is fantastic. Its like everything I ever wanted to direct myself. I really REALLY think you should just go watch it right now.

Anyhow, let's hope that either this is the film getting made, or it's another equally as cool story.

Oh, and as for Halo, apparently it's really not dead. With the recent release of Halo 3, and the absurd amount of money it made, rumor has it that Microsoft are putting themselves together for another round of attempted financing. Only time will tell if their unheard of demands are the same as before, and can actually be met.

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Heroes ending early :(

Ok, first Heroes Origins cancelled and now this sad, sad news...and frankly its only going to get worse before it gets better.

Michael Aussiello the talented and wise sage over at TV Guide has spilled that Heroes production crew are prepping an early end to the season in light of the writers strike. Apparently an alternate ending for the December 3rd episode has been written, but not filmed yet. This ending will allow that episode originally intended to be the end of this story pod entitled "Generations", to serve as the final episode for the season.

If the writers strike were to end tomorrow, then yes they would probably go back into production for January shows, but that simply isn't going to happen. Chalk this up as another casualty.

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Wolverine morsels

Care of SHH, in a recent article the New Zealand website Stuff.co.nz has a small tidbit of semi spoilerish info on the Wolverine solo movie which is set to film there come January. Honestly its not a huge thing just cool. But if you don't want ANY spoilers, which really this is the kind of thing you'll see from the trailer probably, then just stop reading...

Ok, still there? good. The film will be set in the 1970s and show us the origins of what we know as the modern Wolverine. I wonder if that might mean a trip to the GreatWhite North. How cool would an Alpha Flight cameo be? or maybe they leave that for the sequel. :) Also, in one very cool sounding scene, a missile will narrowly miss our furry friend and explode a barn! That should be a cool effect. I'm trying to think of a barn exploding in a movie, and its escaping me, but hey, I'm sure it'll be sweet. Really most things exploding are pretty sweet, so I look forward to this. Oh, and one more thing I'm not sure if I mentioned this before but Liev Schreiber is apparently in final talks to play William Stryker, the role played to perfection by Brian Cox in X2.

Cool deal for Wolverine. I hope this movie rocks my socks . This weekend I watched director Gavin Hood's previous film Tsotsi, and was completely blown away. It is absolutely incredible, and I highly recommend it. :)

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The Rock is Black Adam

Well, now for some good news. We all know that your hero and mine Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson has been rumored to be up for a couple of 'super' film roles in the planned Captain Marvel movie. Specifically both as the titular Captain Marvel (ironically a DC character) and the sometimes villainous Black Adam, who is a rival of Captain Marvel and will most likely serve as the film's bid baddie. Well it looks like the wait is over. The Rock recently announced that he will in fact be playing Black Adam in the film.

Personally I was never a huge fan of Marvel, I've just never seen him really written that well, so I think this is definitely the right choice. Also, even just checking out the Black Adam wiki page, he seems like a damn cool character. Very dark, but ambiguous, kind of a vigilante anti-hero. I won't say I'm familiar with him specifically as I've never been a reader of Captain Marvel, and haven't read Infinite Crisis or its aftermath where I hear he has become quite popular, BUT I do think the Rock is destined for great things as a film hero. So I'm more than happy to wish him the best on this project :)

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T-minus 2 hours until strike time

Well, it looks like it really happened. As expected the Writers Guild of America is going on strike officially at 12:01am Monday morning.

From Variety, Patric Verone WGA West President said "Rather than address our members' primary concern, the studios made it clear that they would rather shut down the town than reach a fair and reasonable deal, This is not an action that anyone takes lightly. But it slowly became apparent that the studios are not prepared to deal fairly with writers and the rest of talent community."

In response Nick Counter, President of the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers said "The WGA's call for a strike is precipitous and irresponsible,"

So I kinda think this is going to be a problem. It honestly sucks, for everyone involved. The WGA is planning picket lines for Monday morning, and while apparently stressing that they are ready to go back and negotiate, they are sticking to their guns, especially when it comes to New Media and dvd residuals.

Of note, I guess the DGA is also negotiating with the AMPTP regarding dvd compensation. But the WGA have made it clear that they will not acquiesce to any deals they see as bad, even if it was already made by the Directors Guild.

Lets all hope this gets sorted out very soon. For everyone's sake.
For more info on the strike this wiki might help out.

UPDATED
Here's another more recent Variety article on the strike, and AICNs quick take with some practical points about what tv shows we can expect to fall first.... even for a potential springtime celebrity Big Brother, this is not worth it :(

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Heroes Origins CANCELLED!!

Man this sucks!

Heroes Origins, the planned spin-off series set to air next April has been scrapped by NBC. According to TV Guide, there has been no official comment as to why, but speculation favors the impending writers strike is behind the cancellation. Hopefully the writers strike won't happen and NBC will reverse this decision.

If not, then I declare Heroes Origins the first official casualty of the strike...

This is a sad, sad day :(

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Enter the Dollhouse

Was that title a little too obvious? hmm... probably ;)

Ok well, exciting news today. Joss Whedon is coming back to television, with a brand new show to be served up on FOX next season. The series, called Dollhouse, will star Buffy alum and all around hottie Eliza Dushku.

A sweeping Matrix inspired sci fi series, Dollhouse will follow "a top-secret world of people who can be programmed with different personalities, abilities and memories depending on their mission.

After each assignment - which can be physical, romantic, or even illegal - the characters have their memories wiped clean, and are sent back to a lab (dubbed the Dollhouse). The show centers on Dushku's character, Echo, as she slowly begins to develop some self-awareness, which impacts her missions.

The show will also revolve around the people who run the mysterious 'Dollhouse' and two other "dolls," a man and woman who are friendly with Echo. Then there's the federal agent who has heard an urban myth about the dolls, and is trying to investigate their existence."

Sounds very Dark Angel-esque to me, maybe mixed with some 3rd season Alias... anyhow, it sounds cool; that was my point. In this really interesting Variety article on the show Whedon and Dushku about their inspiration, and a bit more in-depth on how and why the show is coming together. And as Dushku's plan goes, it sounds like a pretty great way to un-pigeonhole herself.

We'll have to see where all this leads as we get closer to next Fall, where a 7 episode run has been ordered for FOX. Whedon and Dushku have already planned out the beats of all the episodes, so it should be pretty straightforward to put everything together, however that might be tricky if we end up with a writers strike. Only time will tell.

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Conan teaser poster

Well, well, well... what have we here. From the fine folks at Comingsoon.net we catch our first glance at a teaser poster for the new live action Conan movie. Millennium films, who acquired the rights to the property over the summer, plan for this new adaptation to be closer to the Robert E Howard books than the previous films. While I believe the film should still be solidly in the scripting stage, I'm definitely interested to see what they do with it.

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G.I. Joe updates

A few wonderful updates on our favorite Real American Heroes. Over the past few days it's been a scramble for the studios to get their scripts locked down before the impending writers strike, and G.I. Joe was one of the few that was going to be worked on up to the wire. In fact it was even reported that Paramount had contracted for 3 different scripts from 3 different writers to finish up the screenplay, and that they were planning to combine the best parts from the 3 scripts. An idea that would've obviously been a sure-fired recipe for failure. Thankfully though Paramount are not idiots and all three writers, lead by Stuart Beattie, were actually working together to finish the one single script and polish the story.

And even more good news for freedom lovers everywhere revealed today, the script is ready, the film has officially been greenlit, casting is in progress, and a projected February 13th start is in line for director Stephen Sommers. Working with a budget around $170 million (which is happily much more than I was imagining it would be) casting rumors have started to fly. Of course we don't definitely know which Joe or Cobra characters will feature in the film, but we can assume the core most popular 4 or 5: Duke, Flint, Scarlett, Lady Jaye, and Snake Eyes on the Joes, and Cobra Commander, Storm Shadow, Destro, and the Baroness for Cobra. I guess that's 9, already a fairly big ensemble, especially if you're looking for known actors. And at least for the lead that seems to be the case.

Reported earlier this week, George Clooney was rumored to have been up for the role of Conrad 'Duke' Houser. Quite a change from the longer standing rumor about Mark Wahlberg in the role. Both of these seem to be incorrect though, as the most popular current rumor has Paramount courting Sam Worthington to step into the fatigues of leadership for the Joes. Worthington is of course currently off working on James Cameron's Avatar, but word is that Paramount is interested enough in him that they are willing to work around his scheduling. Now that's a good commitment.

I'm really glad this film is getting made. I sure hope they've got the balls to do it justice. So far everything sounds great.

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new AVP-R posters

Care of Shocktillyoudrop.com check out these great new international posters of Aliens vs Predator: Requiem...

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Very slick. Much better than that last poster if you ask me.

Also, just cause its Halloween, why not watch this great and somewhat gory R-rated clip from the new movie of the Predator and Aliens fighting. Hooray graphic violence!!

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Point Break 2 gears up

Just a quick update on the surf film that is sure to blow all of our collective minds. The HIGHLY anticipated follow up to the Swazye / Keanu ultra team-up action film from some 15 years ago, Point Break.

"I am an F.B.I agent!"

Man, what a great film. A true American classic. I personally cannot wait for the sequel. Unfortunately at this point it doesn't look like either Swayze or Reeves will play a part in the new film, although that isn't a guarantee. I mean even Vin Diesel showed up in Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift.... Anything can happen. But Cinematical is saying that while both Swayze and Reeves people have been contacted there's no word on participation and the plan for now is to cast the film with Asian lead actors.

According to Comingsoon's recent report we do know that this new film WILL finally tell us the fate of Swazye's character Bodhi who as we all know was last seen paddling out into the giant waves of the 50 year storm at Bell's Beach, Australia. (which incidentally is now something of a tourist attraction for it's historical significance in that film, despite the fact that the break there is only just ok, and the scene wasn't technically filmed at that specific beach). Regardless, the story will revolve around an ex-professional surfer who enlists in the US Navy and is recruited to track down a criminal gang based in Southeast Asia. And the film will mark the directorial debut of Peter Iliff, who wrote both original the Point Break and is also penning this sequel.

The film is said to have a budget of $20 - $30 million and is currently prepping to start shooting in SE Asia sometime in mid '08. Killer.

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Vanderbilt on Spidey 4

Screenwriter James Vanderbilt has been picked by SONY to write the script for Spider-Man 4. A film which will reportedly be scaled back from the previous installments (especially in terms of budget) and focus more on character than special effects. It is also reported that the film will follow the two villain model of Spider-Man 2 rather than 3.

Vanderbilt previously worked on scripts for Zodiac, The Rundown, Darkness Falls, Basic and apparently a rewrite of X-Men Origins: Wolverine. He was picked because of his attention to character driven story.

This scaled back approach is in my opinion exactly what the series honestly needs. While Sam Raimi has mused that if he did come back he would like to round out a Sinister Six storyline featuring Vulture and Electro I think that's mostly just speculation and wishful thinking. I think what we really need is a simpler darker kind of gritty story. Maybe Kraven the Hunter comes to New York to track down The Lizard. It could take place in dark back alleys and sewers. Even Spider-Man has a few dark story arcs, and I think that would be a good one to tell.

We'll have to wait and see what transpires. For the record the last thing we had previously heard about this film was that David Koepp was being courted to write it, however apparently negotiations with him fell through.

As a final thought and a totally random side note, Avi Arad said recently in an interview that Marvel has a Venom movie in the pipeline... very interesting.

Cross your fingers for more on ol webhead in the very near future. Spidey 4 is currently set for a summer 2010 release. Hope that writers strike doesn't get in the way.

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Colverfield tidbit

Just a quick note, but because its Cloverfield I thought it warranted a post. According to Comingsoon.net we will get a brand new trailer and the final official title to Colverfield in front of Beowulf, opening on November 16th. So that's very good news indeed.

There's not much happening on the ARG / rumor front, although feel free to marvel at the splash page for Bold Futura, at boldfutura.jp, the full site is coming soon. Bold Futura is a subsidiary company of the Tagruato Corporation, and you can read all about that here.

for all your 1-18-08 news, I recommend Cloverfield Clues :)

UPDATE - CHUD has posted a spoiler filled description of the upcoming trailer. It sounds great! really REALLY cool. And there is a piece of a scene described in the trailer description that matches an AICN post from a while ago that describes more of that full scene. The big news if these descriptions are correct, is that the film will feature both a large size monster, and smaller ones as well. Also that the smaller ones may have the capacity to bite people and make them sick. Monster zombies or vampires maybe? That's probably too cheesy. :) Ok, well we do know that it's for sure a real survival story, as opposed to an Independence Day 'kill em all and reclaim our world' sort of thing. We'll know for sure once it comes out in a few weeks.

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Escape update

Well, there has been a few small movements on the Escape From New York remake front lately, but nothing truly substantiated until this announcement today, that Gerard Butler has officially dropped out of the film, which has been stalled in pre-production for a while now.

I personally was pretty excited to see the Spartans take on Snake Plisskin, but I understand why he also might want off this ship. The film has reportedly been tossed around to a few different directors in the past while. First it was set up with Len Wiseman, but he left, presumably to get to work on Underworld 3 and the oft rumored Gears of War film. And then reports over the past few weeks seemed to indicate that Brett Ratner was briefly hired onto the film, but now it appears that New Line have settled onto Jonathan Mostow of Terminator 3 fame to retool the script with an option to direct as Butler bows out.

Maybe a rethinking / retooling break is in order for this film. If they do remake it, and I personally hope they do, then I definitely want it to be fan-fuckin-tastic. The franchise has a lot of untapped potential with the right elements in place. Hopefully Mostow is the right man for the job.

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Wanted trailer

Oh man, you guys have got to see this sweet trailer for Wanted. It just dropped and it it really kicks a lot of ass. Morgan Freeman is just so damn cool doing the voice over "What would you do if no one ever told you that bullets fly straight." And I have to say McAvoy looks fantastic for the part. What a cool movie this is going to be :)

The official website for Wanted has gone online at wantedmovie.com and there you can find links to all sorts of goodies like icons/avatars, wallpaper, a gallery, and of course the trailer. I will post it here once it hits somewhere like Youtube tomorrow. For now though, go check it out at this link and enjoy it. TTYL.

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The Office spinoff

WHAT?! is this for real???

Well, in todays Ausiello Report over at TV Guide online, the uber-awesome Michael Ausiello scooped that NBC's very funny show The Office will be getting the Grey's Anatomy / Private Practice treatment, and have a new series spun off of it later this year. The proposed Office 2 will not feature any of the current shows core cast but will focus on entirely new characters, and NBC is currently out shopping for a leading funny man...

This is very weird news, that I'm really not sure I like. Even if its a very different premise than The Office, do we really need another show like it? I love the pacing, timing and unique comedy of The Office, but I worry that another series might overload my appetite for quirky downbeat documentarian comedy. Can tv handle more awkward pauses, or foot in mouth moments? While I'm holding back any final judgment until I hear more, I'm not sure Michael Scott would approve of this business move...

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Van Peebles Unites

The Baadasssss himself, or perhaps I should say son of Baadassss Mario Van Peebles has stepped from the ether into the news spotlight again. This time developing his long time passion project "The Uniter" for the big screen. Van Peebles is set to direct the film based on a script he wrote and developed himself over the last 6 years inspired by his travels through India, and Aztec mysticism.

According to Variety the story "chronicles the journey of a political fugitive who escapes from the future back to the present to teach a 13-year-old how to use his powers to unite the warring factions of the world before it's too late for planet Earth."

Time traveling politicians? Diplomacy at all costs? Sounds like a sure fire winner to me :) Van Peebles hopes to begin shooting in January.

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Wanted pics

I know I haven't talked about Wanted here, and I'm not really sure why. I think I had something against the comic book maybe, although I can't really figure out what that could be seeing as I've never read it... hmmm. Anyhow, Wanted is a new film starring James McAvoy as Wes, a typical cubicle monkey who is one day offered the opportunity to seek bloody revenge for the murder of his father, who was a super-villain assassin. Wes is invited by his father's former partner Sloan, head of The Fraternity, a secret society of bad ass superheroes (Morgan Freeman), to follow in his father's footsteps. Sloan's second-in-command Fox (Angelina Jolie) mentors Wes. The Fraternity, which uses powers of lightning reflexes, and super speed, follows the death orders issued by the Fates, weavers who read individuals' destinies in fabrics produced by mystical looms.

Empire Online recently snagged the first official photos from the film, and wow, pretty cool. Check out this amazing shot of Morgan Freeman as the Leader of the Fraternity, a man obviously with some serious power. And go over to Empire to see a bunch of other pics, including a few featuring the lovely Ms Jolie.


Watch for a trailer to Wanted to drop sometime next week as it's reported to be attached to prints of the awesome looking Ridley Scott film American Gangster. Wanted is set for release March 28th, '08.

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live action Akira

Is it really going to happen? A live action adaptation of the manga and extremely popular anime film Akira? Well, apparently is Warners has anything to say about it yes. And soon too.

Bloody Disgusting reports that, Warners have hired Ruairi Robinson to direct the film which they hope to get working on before the impending writers strike... which could hit as early as the end of this week. Robinson has helmed.. well not too much. And nothing I've seen, except this one short film. Which you too can check out, right here. It's an interesting 7 minute horror / sci fi film called The Silent City.

I for one would definitely be up for a live action Akira film. I think it could be really cool.

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Pumpkin Skull

The pumpkin I carved this weekend looked something like this. I forgot to take a picture of it before I gave it away to a friend, but I thought it turned out pretty darn well.

DC makes some moves

I have to wonder sometimes what exactly Warner Brothers is doing. They waited a solid 5 years after Marvel started making a gagillion dollars on their various movie franchises before even attempting to get in the ring, and then we got what? Halle Berry's Catwoman, and a few REALLY bad ideas... Wonder Twins?! Seriously!?! Jack Black as Green Lantern?! I mean is it that hard to take your own characters just a little bit seriously.

And then along comes Chris Nolan and he makes the world right again. Batman Begins kicks off a new era for WB and their comic book properties. Maybe this can really work. Singer took on Superman and whether wholly successful or not, at least you know he honestly tried, and that he respects the character. But missteps seem a bit inevitable. DC still has a head up their ass quality sometimes. And for every innovative idea like New Frontier, it seems we also are given questionable ones, like what I see as a rushed JLA movie, and two new actors playing the only really currently established movie heroes DC has (Supes and Batman). Granted nothing is set in stone confirming that, but generally at this point everyone seems to think that's the case.

Is DC doing things ass-backwards? Launching the team story in Justice League before single editions introducing the characters? Marvel is just ramping up for an Avengers movie now, after years of establishing characters. And unlike DC they don't seem to be in any huge rush; they know that their single character stories are working their way into mainstream American consciousness, before throwing a handful of unknown characters to the moviegoing wolves. And I think that's a pretty smart idea. But Warner Brothers made two announcements yesterday that might change all that. No, it doesn't look like they're scrapping the JLA film in favor of single serving hero pics. Instead they're going to do it all at once, and have a blockbuster sweeping superhero slate.

It was reported by MTV in their surprisingly good Movies Blog that David Dobkin, director of Wedding Crashers, and the new Fred Claus will be taking on The Flash. This makes him the third director attached to the project (following David Goyar, and Shawn Levy). Even better news is that Dobkin's scarlett speedster will be the same one we meet in George Miller's JLA movie, currently in endless casting. When asked which version of The Flash would feature in his film, Dobkin told reporters that it would be the modern age Flash that most people are familiar with, Wally West. He also said this film would be a continuation of the character and story established for Wally in the Justice League film.

And then hot on the heels of the Flash news came Variety's report that a director has also been hired to helm a Green Lantern film! Greg Berlanti, who is best known as exec producer and writer on such shows as Dirty Sexy Money, and Brothers & Sisters will write and direct the film, which unlike the case of The Flash is said to not follow the Justice League GL, reported to be John Stewart, but instead the silver age fan favorite Lantern Hal Jordan. Presumably it will still take place in the same universe as the JLA film, as there are many Lanterns operating at the same time in the comic continuity, but that hasn't been confirmed yet.

Both Flash, and Green Lantern films will be released after George Miller's Justice League film. And as for the JLA film... well I know I haven't been talking much about it. As you can tell I have a few doubts about it, but I'm definitely still interested. A lot of film sites these days are following the endless speculation on casting; and while I admit I'm definitely intrigued as to which young Hollywood hottie will get to play Wonder Woman I also get pretty frustrated by the non stop speculation. So I'm not going to talk about any of that stuff here. Instead what interests me more at this point is the story. If you're interested as well, and don't mind a few kinda bigish spoilers, I encourage you to check out this VERY enlightening article on Ain't It Cool News where they talk through a number of plot points, including what villains will appear.

I honestly want this film, all these films, to be good. I may have grown up a Marvel zombie, but I've read a lot of DCs stuff in the past few years and its really solid. They've got some great complex characters, and at times deal with pretty mature themes. Flash, and especially Green Lantern are good characters, and I have faith that they can hold a film. I just hope DCs strategy doesn't deliver more films of Catwoman quality. That would make me very very sad. Lets keep our fingers crossed.

UPDATE - Surprise, surprise, Joel Silver who has been the standby producer on a proposed Wonder Woman picture says that the Amazonian's solo efforts have been temporarily stalled until after the JLA film has been completed. I guess Warners didn't want to overload their plate...

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Marié Digby's Umbrella

Ok, so generally speaking I'm not a huge fan of this kind of music, but I have to admit this girl is really talented. Marié Digby is the YouTube phenom that makes some great folky music of her own but is best known for a few of her acoustic cover songs. Her breakout came with this cover for Rhianna's Umbrella. Check it out.



Obviously a part of her appeal is that she's pretty easy on the eyes too, but her voice is really just fantastic. Check out a full version of the song here, or her performance on Last Call here. Her EP, titled Start Here is available on iTunes for $4. Pretty nice :)

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Sci Fi opens Warehouse 13

Following the recent news about Sci Fi Channel's upcoming show Revolution, they have announced work on a pilot for another new series called Warehouse 13.

The show according to Variety will be X-Files meets Moonlighting. The "comedic drama follows two agents -- a man and woman -- as they're given a "promotion" to head up the hush-hush "Warehouse 13" in South Dakota. The facility is home to a collection of strange materials collected by the government. The pair are charged with hunting down missing objects and discovering new ones -- and then bringing them back to the vaults." Unfortunately "just as a romance starts to develop between the two lead characters, one of the mysterious artifacts brings the female FBI agent's dead partner back to life -- creating quite the bizarre love triangle."

So far only a pilot has been approved, but should the show get picked up it will follow the more episodic story style of Eureka, which will according to programming VP Mark Stern maintain accessibility and appeal to a wider audience, especially females.

Sounds like this could be a fun show, we'll have to see what becomes of it.

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And the wolves come out to play

Underworld 3, is ramping up to get going and a few details have started to surface. It is being called Underworld 3: Rise of the Lycans. I betcha by the time it makes it to theaters they drop the 3. Anyhow, the film is in fact a prequel and will explore the beginnings of the age long feud between the vampires and werewolves (aka Lycans).

According to Variety the film "traces the origins of the centuries-old blood feud between the aristocratic vampires known as Death Dealers and their onetime slaves, the Lycans. In the Dark Ages, a young Lycan named Lucian (Michael Sheen) emerges as a powerful leader who rallies the werewolves to rise up against Viktor (Bill Nighy), the cruel vampire king who has enslaved them. Lucian is joined by his secret lover, Sonja (Rohna Mitra), in his battle against the Death Dealer army and his struggle for Lycan freedom."

It is also the first of the Underworld films to really center on the Lycan way of life. A good move if you ask me, as this just opens more territory to explore. Of course the film is being directed by neophyte director, and former VFX artist who designed the creatures for the first two films, Patrick Tatopoulos. But hey you've got to start somewhere, and I think this is a great opportunity. I am disappointed of course to see an Underworld film without Kate Beckinsale, but Michael Sheen is really a wonderful actor that I'm always glad to watch. And I think we can all agree he's much better than Scott Speedman.

I'm looking forward to see where they go with this film. I really enjoyed both of the Underworld films, and this one despite not being a direct sequel could be pretty fun. Underworld 3 goes into production January '08 in New Zealand.

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Enter the Predalien

Thanks go to my friend Bernard for pointing me to the story this morning where USA Today got the first look at the infamous Predalien (a Predator-Alien hybrid) from the upcoming Aliens vs Predator: Requiem film. According to their interview with directors Greg and Colin Strause the film is set to be darker and grittier than past installments in either franchise. They really want to bring the Aliens back to Ridley Scott's roots. Expect darkness, scary situations, lots of rain, a favoring of men in costumes over extensive CG, and I'm sure some pretty kickass action.

As for these pics of the Predaliens, well I have to say I'm not really sold on them. And like I was discussing with Bernard, it doesn't even make sense. I mean the Predators are already aliens. Why are we changing their name?! What we should be doing is finally actually giving the Aliens a real name. My recommendation is to either use the Marvel comics name for their creatures that are obviously based on the Aliens, The Brood, or the name used in Starcraft for them, the Zerg. I mean considering how many times we've seen them now, don't you think we could think of something more imaginative than Aliens... Check out these pics, and go to the USA Today for more.



It's going to be a very cool and fun action film no matter what. Look for it coming at you on Christmas Day.

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