Harbinger of good movies

Paramount and Brett Ratner are bringing the classic comic book series Harbinger to life on the big screen. What never heard of it? well, no worries, neither had I. But its a book that was created by comic book legend Jim Shooter and has a really awesome sounding plot.

According to wikipedia the comic book story revolves around these people with psyonic abilities, like telepathy, telekeniseis, and mind control. These people are called called Harbingers and hide their powers from the world (think Scanners). The plot chronicles a war between two factions of Harbingers, one good one bad, both badass. Toyo Harada is the baddie, a wealthy industrialist who has used his powers to create a multinational corporation where he can recruit more Harbingers and slowly take over the world, 'for its own good' of course. And our hero is 17 year old Pete Stancheck, a regular kid who gets thrown into a world above his head. But after being tempted by the dark side he decides to form a resistance to fight Harada's evil power grab.

Sounds like a cool story to me. I know Brett Ratner leaves a sour taste in many people's mouths, but I think he might do well with something like this. At the least it'll be bring another cool book to light that might have gone on in the shadows, unknown and unread. And that's a good thing no matter what. What becomes of the film is anyones guess so far.
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J.C.V.D. the movie!

Ok, so anyone whose known me for a while should know of my honest love for all things Jean-Claude Van Damme. Honestly he was always one of if not my absolute favorite action hero. The man made a few great films, and a lot of really funny "great" films. I feel a bit bad that his career took something of a nosedive; but honestly pretty much every actors does. Thats just the lifecycle of fame. It only last for the very very few. So when I saw this trailer today on Ain't it Cool News I was really excited.

Jean Claude Van Dame, back in action in a really quirky film, that takes place in Brussels, and is in French, and stars JC as... himself?! exactly. WTF is going on. Well, as Vern over at AICN puts it, this movie is closest in tone to seeing John Malkovich star as himself in Being John Malkovich. J.C.V.D. is a film, a quasi real biopic, that features parts of Jean Claude's real life. He's in it as himself, he has been involved with a few scandalous drug issues, and is in a very real way acknowledging that his career is not even remotely what it used to be. The point where this film differs from reality, as far as I know, is where Jean Claude travels back to his home to fight and lose a messy custody battle for his daughter, then he loses all his money, and in an odd turn of events is mistaken for a bank robber. From there apparently it falls into a sort of Dog Day Afternoon. Seriously... totally out there, eh?

ok, enough talk, check out the trailer for J.C.V.D. and tell me what you think...



Pretty strange eh? Strange, but maybe what the aging star needs right now for his career. I hope so. JCVD was never a bad actor, he just took cheesy scripts. There was a point in college where I owned almost every single movie he had made... about 25 or so. Just check out something like Legionnaire and you'll see. Van Damme does have some skills to bear. I hope this is a film that can breathe new life into our perceptions of him. So far he's on the right track, especially if the rumors that he turned down Rush Hour 3 (which he obviously wasn't in) and the new Street Fighter films are true. J.C.V.D. does not have a solid U.S. release date yet, and I'm not sure it even has a US distributer, but I sure hope it makes it to our screens.

If you're interested in more check out this really weird promo for the movie. Its a scene of JC crashing the casting session for this very film; and forcing them to hire him as himself...


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Star Wars updates

Thanks to AICN for pointing the way to this great Collider article that went up today about the new Star Wars animated and live action tv series. It's a really interesting read and I suggest you head over to check out the entire story. Of course, having done the reading for you here are the salient details...

- Both shows will be considered canon
- The animated show is going to be aimed squarely at kids, with the hope that adults will join in, I mean, it is Star Wars after all...
- The live action series will be dark, and should garner a PG-13 rating, or whatever the tv equivalent is
- While the live action show has not as of yet been sold to any network the talk is that it might go to something like Showtime or even HBO, and will run in short seasons of maybe as little as 12 episodes (which will make it take a long time to reach the proposed 100 episodes)
- Think Deadwood meets he Sopranos for the live action series
- The Skywalker story is really and truly finished, there is no plan to have them appear on the live action show
- The live action show might very well feature as main characters a mob family
- As we already know the animated show will take place between episodes II and III, and the live action between III and IV

Sweet, sweet, sweet. I would really love for the live action series to follow a mob family. I always love the Black Sun stuff in the Star Wars Expanded Universe and I think this could be cool. Also, I like the point that they're really going to try to make it dark, trying to make it honestly cool again. That's all really good stuff.

The Star Wars: Clone Wars animated series kicks off in theaters this summer, on Aug 15th, with the first 3 episodes in movie form. And the as yet untitled live action series is still at least a year or so away from being really to go to air. I personally can't wait for both. They're going to be great. And yes, I've been burned somewhat by Star Wars in the past, we all have... But I have faith that the Lucas crew can bring it home for something great here. I really do.
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Browder vs the Greeks

One of my favorite genre tv stars, Ben Browder, of Farscape and Stargate SG-1 fame has announced that he is working on a surprising and intriguing mini-series with his former Farscape director Andrew Prowse. It's a modern day, real world meets Greek mythology meets science fiction, series called Going Homer.

According to Sci -fi Wire "The miniseries follows a modern American 12-year-old boy, named Homer Ulysses Jones, who can see Greek and Roman gods walking among the populace. Homer and his father run away together after a fierce custody battle and head to the home of their ancestors in Ithaca, N.Y."

ummm. ok, alright I'm rolling with it I guess... so far... I get how tough things might be for a boy dealing with a messy custody battle. Especially if he has to grow up with a name like Homer. But I think a lot will depend on where the story actually goes from there.

Browder has said that he really is excited to bring some of these characters to life. The big three: Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades of course are at the top of his list, but what other elements of Greek mythology will be addressed has yet to be disclosed. I suppose its not surprising. Browder's was on Stargate for a number of years, which is a show really heavily steeped in all walks of mythology including Greek.

The miniseries is still in development, as the dynamic duo work through their second draft of the "weighty" script. But I've no doubt we'll be hearing more on Going Homer, which is sure to end up on Sci Fi channel before too long. I know I'm just keeping my fingers crossed for hottie Tethys to make an appearance. Or do you think the Titans are too neuveau for this one???
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New Amsterdam review

Well, I know I mentioned before that I had just missed the premiere of New Amsterdam. And actually it turns out my DVR has a conflict so I won't be recording it. But luckily, the episodes are set to show up online for free. FOX's online media player isn't the best quality so you might want to check out somewhere else. But my opinion on that is that the network should be happy I'm seeking it out at all.

The show itself, just aired episode 3 tonight, and I have yet to watch it, but I thought I'd give my opinion on the first two, seeing as there's definitely still time to catch up if your interested. And for now at least I'd say its conditionally worth checking out. Definitely not something I'm going to invest too heavily in but the show has 'potential' to be very good. So far it only has moments of good.

The premise is that a man back in the 17th century gave his life in the pitch of a battle to save that of a native American woman. In return for the foreigners kindness the woman brought him back from the dead and blessed, or cursed him with immortality. That is at least until he finds his "true love". Once he completes that fairy tale he will be made mortal once again to love and die as a man. Cut to present day and we find our hero John Amsterdam, somewhat world weary but no less worse for the wear, working as a homicide detective in New York City. In the pilot, while chasing down a criminal in the subway he unexpectedly has a heart attack. Proof positive, in his mind that somewhere in that station, somewhere was the woman he is destined to love. Now he only has to find her in a city of millions.

It's basically like The Highlander, only instead of chopping heads off, its about finding true love...

So, not an entirely original premise, and honestly a bit thin around the edges, BUT there is something to it. Immortality is always an interesting hook to me. I like the sci fi element of it, I like the magic. The rest of the show, so far at least, is fairly disposable. It's a procedural cop show. His best friend is the local bartender who knows his secret, also ripped from the Highlander playbook. Although interestingly as revealed in episode 2, the bartender is actually his son. And of course there's romance around every bend; that's for the ladies in the audience ;) New Amsterdam is definitely still finding its feet. Understandably I suppose. Rumor was a few months back that the show was held off from its intended Fall mid season start-up not only because of the then looming writers strike, but because executives at FOX weren't happy that the show seems to lack direction. They did not abandon it though, and I think the fact that its still on the air after 3 episodes is commendable work on the studios part (this is FOX after all).

Is New Amsterdam worth checking out? I'd say yes, but only if you're interested in this kind of a hook. Only if you want some magic and sense of the fantastical in your shows. This isn't a gritty show. It doesn't have any teeth at all, but it might yet develop them. I will definitely say though, like the Highlander tv series before it, the show could grab people more with the interesting backstories. The flashbacks where we have the same man in many times, that's what we need to draw us into the world. The interest and development of the present day characters will come in time. Highlander had the swordplay and action to fall back on, this does not. You see, I get what they're trying to do with the fairy tale love story, and its sweet; but so far I just don't care about these people enough to feel much of anything along with them. The trips through time are what attract me, and possibly you, to the story.

You should know by now if you want to check it out, if you're still not sure though, maybe it'll be better to wait and watch it all as a season set on dvd. I bet once it gets through these first awkward episodes, New Amsterdam could be a really worthwhile show. Of course that's only if it makes it.

Once again, you can watch all the episodes online here.
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Hulk: trailer for a trailer

Check out this Incredible Hulk trailer trailer... yes I know. :/



The real trailer will launch online on the night of 03/12. The film comes out 06/13.
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Vaughn gives Thor update

Only thing is, there's almost nothing to say. Empire Online got a few words with him at their recent awards show and director Matthew Vaughn says that the Thor movie, much like Ant Man is in a "holding pattern". Although he seems upbeat about it all saying “I think you have to respect that it is comic book and silly to be frank, so you have to combine that with a modern style and hopefully come up with something fresh. I think we can come up with something special.” Unfortunately there's still nothing much to really say, until Marvel announces their decision on whats next on their plate.

Vaughn did mention that he intends to cast a total unknown in the lead role. A smart move if you ask me. The character is so 'bigger than life' that only someone the audience has no preconceptions about would fit.

As I've mentioned before, I personally expect Thor to be the movie Marvel commits to for 2009, but we'll have to wait and see. Hopefully they'll announce something soon...
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Ant-Man update

The Ant Man movie is something that feels like its been on the books at Marvel for a long time now. They've been working on the minuscule heroes story and how to bring it to the big screen since at least August of '06. And despite being tossed around on the 'upcoming projects slate' for a few years now, it looks like we finally might have some legitimate movement on the project. With Iron Man, and Incredible Hulk coming so soon, and presumably Thor and Captain America on the near horizon, the pieces are falling together for a possible Avengers film, and Marvel could use a few second stringers to round out the cast. Ant Man falls perfectly into that category.

Director, writer Edgar Wright of Shaun of the Dead, and Hot Fuzz fame is helming the picture. Don't worry, he's not planning to do a spoof. At the recent Empire Awards he spoke with the magazine about where he's at in the process currently. Apparently he's currently working with his writing partner Joe Cornish on the second draft of the script at the moment. Wright has a vision for the character that he's clear on. Or should I say characters... Wright has mentioned that he intends to feature both the original 1960s Ant Man Dr Henry Pym, and the modern age Ant Man Scott Lang. As opposed to the comedy, for which he's known Wright said "It’s more of a full-on action adventure sci-fi film but with a comedic element – in the same spirit of a lot of escapist fare like that." and that the film is in a distinct 'holding pattern' until Marvel decides when it will fit into their production schedule. My honest guess is 2009 sees the Thor film in production, and 2010 gets Ant Man, and hopefully Captain America. At the moment Wrights has said he has no one in mind for the lead role, of either the classic or modern Ant Man. My suggestion, Guy Pierce. Of course he was my original suggestion for Silver Surfer too, so we'll see what they decide on.

Ant Man will come one of these days. Read more about the character on the wiki. And as always, more on this film as it develops.
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New Indy poster

Care of Comingsoon.net, check out this cool new poster for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Click to enlarge.

So I guess that answers my question as to whether they were going to show the skull, and all that it implies, in the promotional material. I suppose it was unavoidable. And anyways I think its cool; then again I would :) Te movie comes out May 22nd, '08.
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Two new Speed Racer trailers

Wow, check out these two very cool new Speed Racer trailers. These are set for the international market, and I think they look amazing. Are you guys excited about this film? I think people will either love it or hate it...





Speed Racer comes out on May 9th, '08.
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ShoWest posters...

IESB.net has some great early poster and standee pics from the ShoWest convention that happened this weekend in Las Vegas. Check all their great pics out HERE. I'm just going to post twp specific ones, but you should definitely look through all of their great coverage, I know I appreciate seeing it.

First check out this pretty cool poster for the new Mummy film. Reminds me of the Mortal Kombat logo. Click to enlarge.

And now check out this great Clone Wars poster art. Nice eh?

Also, IESB has pics of posters and standees for Ice Age 3, Wanted, Iron Man, Starship Dave, Baby Mama, and more. Looks like a fun time. Although I think most of the press done at ShoWest is specifically for theater owners and distributors we'll have to see what news manages to leak out of this show in the coming days.
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Bone to the big screen

Some great news for comic to film fans everywhere, the fantastic comic series Bone by writer / artist Jeff Smith has been picked up by Warner Brothers for development.

The series which is fairly well known and yet still outside mainstream books follows the three Bone cousins, who are not exactly human, as they travel out of their home and find themselves in the big wide world. This is a fantasy series that featured talking animals, and lots of laughs. But it also showed real emotion, and serious relationships. The most significant characteristic though would be pure adventure. Because of course the beloved valley is in danger. The Lord of the Locusts in on the warpath and it might just be up to Fone Bone, our hero, and his friends including the Great Red Dragon, and beautiful warrior woman Thorn to stop him.

Apparently back in the 90s the property was in development at Nickelodeon but Jeff Smith halted the development process after learning how they intended to only target a children's audience in an animated version of the story, and wanted to include songs by the likes of Britney Spears and N'Sync. Of course, while it might have been successful I think anyone whose actually read the books can say this story deserves better.

This new production is still in the very early stages, but just to have the news of development out there is good news. Whether the Bone movie will take a live action or animated form has yet to be determined.
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Tropic Thunder lands online

Ben Stiller, Jack Black, and Robert Downey Jr. are all starring in this could be hilarious new film called Tropic Thunder, which although coming out this very August, has somehow flown pretty much under the radar. This past week though, a teaser image found its way online which automatically caught the web's attention as it shows Robert Downey in full blackface, and then just a day or two ago this teaser website launched with a pretty funny age restricted trailer. Check out the site HERE.


Pretty crazy photo eh?

The movie, according to wikipedia, is about a group of self obsessed actors and a filmmaker trying to make a Vietnam war movie. But after it goes way over budget and the studio cancels the production; the frustrated director takes his actors literally deep into the jungles of SE Asia where they end up in the middle of an real civil war. Stiller plays Tug Speedman, a self obsessed action hero movie star and the lead role in the film. Black plays a comedian turned drug addict who is best known for playing multiple parts in his films. And Downey Jr. plays Kirk Lazarus, an Academy Award winning actor who is so method that he dyes his skin black to play his part in the film.

Seems all kinda kooky to me. Will it be good? I haven't decided, but the caliber of stars is a good sign. We'll probably have to wait to see more as we get closer to the Aug 15th release date.
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I believe in Harvey Dent...

Wondering how on earth the Dark Knight film was ever going to get back on its feet with a solid marketing campaign in the wake of the tragic death of Heath Ledger? Well wonder not longer citizens of Gotham. http//www.ibelieveinharveydent.com has gone live.

The campaign site for the new potential district attorney Harvey Dent needs your support. Join the struggle to take back Gotham and show you care, by printing banners, and flyers for the current ADA. You can send in your pictures of support, and even hear a message from the man himself.

I believe in Harvey Dent, do you...

Why not let Aaron Eckhart convince you in this interview.
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Righteous Kill trailer

Check out this Heat 2, I mean Righteous Kill trailer. Do you think it'll be as good as The Departed?



No; me neither. But it should be entertaining at the very least. The film comes out September 12th, 2008.
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Iron Man floating heads!

Woot! I love floating head posters!!!

Care of ComingSoon, here is the new domestic poster for Iron Man. Click to enlarge.

And now here is the international one.



So very uninspired. sigh... ah well, Iron Man is going to rock so I forgive them. The film comes out stateside on May 2nd.
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PoP update

Almost a year ago I posted about what was at the time the next project on the horizon for "awesome" action director Michael Bay, an adaptation of the very popular and extremely fun video game Prince of Persia. Well back in November, there was a shifting of the sands at the Jerry Bruckheimer camp, and the directors gig fell to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire helmer Mike Newell. Good news if you ask me, of course Bay would've done a tremendous job, but Newell is more than adequate to bring this story to the screen. And now that the strike is over, and the script by Day After Tomorrow scribe Jeffrey Nachmanoff is in, production is really starting to gear up.

The story itself will reportedly not directly follow the plot of the game, although The Sands of Time will be retained as a subtitle. The original screenwriter Jordan Mechner claimed that PoP would be closer in style to the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. And undoubtedly Disney and producers would love to have another tentpole action series that rakes in the money like the Pirates films.

Frankly, I think they just might. While a lot will depend on casting, the story (at least in the game) is strong, the visuals are something American film audiences won't have seen much of before, and come on, who seriously doesn't love a rollicking adventure film? The film will be shot in England and Morocco probably beginning sometime this June assuming the SAG doesn't strike. I am definitely looking forward to this one. Considering the pedigree of the games, this should be a really cool film.
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Sony Picture Animation's lineup

You know I'm not overly familiar with Sony Pictures Animation. They're a relatively new division of Sony, which was formed after the very funny short film The ChubbChubbs! won the 2002 Academy Award for Best Animated Short. It's a great little 5 minute film that you should definitely watch. Here, check it out.



There was also a sequel made called The ChubbChubbs Save Xmas, which you can watch clips of at the Sony Pictures website. Or you can see as a bonus feature on the Surf's Up dvd. The only actual feature films they've made are Open Season, and Surf's Up, neither of which I've seen yet. But I wanted to mention two films that are in development at SPA, both of which sound really fun.

The first is Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, which is based on a children's book I definitely remember reading back in the day. According to Zap2it the films story is "about a fictional town called Chewandswallow where the sky provides all meals, whether it's a soup rain, mashed potatoes snow or hot dogs blowing in at five miles per hour. Unlike the book, the film will give the origins of the phenomena: a scientist who seeks to end world hunger by creating the unusual weather. Unfortunately, the weather, like sour milk, takes a turn for the worse." As a kid I always found the idea of food raining from the sky both amazing sounding and totally gross; kind of a magic combination really. I think this should be a story kids will love. I mean I love cheeseburgers as much as the next guy, but do I love a tornado of them??? How could kids not be fascinated by that.

And the second project that was newly announced is Hotel Transylvania, according to Variety the "story centers on Simon Van Helsing, the youngest in a long line of monster hunters. The last thing Van Helsing wants to do is fall in love with Dracula's Daughter, Mavis. Upon discovering that they are natural enemies, the doomed couple attempts to bring peace between monsters and humans. In the end, each family will have some new blood." While Open Season's director Jill Culton has been hired to direct there are no writers attached yet. It sounds really fun to me. I mean talk about your star-crossed lovers. This could be a really sweet film too, and you know there'll be some action.

As an animation house Sony Pictures Animation has said that they don't want to have a set 'style' they want each of their projects to find their own voice and distinction. I like that attitude. I think this is definitely a group to watch. Sure they're not quite at Pixar's level, but already they've proven themselves to be smart at picking their projects and I like to know that there are other studios making animated films that Disney and the often overrated Dreamworks. Hopefully they'll keep it up and we'll get more quality stories in the years to come.
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The end of the world will be furry

When I was in 5th grade I wrote this story about how the arctic animals gained super-intelligence and turned on the humans of the world. I think it was really the multitude of polar bear and moose attacks I was interested in exploring that drove me to write it. I thought it was great, and actually so did my classmates. The story actually got printed in the school yearbook that year, on the "artwork" page. Very cool, I know. The only bad part about it was that pretty much right after I wrote the story someone told me that penguins actually live at the South Pole not the North... which made me feel pretty stupid.

Anyhow, it looks like the film industry is once again ripping off my ideas as Columbia Pictures has just picked up the rights to the screenplay Animals. Which is a contemporary story that chronicles what happens when all the worlds animals turn on humans and take back the planet.

I tell you people, it could really happen. We'll see how this film develops in the coming months.
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Death Note trailer

Care of Fangoria's website check out this trailer for the live action adaptation of Death Note, which is coming stateside sometimes this spring from Viz Media. When released, the movie will be subtitled but this trailer has been dubbed into English for promotional purposes.



The movie, if you still can't tell from the trailer ;) is about a university student named Light who finds a notebook dropped into our world by one of the death gods. Whenever he writes someone's name in the book, no matter who, they will die. Frustrated by the crime and corruption in the world Light decides that now that he has the power, he should use it to make the world a better place. And so the killing begins. Soon though, he attracts the attention of the International Police Organization and a mysterious detective known only as L. A metal battle and game of cat and mouse begins as Light tries to evade the police and finish his work.

The film is based on the popular Japaneses manga, which also inspired a hit anime show overseas. There was a live action sequel made to this film, which was released in Japan in 2006, that Viz also has the American distribution rights.
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