Mr. Kent, you will be missed

This has really bummed me out.

I always thought the scene in Superman the movie (1978) when Jonathan Kent had a heart attack was brutal and heartbreaking. Now, that scene will carry more weight than ever before.

Glenn Ford passed away recently at age 90 after a long life as a classic actor.

I watched Glenn Ford in many movies when I was a kid. My favorites were Superman and Midway, the World War Two classic sequel to Tora! Tora! Tora!

If you guys haven't seen Midway, Glenn Ford was great in that. The movie used minimal special effects, relying on mostly real war footage and gun camera footage from fighter planes. Ford always played the no nonsense guy great and this part was perfect just like Jonathan Kent.

He was 90 years old when he passed away. I know it's just a fact of life, but I'll still miss ol' Mr. Kent. He had one of my all-time favorite lines that I just have to mention here:

"...but one thing I do know, son, is that you are here for a reason. I don't know whose reason or what it is. Maybe it's ... I don't know. But I do know that it's not to score touchdowns."

Mr. Ford, you'll be missed. Thanks for the memories.

More than meets... aw, fuck it.

I heard last night that in the now sworn-off-by-us Transformers movie, that Jazz will no longer be a Porsche. You heard me. Instead he’ll be a Pontiac Solstice. Ratchet will also be unrecognizable, as he’ll go from an ambulance to a Hummer (doesn’t say that in the article, but I heard it). Yes, a Hummer. The worst part? Bumblebee won’t be a VW Bug. Now he’ll be a Chevy Camaro. A motherfucking Chevy Camaro.

Not seeing this movie. Ever. It now gets the full-on Bloodrayne treatment.

D

Fantastic Four: The World’s Mightiest Heroes

What? Wait a second. Since when have they been called that? Oh yeah, since they decided to do a FF cartoon with a heavy anime style. Don’t believe me? See for yourself:





I’m getting some bad ju-ju vibes off this one, guys. But, I’ll try to give it the benefit of the doubt. The premiere is Saturday night at 8pm on Toonami, and with any luck (and with all probability) I’ll be good and drunk when I see it. If I’m home. If not, I’ll tape it and watch it later. Drunk.

Can’t be any worse than the movie right? Right?

D

Youtube goodness!

Hi, everybody.

Go here and rate the video highly. It's Association of Semi-Superpeople goodness on Youtube!

Oh, and since I come around about once a week and all of you live here, I went on a commenting binge. Thought I'd mention that since I usually get to the party a week late and nobody pays attention to me. Pay attention to me, dammit!

Yeah... I think I'm out

Well, I think it may be official. Any hope that I may have had for a decent Transformers movie may be dead.

I don’t want to be that nerd. You know the one. The nerd that automatically denounces something site unseen. But I think after seeing this, it might be over:


Really? That's Megatron? Get the fuck out of here! While we're at it, here's a pic of Optimus Prime:


I’ve seen the art of what the other Transformers are to look like. They’re all over the net. It just seems to me that this movie is going to be so far removed from what I was hoping it would be, that I will walk away from the theater angry. I admit it this.

So that said, it’s become clear that Michael Bay has no interest in taking the Bryan Singer route. Hell, why should we try to do right by a successful, decades old property? It only has an established fan base that's been begging for a good movie for most of their lives. But alas, the worst director since Ed Wood wants to put his stamp on a franchise that’s been established for more than twenty years. He obviously has his finger on the pulse of… something, I’m not certain. But I think this fan is out.

Ho-ly shit…

Just ran across this little nugget while pissing around online. Turns out someone has figured out a new way to rape our childhood.

However, before I go any further, I want all of you to sit back, relax and conjure up the most kick-ass image you can find in you memory of the Thundercats. Got it? Okay, here we go…

From aintitcoolnews.com:

“WB animation is remaking the Thundercats as an animated TV series.
The animation style is whimsical, Americanized-anime, along the lines of Teen Titans.
The setting is modern-day Earth, in a major city (possibly LA)
The Thundercats are all teenagers.
Their leader is Snarf (!) who is now a mystic with a "third" eye.
Each of the Thundercats has a weapon with an "Eye of Thunderra" and transformative powers (not just Lion-O)
When they aren't fighting evil, the Thundercats play together as a rock band. That's not a typo, or a joke. They are rockin' cats in their present form.
Mum-Ra now has wings.”

Jesus. Christ. On a tricycle. I really wish I had something clever and witty to say here. I wish I had some way to analyze this, to put it into some historical perspective.

But I got nothing.

Groovy!

Fuck “Snakes on a Plane” (and fuck Derek too), the greatest movie EVER won’t be coming out until next year sometime.

“My Name is Bruce” will be the latest Bruce Campbell flick, and it sounds like it may be the best. The story of the film is that Campbell is kidnapped off the set of a B movie to go fight zombies in a small, Oregon town. Turns out some of the town’s dumbasses think Campbell is, wait for it… ASH!

They toss a shotgun and a chainsaw in Campbell’s hand and tell him to have it. Everyone starts calling him Ash, and because he’s not savvy in the use of shotgun/chainsaw combos, Campbell does more harm than the zombies.

Me, I’ll be there opening night. Ever since “Army of Darkness” I’ve been waiting for Bruce to revisit that world. This is the next best thing. Who knows? Maybe this will get us an “Evil Dead 4.”

Geeks vs. Transformers script writers

This is everyone's chance.

It seems all the questions everyone has about Transformers the movie will be answered today at 2 p.m. when the screenwriters of the movie will be answering questions live on the internet via Yahoo.

Rumors suggest all the Autobots and Decepticons identities will be revealed. It seems these movie makers are starting to let fans behind the curtain a bit regarding this anticipated and largely feared movie.

Check out the official movie site for more news (http://www.transformersmovie.com/)

I don't know if I'll have time to check this out but I hope some of the fellow Nerduary folks can let us in on what's shared. I'll keep a look out over the weekend for anymore news and be sure to post it to the site ASAP.

Of battles in the future, the past and Ace Ventura

Hola, Nerduary folks.

Tons of movie news out today. Lets start with the crap and end strong, shall we?

It seems the suits at Morgan Creek are contemplating a sequel to Ace Ventura. No, not a real sequel to Ace with Jim Carrey, but a movie about his son.

Wow. Sounds fantastic. Sounds so fantastic, in fact, that we should see this mercifully as a direct to video release. However, I'm sure this will find a way into theaters. Why does Hollywood insist on going to well so many times for the same material? And when they do go back to a franchise, why do they change it like this?

Weird.



Okay, Halo: The Movie news. I know many of you out there are super fans of this game. With Peter Jackson producing and WETA effects company doing the work, I find myself looking forward to this more than say DOOM. Aint it Cool News just posted an interview with the director here: http://www.aintitcoolnews.com/display.cgi?id=24139. (Sorry, Blogger isn't letting me link. What else is new?)

It sounds like good news for fans of the game. I don't own an XBOX so I haven't really ever played this game. But it always looked cool. Hopefully this will be as great as gamers are hoping for.


Finally, Clint Eastwood and Steven Spielberg are collaborating on something that sounds like a brilliant idea. There are two movies coming out this fall. The approach is so unique and brilliant, it could only come from these guys. It's about the important battle for Iwo Jima in the Pacific Ocean during the Second World War. For those of you that don't know, this is the pivotal battle where that famous photo of American GIs were placing the American Flag. Several thousand Americans were killed taking this island.

The unique aspect of this is that one movie will be from the point of view of the Americans. The other movie will be from the point of view of the Japanese. Really cool.

The trailer has been released here: http://wwws.warnerbros.co.jp/iwojima-movies/trailer/small.html. I haven't seen it yet.

This project sounds bigger than anything Eastwood has attempted before. The movie from the American perspective is called FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS while the Japanese perspective movie is called RED SUN, BLACK SAND. This sounds like a fantastic project and I can't wait.

So there is a brief outlook on some upcoming movie projects.

30 days an hour for seven hours!

Anyone besides me really digging the TV series 30 Days? The premise, take a person and place them in a different environment for 30 days and see how and if they are changed by the experience. Usually the person and the new environment are in direct opposition.

If you haven’t seen the show yet, today is the day. At noon (yeah, I know, real short notice but I just found out. I’m recording it!) a mini-marathon starts of FX lasting 7 episodes long.

In the most recent episode an atheist lived with a family of Christians for 30 days. It has been the least interesting of the few episodes I’ve seen. The episode before that one, a man whose job had been outsourced to India moved to India to live and work with people who had taken his job. Initially he was quite bitter at been laid-off and felt resentment towards the people in India. After living in India, he realized the people needed his job more than he did saying his job was almost a “charity” for the people receiving it. The episode before that, a minuteman who lives in Texas and, in his free time, patrols the Mexican border for illegal immigrants lived with a family of illegal immigrants. The minuteman himself being a legal immigrant from Cuba kept preaching that he had no problem if the immigrants came into the country legally. He was holding hard to his beliefs till he visited Mexico to see where the family lived before illegally moving to America. Those are the only ones I’ve seen.

The concept is simple but can be pretty eye opening. The immigration and outsourcing episodes really got me thinking. Morgan Spurlock came up with the concept for his documentary, Super Size Me where he ate only food from McDonald’s for 30 days. I’m digging the series. I love the idea of asking people to look behind the ideas they despise. It’s interesting to see what happens.

One of the down sides is that it's kind of like a watered down documentary because some times the people are there not to change their view points, but to say if they were living in the same circumstances they would not be doing what the people living in the circumstances are doing so there is a little bit of head butting.

Also, if you’re interested but don’t have time to watch, you can download the first episode of season 2 and a “making a scene” feature off of itunes. The making a scene is pretty good. For and episode yet to air, Morgan Spurlock is going to spend 30 days in jail. To make the experience more real, Spurlock was arrested and put in jail a day and a half before he was scheduled to so that he wouldn’t have time to fully prepare for the experience.

Super haters

I enjoyed Superman Returns.

There, I said it. Well, wrote it.

But there are many out there that think this movie sucked or, perhaps worse, was a complete waste of time that pissed on the mythology that is Superman. I am not in this category.

So, why the hatred toward the Man of Steel? Did he wait too long to make his "Return"? Has America really changed so much that Superman, a clean cut hero that doesn't lie, drink or smoke, has become a thing of the past? Out dated even?

I thought many enjoyed the movie. Now, there are rumors across the web that Bryan Singer, esteemed director of the first two (and only, in my opinion) XMEN movies and nerd messiah, is having trouble greenlighting a Superman Returns sequel. Some of the message boards like www.aintitcoolnews.com are lit up with hatred toward this movie and most seem to dearly wish there will be no sequel with Singer at the helm.

Wow. Where did this come from?

I know Superman is still a popular concept in America. Take Smallville the television series on Clark Kent in high school. This show is diving full speed into its sixth season this fall. I never, ever thought that show would last that long. But it has endured and continues bringing in new characters from the Superman lore with a rumored Bruce Wayne meeting in season six or seven.

Should Singer have gone the route of Smallville, replacing John Williams' dominant score with Top 40 radio? Would that have made the difference?

Maybe Warner Brothers is wary of where exactly the sequel could go. Regarding a sequel, did Singer paint himself into a corner? I've been wondering where he could go now that Superman is a daddy. Where could this lead? And what does Lois think of being knocked up by a guy and she doesn't even remember it? These are questions Singer has plenty of time to answer. He states in an interview another Superman movie is at least as far away as 2009.

In the end, Superman is making its money back when you include the foreign take. Check out www.boxofficemojo.com for details. I just wonder what people expect from the good ol' son of Krypton.

The following is a brief excerpt from an interview with Bryan Singer conducted by www.aintitcoolnews.com.

***

QUINT: So, what'd you think of the overall reaction to the film? I know it's really hard to find anything positive online. People seem to be quick to call anything that's not a record breaker a failure. I saw that happen with KONG.

BRYAN SINGER: Well, there's great affection for the picture and I feel... You know, it comes in all different ways. Sometimes it comes with the domestic box office, sometimes it comes in the international box office. Sometimes it comes in letters from your idols who have never written to you before and from their families. Sometimes it comes from coming down here and having a few people say, "Why didn't you do this?" and a few people who say, "Thank you so much." I can only make a movie I think someone will watch 10 years or 20 years from now and say, "Oh, I'm affected by it!" Or a movie that maybe a woman who doesn't come to these kinds of movies will actually watch and get choked up about. That's kind of the idea here.

QUINT: And it seems that across the board people agree on Brandon Routh as Superman.
BRYAN SINGER: Well, that was the key. That was the key. I had to introduce this guy and if that didn't work... And sometimes it takes a certain kind of movie. And by the way, in terms of people's perceptions on domestic box office, this is going up in the face of PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN, a sequel, but secondly... the last time a SUPERMAN movie was out was a long time ago and its cumulative domestic gross was $15 million.
When I first made X-MEN 1, it was a comic book, but it was also a Saturday Morning Cartoon. People were like, "What?!?" It took a while to get everybody excited. It didn't just explode.

Check out the entire interview here: http://www.aintitcoolnews.com/display.cgi?id=24123

Spider-Man teasing me again!

So I was walking by a movie theater today when I spotted a new poster for Spider-Man 3. It was only a picture of Spider-man’s torso in his red costume, but as I got near it, his costume changed to black. It was very cool.



I have a feeling Spider-Man's not gonna stop teasing me for the next nine months or so, but hey, if he delivers, I won't mind the wait.

The New Joker

Chris had posted about Heath Ledger taking the reigns as The Joker in the next Batman movie.

Just thought I'd add that the official release was announced this week with the title of the movie being The Dark Knight. I love that title.

Anyway, here is the official release. I, for one, am looking forward to this. I loved the first Batman Begins and I really think it gets better every time I've seen it.

***

BURBANK, CA, 31 July 2006

As a follow up to last year'’s blockbuster Batman Begins, Christopher Nolan is set to direct Warner Bros. Pictures The Dark Knight, written by Jonathan Nolan, based on a story by Christopher Nolan and David Goyer. The film will be produced by Emma Thomas, Charles Roven and Christopher Nolan. Additionally, Christian Bale will resume his role as Bruce Wayne and Academy Award nominee Heath Ledger has been cast as The Joker. The announcements were made today by Jeff Robinov, President of Production, Warner Bros. Pictures.

Christopher Nolan revamped the Batman franchise in 2005 with the immensely successful Batman Begins, starring Christian Bale in the title role, which chronicled the early years of the superhero. Nolan first garnered attention from critics and fans in 2000 with the groundbreaking drama Memento, which he wrote and directed. He went on to direct the thriller Insomnia, starring Al Pacino and Robin Williams, and recently wrapped production on The Prestige, with Hugh Jackman and Bale.
Bale was most recently seen in the ensemble cast of Terrence Malick'’s The New World. His other credits include Little Women, Portrait of a Lady, Metroland, American Psycho, Laurel Canyon and Steven Spielberg'’s Empire of the Sun, which was his first starring role.

Ledger most recently earned Oscar Golden Globe, BAFTA and SAG Award nominations and won the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Ennis Del Mar in the award-winning drama Brokeback Mountain. His other credits include Casanova, Monster'’s Ball, Lords of Dogtown, The Brothers Grimm and The Patriot.

'Chris'’ unique vision is what made Batman Begins such an outstanding film and we could not imagine anyone else at the helm of The Dark Knight,'” said Robinov. 'We also can'’t wait to see two such formidable actors as Christian and Heath face off with each other as Batman and The Joker.'”

'I'm excited to continue the story we started with Batman Begins,' added Nolan. '“Our challenge in casting The Joker was to find an actor who is not just extraordinarily talented but fearless. Watching Heath Ledger's interpretation of this iconic character taking on Christian BaleÂ’s Batman is going to be incredible.'
Production is set to begin on The Dark Knight in early 2007.
Nolan and Ledger are represented by CAA.

***

It doesn't specify, but I would guess this movie will be coming out in the Summer of 2008.

I have lots of questions about this. I guess we have plenty of time to read rumors and such. I really hope the Scarecrow is back this time since he didn't bite the big one in the last movie.

Regardless, I'm looking forward to this.