“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic” goes the old saying, so it only makes sense that Harry Potter and his friends would be able to make an easy transition from contemporary fantasy to hard sci-fi. Kathryn Hudson cooked up this variation on the Potter theme, making Harry and his school pals the crew of the ISS Griffin, fighting against the Slytherin Alliance and the alien lord Voldemort. My only complaint, besides the misspelling of “Ginevra,” is that Ron looks handsome. What the! And an earring? How very un-Weasley. Read more…
Ryan Reynolds’ upcoming superhero flick (well, one of several, anyway), Green Lantern, just had its first preview footage hit the net, courtesy of Entertainment Tonight. In terms of “feel,” it resembles Iron Man, with lighthearted humor on top of action scenes. The footage is a little rough and pixelated (you’ll recall that the first Iron Man clip looked pretty much the same way, and that film turned out okay), but you can still get a good look Hal’s suit with its odd musculature. And devoted fans will immediately recognize Kilowog, Hal’s Green Lantern Corps trainer.
ET has even more footage from the film ready to go for Tuesday’s episode, so keep an eye out after the weekend!
Legendary producer Dino de Laurentiis passed away yesterday morning at his Los Angeles home. At 91 years old, De Laurentiis had a long and fruitful career — he was responsible for funding and producing several classic genre films, including Barbarella, Dune, Army of Darkness, Conan the Barbarian, and Flash Gordon. Laurentiis was a truly influential individual who will be sorely missed. Read more…
It’s a shame that Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World flopped at the box office. It wasn’t a terrible movie, and the entertainment industry as a whole would have benefited from it success. While I can’t build a time machine and take back to the opening weekend, you can do the next best thing and buy a copy of the DVD or Blu-ray that hit stores this week. I’m not sure if they’re planning on throwing this clip in the extras or not, but for whatever reason, director Edgar Wright decided to have the actors film the opening scene with British accents. I thought it was pretty funny even if Michael Cera couldn’t quite pull it off. If you’re curious as to why the video quality isn’t quite up to par, it’s because this test footage was apparently shot with a Lumix. Read more…
Casting for the Spiderman reboot has legs (eight of them, specifically)! Hot on the heels of other casting announcements, like Gwen Stacy and the film’s unknown villain, we now know that Martin Sheen is in final negotiations to play Peter Parker’s Uncle Ben. Additionally, Sally Field is said to be in talks to play Aunt May. Honestly, I’m just not sure you can beat Cliff Robertson and Rosemary Harris, who played Ben and May in the previous three Spidey films, but I’m sure that Sheen and Field will do fine in the roles, all things being equal. Read more…
That’s right, this guy. Zac Efron is rumored to be in talks to star in Warner Bros.’ live-action remake of the classic anime film. The remake is said to take place in the USA rather than Japan, in a ruined Manhattan. He’d be playing Kaneda, who’s somehow still named Kaneda, despite looking American and the film being set in…well, you get the idea. I’m not sure how I feel about this one. Wait, no. I’m 100% positive how I feel about this one. Though, to be fair, that’s hardly Zac Efron’s fault. Read more…
Back to the Future is 25 years old this year, and to celebrate the occasion, Profiles in History is auctioning off a handful of incredible (and memorable) props from the film. Proceeds from selling the items, including the vanishing newspapers (above), Marty’s self-drying jacket (note: does not actually self-dry), and the classic Gray’s Sports Almanac, will go to Michael J. Fox’s charities for Parkinson’s research. Read more…
Any comic book fan worth their salt knows the name “Stan Lee” — the man behind Marvel Comics since its birth, the creator of Spiderman, the old dude with the mustache and the glasses. And now fans of the man himself can check out his new biography film, “With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story,” this Sunday at the American Cinematheque in Santa Monica. The 80-minute film by Terry Dougas, Nikki Frakes, and Will Hess will be accompanied by a Stan Lee signing session. Read more…
Posted by Tim Sheehy on Nov 4, 2010 in Cinema, Fandom
Harrison Ford has had his fair share of roles over the years –he’s done everything from cracking whips to hunting replicants. It goes without saying that roles like those require quite a bit of stunt work, and while he might not always be the one throwing himself out a window — they have stunt doubles for that — he still has to lend his voice to those scenes. Though many directors would resort to using stock audio, such as the famous Wilhem scream, Ford has proven time and time again that he’s mastered the art of screaming. In doubt? Check out this hilarious video by Jon and Al Kaplan.
Posted by Tim Sheehy on Nov 2, 2010 in Cinema, Tech
Back in April, Paramount teamed up with Seagate to produce a special edition hard drive that came loaded with select movies, such as Abram’s Star Trek. Well, it sees Buffalo will be taking this cross promotional concept a step further with their upcoming Harry Potter hard drives. Buffalo has teamed up with Warner Home Video in order to load the drives with all six films to date. The films will come in a DRM-locked DivX format and require an Internet connection to be played. Chances are, if you’re reading this, that won’t be a problem. Aside from having the movies sitting on the drive, the only film-related reference seems to be the Harry Potter logo located on the external drive itself. Nifty, but is it worth the price? I guess we’ll have to see when it’s announced, along with the official release date later this month.
Posted by Michael Sacco on Oct 31, 2010 in Cinema, Horror
It’s Halloween, and that means it’s horror movie season! But man, watching all those scream queens can be an awful lot of work. Why don’t you let the Fine Brothers do all the legwork for you? They’ve compiled one hundred spoilers for horror movies of all stripes and put them all in one convenient five-minute video. Want to know about Draculas? They’ve got you covered. Wondering who meets their maker in Final Destination? They’re all over it. Wish I had one of these for my college lit classes. “100 Puritan Texts Spoiled in Five Minutes,” anyone? Read more…
Great news for the astronomical number of you out there who saw (and liked) James Cameron’s Avatar — Cameron has officially signed on for two more films set in the Avatar universe. Not terribly surprising, given that the film grossed almost $3 billion worldwide, but good news nonetheless. Cameron, who’s currently working on At the Mountains of Madness with Guillermo Del Toro, will begin writing screenplays for the two sequels shortly, and he’ll decide whether or not to film them back-to-back once that task is complete. Regardless of the filming schedule, the expected release dates for Avatar 2 and Avatar 3 are 2014 and 2015, respectively. Read more…
Do you like Popeye comic strips? No? You don’t? Well, I suppose that’s probably because you’ve never read one, because why on earth would you have occasion to? But I bet you like Indiana Jones, in which case this most excellent adaptation of Raiders of the Lost Ark done in the style (and speech patterns) of classic Popeye comics. Now all we need is Last Crusade done Tintin-style and we’ll be all set. What’s that? There’s an Indiana Jones movie between Raiders and Crusade? I don’t know what you’re talking about. Read more…
Posted by Michael Sacco on Oct 30, 2010 in Cinema, Star Wars
Brock Davis, graphic artist for Wired and several other publications, broke form recently and released this great 70s-style invoice addressed from Boba Fett to Jabba the Hutt, requesting payment for services rendered. Even bounty hunters need to keep their paperwork straight, especially when a cool quarter-million credits are on the line. Makes you wonder what the invoices all those independent contractors sent Vader for Death Star construction (and repairs) looked like. Read more…
We’ve been pretty pumped about Christopher Nolan’s next (and possibly last) Batman film, and some recent casting news has helped that feeling. Now we have some big news — the film’s title! Nolan spoke with Hero Complex and divulged that the movie will be titled “The Dark Knight Rises.” But that’s not all: we also know who the film’s villain won’t be. Nolan confirmed that the Riddler is out of the running as antagonist. There’ve been rumors swirling around that recently-cast Thomas Hardy will be playing Bane or even Killer Croc, but at this point it could be anybody — except for Mr. Freeze, who Nolan also recently deconfirmed. Read more…
Entertainment Weekly’s cover story this week has Chris Evans as Captain America in his full costume, including the iconic shield. But that’s not all! EW was kind enough to release several other photos, including shots of Cap in his USO uniform, Hugo Weaving as Red Skull, HYDRA goons, and more! The suit looks pretty great in the photos — Cap’s cartoony “flag pajamas” are nowhere to be found here, just some nice period-friendly superhero digs. Chris Evans also looks right at home in this particular film universe. Color me red, white, and excited. Read more…
And no, we’re not talking about Khan. Pop Culture blog Badass News managed to snag a scoop on the upcoming Abram’s flick that should have Fanboys and girls relieved. According to an informant whom they claim is close to the production, the basic plot of the film has been decided. Rather than attempting to top Ricardo Montalbán’s legendary portrayal of the genetically engineered tyrant, Khan Noonien Singh, they’ve opt’d for more of an unconventional approach by instead focusing on a villain archetype that’s never been done before.
While many of you have probably given up hope that Serenity will ever return the big screen, there are still a handful of you faithful who’ve continued to hold your breath. Though that may never happen, people will continue to produce plenty of Serenity merchandise for you to sink your teeth into. We’ve seen everything from replica knit caps, to comic books, and now there’s even a figure — a maquette to be exact. Featuring a pose from River’s unforgettable fight sequence, this limited edition maquette is made of a durable polystone resin and serves to remind us why Summer Glau ended up being the next Terminator. If you have $70 laying around, head over to ThinkGeek and pick one up. They’ve only made 1,500, so get them while they last. Read more…
Posted by Michael Sacco on Oct 24, 2010 in Cinema, Star Wars
IESB recently published a pretty substantial rumor that George Lucas was working on a new Star Wars trilogy to be released after the current two trilogies both receive their 3D conversions, citing a “super-secret Lucasfilm insider.” IESB has been right about several big rumors before — Joss Whedon directing The Avengers, for example — so it seemed that this could also be true. Expectedly, Lucasfilm flat-out denied that any new Star Wars movies were in the works once the rumor made its rounds.
Denial is expected when it comes to PR, of course, especially when discussing unannounced projects, but it’s still pretty interesting (and slightly terrifying) to think of what would come next in the Star Wars film universe. Read more…
Peter Jackson officially announced casting for The Hobbit today, with the title role going to Martin Freeman, as was previously rumored. Richard Armitage will play Thorin Oakenshield, and Aidin Turner and Rob Kazinsky will play the brothers Kili and Fili. Other possibilities (as in not-yet-confirmed) include fan favorite David Tennant, Stephen Fry, Saoirse Ronan. Nice to see this film finally going somewhere, though where it appears to going is “not New Zealand” due to union issues. Read more…
Bilbo Baggins famously said “Not all who wander are lost,” and the axiom appears to be true even where movies are concerned. The two films based on The Hobbit, considered to be the prequel to the Lord of the Rings trilogy, are now finally greenlit despite what appeared to be insurmountable issues with nearly every facet of production. Peter Jackson is set to direct both films (replacing a frustrated Guillermo Del Toro), which will start preliminary filming back-to-back in February of 2011.
As for casting, Ian McKellen is set to return as the wizard Gandalf, and Martin Freeman is rumored to be playing Bilbo Baggins. We should expect to hear more casting news now that the film finally has its greenlight. Read more…
Sony is officially rebooting the Spiderman franchise, and they have their Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) and their Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone). But the question on everyone’s mind isn’t who Spiderman is smoochin’ on, it’s who he’s swingin’ at! And it looks like we may finally have our answer. Actor Rhys Ifans was recently added to the cast in the role of the film’s villain, but we didn’t have any idea as to who he was playing until now. The Wrap reports that Ifans, a Welsh actor perhaps best known in America for his role in Notting Hill, will be playing classic Spidey villain The Lizard, a.k.a. Doc Connors. We haven’t heard anything from Sony yet, so take the news with a grain of salt, but it does seem like a pretty good fit. Read more…
Bucking the trend completely, Warner Bros. has officially backed out of plans to release Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One in 3D, citing that time constraints wouldn’t allow for a quality conversion. Believe it or not, this actually bodes well for 3D cinema on the whole — it’s the first time a studio has come out in favor of quality over quantity where 3D is concerned. However, Warner Bros. still plans to release the second Deathly Hallows film in 3D, so I’m not sure if we can chalk this up as a win for 3D cinema just yet. Read more…
