I remember this book from when I was younger and now my kids have a copy of this book too. It is a classic. Now word is out that a live action adaptation is being filmed.

How a 48 page book with single lines on each page is translated into a 90 minute movie makes me nervous, but time will tell.

Movieweb gives us:

Here is the first photo from Spike Jonze’s upcoming adaptation of the children’s book Where the Wild Things Are.

A quick visit over to Movieweb will lead you to a high res version of this teaser image of our friend Max in his Wolf Suit.

Are you sick of seeing little teaser clips of Transformers?

Yeah, me neither.

Movies Online has something to show you.

But honestly, I haven’t watched many of them as I find that there is too much being sent out to tease us with.

I wonder if they are this confident to let this many clips out about the movie that we haven’t seen much at all and this movie will blow me away, or is this going to spoil it all for me?

But if you want to be teased, I recommend the clip called “Under the Hood”

We get our first peek at a promotional image for the upcoming Iron Man. Not much to see here except for the prinicpal cast in character.

I’m still pretty pumped about seeing this. Movies Online has a link through to a better copy if you want to take a look.

Entertaimnet Weekly quotes Downey as saying: “I’m on Planet Iron Man,” he says. ”And, with all due respect to Earth, it’s the greatest.”

Shia Labeouf talking about being an Indiana Jones fanboy, and his “moment” with seeing Harrison in the fedora for the first time.

Today marked the first day of prinicpal photography, but John still wont believe it until he sees a trailer, or when it does actually release. lol

It appears the Weinstein’s have been working the numbers and have decided that Sicko is a disease that can only be cured with a wider release. We get the scoop about the plunder of more theaters from our friends at slashfilm:

The Weinstein Co and Lionsgate were originally planning on releasing the documentary in 200-250 theaters, and that number was pre-internet leak. Many people assumed the company would downplay the release, but it seems like Weinstein was very impressed with this weekends results. The film will now be released on 300 to 400 screens, almost half the amount of Moore’s 2004 doc Fahrenheit 9/11.

This is sweet news folks. It is no surprise to me, when a documentary touches on an issue like health care it only makes sense that it will be a popular film. I personally hate it when a film has limited release, it is such a pain to get out and see them. In the future I would hope that films with limited release are made available on the internet the same day.

Sicko is getting great reviews and surprisingly from both sides of the American political divide. It looks like this may be shaping up to be Michael Moore’s biggest success to date. I think this is great news for not only Moore but for all documentary film makers. I would love to start seeing more wide release documentaries and I hope that films like this will cause a tipping point.

Doug holding our 4 passes that showed up today for the Transformers screening this Thursday night. I stroke them, talk to them, tell them they’re special and nurture them any way I can. No grown man should be this giddy about a stupid movie. And yet… I am. Viva Optimus Prime!!

Friends of Sandra Bullock rejoice! She will soon be in a romantic adventure with Thomas Hayden Church. We get the news of this romantic union from the dark, damp and mysterious caves of Yahoo!

Bullock plays a brilliant crossword constructor who, after one short date, decides that a CNN cameraman (Church) is her true love. Because the cameraman’s job takes him hither and yon, she crisscrosses the country, turning up at media events as she tries to convince him they are perfect for each other. She fails in this objective but falls in with a band of misfits who appreciate her for who she is.

Sandra Bullock is in so many romantic comedies that I think she is competing for some sort of title. When they announce her death I am certain that she will be in a movie about a man that falls in love with her corpse. This is the dedication that she has to the art of the Rom Com.

What I like about Romantic Comedies is that the combinations of jobs that the stars have. In this one we have a person that creates crossword puzzles and a CNN cameraman. After all the traditional jobs are used up, we will have to start looking into more and more ridiculous forms of employment. I want to see a killing floor pig butcher meet her match with a helicopter mechanic. I want their first date to be at a monster truck event, where they make whoopee an a handicapped bathroom on the diaper table.

Last week we learned that sequels were not in the business plan at Pixar, it now looks like that is going to become the way of things at Disney as well. The hammer dropped today and we learn that Disney will no longer be doing direct to DVD sequels of their popular films. We get the following news from the caves of Yahoo:

Furthering the computer-dominated industry tale that began with Toy Story, the Walt Disney Co. announced Friday a major restructuring of its animation department, which includes a decision to stop producing lucrative yet lower quality direct-to-DVD sequels spawned by the studio’s most successful feature titles.

Lasseter joined Disney when the Mouse House snatched up Pixar for $7.4 billion in stock last year. Former Pixar CEO Steve Jobs, now Disney’s largest shareholder, told reporters once how much he hated the idea of Disney doing DVD sequels, calling their quality “pretty embarrassing,” despite the fact that they sell millions of copies and have served as a steady revenue stream in the face of a declining global box office.

In the article we go on to learn that Disney will still put out direct to DVD titles, but they will be originals and not sequels. I think this is fantastic, in an age when everyone is starting to put out a glut of sequel shit, Disney is shaking off the mistakes of the past and choosing the high (and difficult) road.

The merger between Pixar and Disney was the best things that could of happened to both of them. Pixar would of been fine without Disney, but the Disney name is great, and to be part of the history of Disney is an amazing honor. Walt Disney introduced us to the power of animated motion pictures, and it is fitting that Pixar is now a part of this history; in modern times they have neigh perfected the animated feature.

It looks like the bride may have debts to pay from her journey of revenge. We learn today that Tarantino has thought up ideas for a pair of Kill Bill sequels. We get the scoop from out friends at filmick:

According to E. Bennet Walsh, an Executive Producer of Kill Bill, Tarantino has formulated the plots for two sequels and may be heading back to China to film them.

Part 3 would revolve around the revenge of two members of the Crazy 88s. Part 4 would focus on the daughters of Beatrix Kiddo and Vernita Green getting square, as was previously rumored. Some even claim that the (previously unrevealed) daughters of Elle Driver and Gogo Yubari would also feature.

I love Kill Bill but am not certain I would like to see sequels. Part of my love for the movie was that I was always left wondering if the bride would ever get killed by the daughter of Vernita Green or a friend of Bill’s. If they make the sequel it takes away that element of mystery from the story. That being said, if the movies are kick ass I am all for more sluts and swords!

The fact that the sequels may take place in China is a good sign for me. I wonder if the bride returns to the mount of Pai Mei in order to continue his teaching. This would be huge, I loved the scenes where they were doing the Kung-Fu training, and if they do more sequels I want to see gobs of Kung Fu.

International Friends would you like to see more Kill Bill films or would you prefer to let the series stay at one film with two pieces?

Darren will love this no doubt. I just watched the Babylon 5: The Lost Tales trailer over at the official site. This is going to be one of those straight to video movies based on the cult hit show Babylon 5 (A show I never really did understand the appeal of). Here’s the Synopsis:

Times change. Dangers remain. 10 years after he became President of the Interstellar Alliance, Sheridan prepares for a fateful Babylon 5 reunion that could prevent Earth’s impending doom…if he will also compromise his core principles. Meanwhile, commander Lochley confronts an unexpected interloper on the way station – a being whose presence makes the B5 freeport the crossroads between heaven and hell.

In Voices in the Dark, Series creator J. Michael Straczynski reunites with stars Bruce Boxleitner and Tracy Scoggins in two richly imagined stories set after the events of the original series. Richly imagined, too, is Straczynski’s vision of the 23rd century (including a dazzling New York City) – a vision made more spectacular via filmmaking technology unavailable during the original series.

I recognized some of the original cast. But I have to say this (and you Babylon 5 fans won’t be happy… but I think you’ll agree once you see it for yourself). The trailer for this things is nothing short of laughable. Honestly, it looks like a couple of first year VFX students put it together and it comes across as a bad video game trailer from 2002. I had to double check to make sure it wasn’t either a fan film or a joke. It’s neither.

So head on over and check out the Babylon 5: The Lost Tales trailer… and then proceed wishing they had stayed lost. Thanks to Mike for the heads up.

Rave On Amigos! It looks like Buddy Holly is going to use his stratocaster to strike twang into the hearts of the undead! Well I think so, maybe, ok I am not sure if Buddy Holly will be in the movie, but he is in the title for some reason. We get the skinny on this 50’s period piece zombie project from out friends at the moviehole:

Ream Enterprises and CineXperia Productions have announced the curiously titled “Buddy Holly Vs. The Living Dead”, a new film written and directed by Justin Cash Kirkpatrick. “Evil Dead” make-up man Tom Sullivan and Lee Behymer, a prominent and respected make-up effects artist whose resume includes work on Francis Ford Coppola’s “Dracula”, are involved in the production.

“At its core the film is about fanaticism in all its forms; from gambling to drinking to false idolization; it opens the flood gates to the subconscious where viewers realize that the real horror element of the film lies not within the ominous flesh eating monsters”, a press release tells us. “The movie itself centers on the key players involved in making a 1950’s zombie movie and the effects of living the sort of life that lends itself to such chronic exposure to gratuitous excess.”

If Buddy Holly is in this movie, it will feel like a rip off of Bubba Ho-Tep to me. If Buddy Holly is not in the movie, I will be upset with the title of the film. The film itself sounds cool, following a group of filmmakers in the 50’s as they make a zombie picture sound like a good time to me. I love the look of the 50’s and always love when people do period pieces that involve that period.

Perhaps the title is meant to keep us guessing. Maybe “Buddy Holly” is being used as a symbol to represent the 50’s in general. Buddy Holly certainly could be a poster boy for clean cut 50’s living. I will be on the lookout for a trailer on this project to see if it will help us decipher the title. Until then I look forward to lots of cars covered in chrome, and lovers spitting coca-cola floats at the local candy shop.

News today is that Matt Dillon will be joining the cast of Old Dogs. We get the following news about the film and his coming on board from the Hollywood Reporter:

Penned by David Diamond and David Weissman, the story revolves around a divorced father of 6-year-old twins and his womanizing best friend/business partner who have their hands full when they’re forced to care for the kids for two weeks.

Dillon will play Barry, the overzealous leader of the summer camp where they take the kids. He is ultraconservative and thinks the two men (Williams, Travolta) are actually gay lovers who have adopted the twins. He keeps a sharp eye on the two at all times.

I am not looking forward to this movie, at all. I can admit that the addition of Dillon is sweet, he was hilarious in There’s Something About Mary, and he sounds like a good fit for the role in which he will be cast. For those of you that are anticipating this film, this would be cause for celebration.

Having dads care for kids and the insanity that ensues has been done before. I wasn’t crazy about 3 Men And A Baby, and I do not think that I will be touched emotionally by this film either. I think people that have kids may be able to enjoy a movie like this with their children, and that is fantastic. Movies like this are not my thing, but I appreciate that many people enjoy them. I think this sounds like a better idea than Wild Hogs and we all know how well that did at the theater.

With Travolta, Williams and now Dillon, the cast seems to be solid and I think they have the crew they need to make this movie the best it could possibly be.

It appears the MPAA is focusing their new wave of attacks against the folks that bring camcorders into movie theaters rather than the legions of downloaders. This is where thethey should have always had their focus, if you “nip it in the bud” you will start to win some battles. We get the news about the MPAA’s new plan of attack from the news masters of Variety:

The Motion Picture Assn. of America and the National Assn. of Theater Owners announced on Thursday a joint effort to remind would-be bootleggers that camcording in a cinema is a federal offense that could bring jail time as well as a $250,000 penalty. NATO-member theaters will display a pair of posters containing this warning. Both resemble movie posters.One ominously reads: “Lights. Camera. Busted.” The other: “Leave Your Camera at Home. Do Not Record in this Theatre.”

“More than 90% of newly released movies that end up on the Internet or in street markets around the world can be sourced to a single illegally camcorded movie from a movie theater,” said MPAA topper Dan Glickman in a statement. “With these posters, we want to remind would-be camcord thieves that they can face serious consequences for engaging in this illegal activity and remind moviegoers to report any suspicious activity to theater management.”

I think this renewed focus is strategically superior and a lot more fan friendly. I simply do not know how successful posters will be as a deterrent to professional pirates. I am pretty sure people who pirate are aware that they are criminals and have determined that the reward is worth the risk, so I think they may collect these posters and put them in their bedrooms for fun.

At least the MPAA seems to have shifted its focus from internet users and onto the source of the pirated material. Perhaps they will start to send film rangers to different theaters to be on the lookout for pirates. I hope this is the beginning of the end of lawsuits that target kids in high school.

It appears a film about the rise of Hugh Hefner and his Playboy empire is in the works. The movie will focus on his life of hedonism, activism and vision. We get the news today about this living legend from the caves of Yahoo:

“Playboy” will be directed by Brett Ratner, the filmmaker behind the “Rush Hour” movies, the trade paper said. It is being produced for Universal Pictures by Brian Grazer, who won the best picture Academy Award for “A Beautiful Mind.”

Hefner, 81, who sold his life rights to Grazer several years ago, approved the duo’s vision for the project last week, Daily Variety said. The paper said a script is being written now.

I have a list of people that I consider to be heroes, Hugh Hefner is on that list. This is a dude that started one of the most important publications in all of history, and he began his empire working on his kitchen table. This man had a vision, found a means to share it and was instrumental in changing public opinions about decency, sexuality and the beauty of blessed nudity.

Hefner is often remembered for his sexual escapades, and this certainly makes sense. What I find most interesting about the man is how he has his whole week planned day by day. He does the same thing on Monday pretty much every Monday. He has a day dedicated to poker with the guys, he has a day dedicated to hanging out in the yard playing back gammon, and so on. For such a free spirit he has a very regimented life and I have always found that to be fascinating. It is like he lived the perfect week and keeps living it over and over, to maximize enjoyment.

I am glad Hef was alive to ok the project himself. I am sure this film will be educational, motivational, titillating, and instructional. Hefner is a man that celebrates life the way he wants to, and he challenges us to do the same. This may be my most anticipated film at this point in history.

I’m all smiles. Optimus Prime Rules

Fans of the Office? Bigger fan of the UK version? Then you already are a fan of Ricky Gervais. A good friend of mine last night directed me to some rather funny clips of this show called Extras. As usual, we are coming to the table late, as it seems this show is already over.

BBC.co.uk describes its origins:

After the international success of The Office the pressure was on for Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant to come up with a successful successor. Wonderfully, they succeeded. Extras was another naturalistic show that mined the theatre of embarrassment for its laughs and - particularly in the second series - reached real comedy peaks.

This is an incredible concept for a television show that twists reality enough to make it all work.

You see, the “stars” in the show are extras, and the Extras are the stars. Did you follow that? Neither did I.

The show is based on a number of collegues who are themselves aspiring actors and for the most part only get roles as extras. The guest stars on the show play themselves. We meet these big name celebrities on the show are the stars of the show the characters aspire to get a job with. In a way that makes them the extras, as the story doesn’t revolve around them, but rather our stars, the Extras.

Its confusing to explain. From the clips I have seen, this looks to be a riot. I need to see this show. Other celebs that make appearances are Dan Radcliffe, Orlando Bloom, Samuel Jackson, and Sir Ian McLellan. Check out this clip featuring Patrick Stewart:

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was probably my favourite of the Harry Potter series thus far. Followed by the Half Blood Prince (I love learning about background story!)

So needless to say I am quite excited about this movie. So when I found out that HPANA.com had posted a pile of pics, I couldn’t resist sharing them with you.

None of these contain spoilers, so go take a look at ‘em now!

Two bits of Die Hard 4 News Today. The first is regarding the change of “language” in the new Die Hard Film. It is being suggested that the language has been toned down greatly, so much so that the battle cry of the series if muffled out with a gunshot. We get the following update on this issue from filmwad:

Ifitsmovies reports that Live Free or Die Hard, the fourth (and thus far, the sole PG-13) installment in the Die Hard series does not include the complete line, “Yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker.”

In a considerably long review, a guy named Tom’s Wrathman calls it a pretty mediocre action flick (“It feels very much like a sequel to Die Hard With A Vengeance, only not as good, in the same way that Die Harder felt a lot like Die Hard, but not as good”) and then drops the bombshell.

“As for the language? First up, he doesn’t say “Yippee Kay Ay Mother Fucker”. He says “Yippee Kay Ay Mother Fu-GUNSHOT”.

I do not care if profanity is in film, when writing a story you pick the words that best represent what you want the characters to say. The problem I have with the language change in this film is that it seems out of character for John McLean to quit smoking and swearing. If I had to hazard a guess I would assume that the change was made to open the box office to a wider audience rather than for reasons of morality.

We will wait and see, if the film rules I will be less upset about the changes. I did see the first 10 minutes and they were pretty good as far as I was concerned, but I am holding off my enthusiasm until I see the whole shebang.

In other Die Hard news today it appears that Bruce Willis has considered doing a Die Hard prequel as well. We get the following scoop from cinemablend via an MTV interview.

The fact that Bruce wants to do Die Hard till he dies is no surprise, what’s new is that for some reason he wants to do a Die Hard prequel as well. He says, “There was a time when we discussed doing another ‘Die Hard’ as doing a prequel — kind of John McClane, the early years.” You’d think that would mean he can’t be in it, but you’d be wrong. “But I’ve kind of missed that window now, unless they come up with some type of new technology where they can smooth out these wrinkles — you know, these laugh lines — that I have on my face. But I would do [a prequel] if I could; I think as an actor, it’s just a matter of how I look.” Well they have come up with such a technology. See X-Men: The Last Stand for reference.

Even with modern technology I do not think a Die Hard prequel with Willis would make sense at this point. You can use cg on his face and staple a wig to his head, I do not think people will buy it. We may see another Die Hard film, but at this point in the game I do not think the public or Bruce Willis would care to play a rookie John McLean.

What I want to see is John McLean the retiree fighting terrorists at his Florida retirement community. That is an action film with a lot of chinos and Hawaiian shirts.

We get news today from spies! It appears the guys at superherohype have obtained pictures and video of the Scarecrow on the shoot of The Dark Knight. We learn of this via our friends at joblo.

Below we have the video that was shot by Superhero Hype’s spy that names himself Typorocks.

We get a close up of a still of this video that better reveals scarecrow from our German friends at batmannews.de

Ok this is by far the best Simpsons Movie trailer to date, It is hilarious and involves a pig that defies gravity!

Thank you so much to the guys at movieweb for hooking us up with the ebed code so we may share the video below with all of you!

International Friends, what do you guys think about the trailer?

There are few individuals in the history of our earth that have done as much as Mandella to bring about drastic social change. He is a living legend, a hero to humanity, a man that left a prison cell of over 20 years and immediately headed toward the mountain top that was his presidency. It is with great joy that I learn of The Human Factor and we get the following news regarding the project from the moviehole:

Morgan Freeman has signed on to play former South African President Nelson Mandela in “The Human Factor,” an independently financed drama, based on the upcoming John Carlin book “The Human Factor: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Changed the World”, says Variety.

The movie is set after the fall of apartheid, when South Africa was host to the 1995 Rugby World Cup. Mandela was in his first term as South African president, and he used the event as a way to end decades of mistrust and hatred between whites and blacks.

I will follow this news to try and discover when this film will be ready for release. I am pumped that Freeman will be playing Mandella, as a man that has fellowshipped with Mandella, and who has amazing acting ability, this may be the performance of his lifetime.

I am glad they are making this film while Mandella still walks the earth, he deserves to see his amazing story retold on the silver screen. A man/woman on a mission is an amazing thing. At some points in history you have people step up and dawn almost godlike charisma and proclaim their vision to the throngs, and under the hypnosis of these players great change occurs. People have a conscious that rings true with the words of the prophet and a paradigm shift happens in society. These shifts can be quick, and at times without much warning. History is full of these moments, and often boil down to the words of but a lone town cryer.

This will be a glorious movie about the power of human will. I am pumped.

The wait is over Kill Bill fans. The DVD we were hoping for will soon be upon us. Kill Bill: The Whole Bloddy Mess contain both movies, extra footage, special features and who knows what else! We get the news of this release and following commentary from our friends at cinematical:

They don’t even have a picture up of the cover yet, but nevertheless, there are a number of things worth noting. First, it will come out in less than five months — on November 6th, so we know how long we have to wait. Secondly, it should be a hell of a lot better than the previous DVD offerings, and this isn’t just the words of hope. There is no list of features or specs yet, but the set includes four discs — which I assume means two per movie. I think it’s safe to say that we should get ready for a crap ton of features. As for the last two tidbits — it’s run-time is listed at 247 minutes (4+ hours long) and that’s probably why its rating is NC17.

This is good for Douglas, I have been waiting to buy Kill Bill, because I have been waiting for this version of the DVD release. I think Kill Bill is my favorite Tarantino film, and the Hanzo sword smithing scene may be one of my favorite movie moments of all time. It will be cool to see both films back to back as one, I am wondering If i will like it as much as one movie as I did when they were separate. I think Kill Bill 2 was one of my most anticipated films ever because I wanted to see resolution for the bride.

I am not so big on special features, but they are nice to have if you really enjoy a film. The special features and deleted scenes from Comedian are great, and the commentary by Seinfeld and Coiln Quinn is just fantastic. I have to really like a movie to dig through the special features and Kill Bill will be one of them, I am hoping they have a documentary on the making of a Hanzo sword (fingers crossed).

Well there he is ladies and gentlemen. Harrison Ford in the old familiar outfit we’ve grown to know and love. Indiana Jones himself… sitting there on set. You know what’s happening right? The reason the picture is of him sitting down and not “acting” is because as much as they talk about this moving getting made… it’s really not. I still say it won’t happen… and that’s why Ford is just sitting around. They thought they were going to start filming… and then Lucas or Spielberg once again changed their minds about something.

Stop the presses and hold the phone. Ok, to recap here, most of you know that I really didn’t have much interest in an Iron Man movie. I think he’s a lame comic book character and just a poor man’s version of Batman. Now, having said that, I’ve also said that every single movie these people have made in putting an Iron Man movie together has been most impressive. Jon Favreau directing, Mark Fergus writing, Robert Downy Jr. at Iron Man… the list goes on and on.

Well today we got news of another character appearing in Iron Man. The following comes from AICN:

Today, though, he’s shooting scenes featuring an actor who is a set-up for a larger Marvel continuity, and it’s exciting because I’m hoping this character can start showing up in other films, and we’ll start seeing Marvel Studios creating a larger world, one that exists outside the frames of the individual movies. This is a major step towards making that AVENGERS movie we’ve been hearing about. So who’s the actor? Who’s the character?

Sam Jackson. Nick Fury.

This has some interesting possible implications. The Nick Fury character is one of the richer ones in the Marvel universe, and he often appears all over the place. Clearly this is going to be a small roll in Iron Man for Samuel L Jackson… but the thought brought up in the article is an interesting one. Could Marvel be using Nick Fury to form some sort of continuity amongst their franchises on screen? Could be see Nick Fury appear in next summer’s “The Incredible Hulk”? Perhaps Captain America? Could all this ultimately lead to an Avengers movie?

Personally I don’t really care about the idea of an Avengers Movie… but the notion of creating a consistent continuity throughout all the Marvel movies is a fantastic idea… IF that’s indeed what they are doing. At the end of the day, this may be nothing more than a quick cameo with no other purpose other than having a cameo. We’ll have to wait and see.

The first teaser posters (yes, they’re real) for next summer’s “The Incredible Hulk” movie have started appearing in a couple of theaters. I love it. It’s just perfect for an advanced tease.

With all the announcements regarding this film, the cast, the writers, the director… I’m really getting pumped about this. It may very well just end up as another crappy Spider-Man 3… but I choose to keep my optimism up… at least for now.

via Joblo

Holy crap. I got this from our buddies over at Film Junk. You know that studio Asylum? They put out all these rip off movies JUST before the real movies hit the theaters. When Snakes on a Plane was coming out, they released “Snakes on a Train”. When the Da Vinci Code was coming out, they released “The Davinci Secret”. They even put out a Pirates movie.

Now, they’re talking it even further. Michael Bay has The Transformers coming out in a couple of weeks… bo Asylum gives us “The Transmorphers”!!! I love these guys will all my heart. :) Here’s the trailer for the Transmorphers:

Ok, so there’s this graphic novel coming out that goes by the name “Cowboys and Aliens” You can get the picture of when this thing is about right? Back in the old west, some cowboys and Indians team up apparently to fight a group of Aliens that have crashed landed on earth and are up to no good. YeeeHaaaaa!

Ok, now I’ve got to admit that the idea of mixing a Western with a Sci-Fi film is pretty cool at first (but then again, isn’t that was Will Smith’s Wild Wild West was? Yikes!). I mean come on… this could be a cool idea right? Sure there is a huge potential for cheese, but I think the concept is one worth taking a risk on. Keep it light, don’t take itself too seriously, don’t degrade into slap stick yuk yuk humor… and this thing might actually be ok.

So far it looks like the project will be adapted by Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby who both wrote the screen version of Children of Men and the new Iron Man movie, and has apparently got Ron Howard on as an executive producer. Not bad. No word yet on who would direct this sucker. But I’ll betcha that if the screenplay turns out slick that Howard looks to expand himself a little bit and takes this one over if he smells a hit.

Here’s the trailer for the graphic novel

Here at The Movie Blog, we are 100% against Piracy. However, we’re also really annoyed at how studios often exaggerate and outright lie about piracy numbers… and how they go about trying to fight piracy. Still, in principle we agree… piracy is wrong.

But what falls under the term “Piracy”??? Here’s an example. The first week that Dodgeball came out on DVD, I ran out and bought myself a copy. I swear that movie has got a lot of use. But here’s the thing… about 3 months after I got it, it got some scratches on it… it started freezing in a couple of spots, and ultimately it wouldn’t play anymore at all. Fortunetly for me, the same week I bought the movie, I burned a copy of it to keep in my CD book just in case. My original won’t play anymore, but my backup does. So am I a pirate? No, I’m not.

The industry has been trying very hard to make it fully illegal for you to backup your own DVD collection, or to even allow people at all to burn DVDs in general, no matter the circumstances. Their weak arguement is that if you burn a copy of a DVD… you MIGHT sell or give that copy to other people.

This is the stupidest nonsense ever. I own a steak knife. Should that be banned because I MIGHT stab someone with it? After all, a law could be broken with a knife… best to assume I’m a criminal and take them away from me. That’s the industries position.

This morning it was brought to my attention that new proposals are on the table to outright ban anyone from burning DVDs, or have devices that can play your movies without the physical disc in the drives. The assumption is that you’re all criminals and should be treated as such.

A proposed amendment to the current copy protection license governing DVDs would completely ban all DVD backups, and prevent DVD playback without the DVD disk being present inside the drive. The proposed amendment was made public in a letter sent by Michael Malcolm, the chief executive of Kaleidescape, a DVD jukebox company which successfully defeated a suit by the DVD Copy Control Association (DVD CCA) this past March. The proposed amendment is scheduled for a vote on Wednesday, according to Malcolm.

This is not how you fight piracy. If you’d like to read the whole report you can check it out here.

Oh man this is funny. I found this YouTube video via our good friends over at Cinematical earlier today… and I must have watched it like 10 times already. The video looks at 6 of the worst scenes in history broken into the following 6 categories:

1) Worst Death Scene

2) Worst Stunt

3) Worst Acting Ever

4) Most Random Line Ever

5) Worst Reaction

6) Worst CG

Just sit back, relax, and watch this glorious montage of filmmaking

We haven’t had a really good erotic thriller in a while. Back a number of years ago every studio was rushing to put erotic thrillers like cans of soup… a little flavor for everyone. Hell, I even bet Pixar thought about doing one. But alas, the last few years attempts at erotic thrillers have basically tanked, and for good reason. So here comes along a new film project called “Addicted”.

The Hollywood Reporter is saying that the new film (which apparently is about a married woman, probably hot, who “suffers” from a high addiction to sex and seeks out a therapist who leads her to have some encounters with other people to explore her addiction) just signed on director Peter Medak (who has just basically been doing a bunch of TV work recently) to helm the novel based adaptation.

So why does this news interest me? Well, I know I’m probably just getting my hopes up, but I would personally love to see a smart film that really looks at the topic of sexual addiction. Let’s face it, to some degree we’re all addicted to sex. One study I read suggested that the average male thinks about sex 6 times a minute. That’s a lot of fantasy. I like Ice Cream a LOT… but I usually only think about 2 or 3 times a day.

Why does sex drive us so much? How can it be so powerful that it drives otherwise good people to do uncool things? Why is the topic so taboo in our culture? Why are we often embarrassed by it? I’d love to see a movie address (not answer) those questions. Now, what we’re probably going to end up with is just a poor man’s porn movie with no plot some convoluted ending… but a man can dream.

We first talked about Homo Erectus way back in 2005 when we first heard the film was going into production. If nothing else the casting caught our attention as we originally wrote:

“Every once in a while an idea for a movie comes along that is so dumb you’re just stuck for words. Here comes “Homo Erectus: A Caveman Comedy”. The film has an interesting cast with David Carradine, Ali Larter, Tom Arnold, Talia Shire and Hayes MacArthur. All good enough. But the premise of the movie…. The film centers on Ishbo (Rifkin), a philosophical caveman who loves Fardart (Larter), but she only has eyes for Ishbo’s studly, dimwitted brother, Thudnik (MacArthur). Carradine and Shire will play Ishbo’s parents, while Arnold will play Rog, a gay caveman.”

Well the film has played a couple of festivals, and caught the attention of National Lampoon who have picked up the film and thusly renamed it “National Lampoon’s Homo Erectus”. Very creative.

Back to the film itself… man… I just don’t know. I mean, didn’t they do a bunch of bad caveman comedies in the 80’s? I just don’t see how the premise lends itself to anything but the highest quality of cheese. Please note, I’m not saying the film sucks, after all, I haven’t seen it. All I’m saying is that my expectations are low… low enough that unless I hear some really positive things about it, I’ll probably give it a pass.

Thanks to Ty for the heads up on this new Transformers 15 second TV spot. I think pretty much everything in there is new stuff. Take a look:

I was given this story across my desk today about the making of Rescue Dawn, the upcoming Werner Herzog film. In the following news story we gleen some insight into what it was like to work in the jungle. We get the story from the mouth of Christian Bale via the caves of Yahoo!

The man who steered a steamboat across the Peruvian Andes for “Fitzcarraldo” and braved the raging oil fires of Kuwait for “Lessons of Darkness” recently tackled the jungles of Thailand to bring his Vietnam War drama “Rescue Dawn” to the big screen.

Herzog chose the merciless topography of northern Thailand to fill in for Laos, where the true story of Dieter Dengler’s torture, imprisonment and escape from a POW camp unfolded. Like his character Dieter, Bale ate maggots, swam in snake-infested waters and dodged deadly creatures during the three-month shoot.

“I was like: ‘Look at that spider. It could kill you with one bite,”‘ said Bale, who also spotted random elephants traipsing through Herzog’s shoot in the remote northwestern hill country of Thailand, near the Burmese border. “It’s an adventure to make a movie with him, and I think that’s his point. . . . It’s about blood, sweat and tears. It’s about jumping in and getting your hands dirty and just collapsing at the end of the day.”

Herzog is a man that likes to direct landscapes. Some of the best special effects you could ever ask for, are locations within the real world. In the Jungle the cast and crew weathered with the elements to bring the story to life. Working beside the disgusting filth of the jungle the story becomes much more powerful visually, I would hazard a guess that if you watched this film without volume you would still understand the message of the movie from how the landscapes themselves are presented.

Christian Bale is my favorite actor, this guy is not only a mastersmith of his craft, he is willing to stretch and pull himself apart to fit a role, to tell a story. He is a man that wrestles himself to fit into character. I am very much looking forward to the 4th of July release date for this film. Herzog and Bale are a legendary tag-team.

I have attached to this post a video below where Herzog discusses his feelings about the jungle!

It looks like a new director will be taking the reigns for the next Craig Bond film. We get the following news from the caves of Yahoo!

Filmmaker Marc Forster, the man behind such acclaimed movies as racial drama “Monster’s Ball” and Peter Pan story “Finding Neverland,” was named on Tuesday as director of the next James Bond adventure.

As previously announced, British actor Daniel Craig, who made his debut as James Bond in “Casino Royale,” will return as the secret agent with a license to kill in the film slated for release in November 2008. Production is set to begin at the end of this year.

The choice of Forster marks an apparent change in creative emphasis from “Casino Royale” director Martin Campbell, best known for his work in action-adventure films, including 1995’s “GoldenEye,” which introduced Pierce Brosnan as Bond.

Casino Royale was an amazing film, I loved it. I though Craig was brilliant as Bond and I am certainly looking forward to his next outing in the character’s shoes. I was happy with the direction of the last film, but if they feel a new director will better fit this new script then so be it.

I did enjoy finding Neverland, I thought it was a great film about friendship and the wonder of childhood. Now let us see if Marc Forster can give is a film that celebrates the wonder known as Bond. When it comes to sequels, James Bond demands hundreds, and we will anticipate every one. A good character has strong shoulders.

We have new Pirates related news for you kids! This may be fake news, but I am pretty sure we al could smell a Pirates 4 from a mile away. We get the following secret scoop from a one eyed, top hat wearing crocodile known as cinemablend:

Our source says that Pirates of the Caribbean 4 is no longer just a possibility, it’s almost a certainty. More importantly, Johnny Depp is all but assured to return, though our scooper claims he may end up making as much as $35 - $40 million to do it. Also returning will be Geoffrey Rush and Gore Verbinski as director, but forget about the rest of the cast because from now on the movies will only be about Captain Jack.

That’s right, Pirates 4 will cast aside Will and Elizabeth to make it an all Jack Sparrow movie.

Don’t get too attached to the idea of another Pirates of the Caribbean sequel though. Our insider thinks that Disney plans to take a long, long breather between Pirates movies: “word is that the start date could be around 2009 to 2011.” I don’t think we need another Pirates sequel, but if they’re going to do one, giving the franchise time to recharge is probably a very good idea.

From what we have here, this actually sounds like the best news we could of heard. A movie that focuses on Jack Sparrow is fine by me. In fact, I have said that is what they should of had all along. Well Star Wars 1, 2, 3 were garbage maybe Pirates is going to follow suit and make sure that we at least have an enjoyable 4, 5, and 6.

I guess that is a positive in the argument for more Pirates films; they can’t get any worse. I would still love to see more films about pirates, preferably outside of this franchise. Piracy is just an incredibly interesting way to earn a living and I think they are a fascinating bunch of hooligans that float upon the seas of the globe to this day.