Hey there guys. Really sorry about the lack of posting yesterday and today. Thing is, I’m still on the Hulk set… and I probably will be tomorrow too… so I don’t have a lot of opportunity to do much posting (Internet reception in this area is HORRIBLE and goes in and out). I think Rodney will be doing a couple of posts when he gets the chance.

YESTERDAY was a lot of fun. The scene I took part in was BIG. Much more grand scale than I thought it would be. I was actually a little bit surprised when I walked on set. It’s KILLING me not to tell you guys more… but I’m not allowed to at this point. All I’m going to say is that I think this movie is going to be a lot of fun.

So once again, sorry for the lack of posting… but I think you guys will forgive me :)

Hey there guys, John here.

Ok, if you’ve come here looking for the pictures from the background area from The Incredible Hulk set, I have elected to take them down. Why did I take them down you might ask? Well here’s the thing.

I guess one of the producers saw the pictures online and threw a hissy fit. Now, before you get all mad at the producer, keep in mind they are trying to keep a tight lid on things before the movie comes out which is understandable. I want to respect their wishes on this matter.

As I said in my post, I only took pictures in the background area AFTER asking one of the assistant directors is photos back there were ok. They said there was no problem with it… so I took a couple of innocent shots and threw them up online (nothing at all that gives anything away about the film mind you).

Today, I got told that one of the producers was really upset about it… I instantly told them had no intent of going against their wishes, and when I was unclear about if the background holding area was ok to photo or not, I took the initiative and asked permission. Clearly there was some misunderstanding with the ADs as to what was ok or not, and they told me it was ok. So I put the pics up.

Today the word has come down that they don’t want them up there, so out of respect for their wishes (which was always my intent to follow) I’ve taken the pictures down.

The Hulk crew is a terrific bunch, and all I’ll say is that from what I’ve seen, the movie looks as exciting as hell. I said that before they asked me to take the pictures down, and I still think that’s the case.

So no one get mad at them… no one sent me a threatening letter… no one freaked out. Just a couple of ADs politely came to me and asked that the pictures be taken down. I am more than happy to comply with that request.

Lindsay Lohan has been getting a LOT of bad press lately, and I am not talking about the summer flop “I Know Who Killed Me” (such a let down. Lohan as a stripper? How could that fail?) Sometimes don’t you just hear about a celebrity so much you almost wish they would die?

Ok, I hope you don’t get to that kind of extreme, but if you think you have a good handle on how and when celebrities might kick it, here is a dark and disturbed way to win some money!

TMZ.com is reporting:

A morbidly delicious website called Ghoulpool.us lets users bet on when they believe celebrities will die — and win cash prizes if they’re right. Dead right!

Participants choose 25 celebs they think will die within the year. Each celeb is assigned a point value, based on how old they are and how they might die. The younger the star, and more extreme the death, the more cash participants receive.

It looks like the alleged recent drunk driving antics of little Miss Lohan has earned her a rapidly increasing rank on the Ghoulpool list.

Go to GhoulPool to place your bets.

Hey there guys. Well, I’m back from Comic Con… just got in a few hours ago. I was originally supposed to fly home this afternoon, but some scheduling changes for Hulk filming meant I had to come back a little sooner than I originally expected… so I caught a flight last night at 11:30pm… and arrived in Toronto at 9am. CRAZY! I am so tired you wouldn’t even believe it! Man I had so much fun at Comic Con… and on Sunday afternoon I was even asked by Lakeshore and MGM if I wanted to MC the Pathology Panel. There apparently were a lot of Movie Blog readers there, cause when I went on stage and said “Movie Blog” it got quite a reaction. I’ll post the video of it later.

Anyway… with me having to shoot over to the Hulk set this afternoon, it means we won’t be able to have our regular Monday Roundtable podcast. I’M SOOOO SORRY. In a feeble attempt to make up for it, fire me off some questions and I’ll do a “Mailbag” edition tomorrow.

Ok… off I go!

Once again we get a clip shared through the wonders of eager fans attending the San Diego Comic Con, and this time its a 5 minute preview of the Golden Compass.

I have to say I am very eager to see this film. After I finish reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, I want to run out and pick up this book. I know that reading the book will make the film seem like so much was left out or done wrong, but I just can’t read a book about a movie I have already seen. My mind races to fit the written word with my memory of the film and it ruins it all for me.

But this looks amazing so far!

When I first read this news about the former Wonder Woman star Lynda Carter coming down on the uber skinny obsession in Hollywood, I was about to throw the black pot at her kettle.

ThisisNottingham says:

Lynda Carter has blasted “anorexic actresses”, saying Hollywood’s obsession with being thin is downright dangerous.

“I’m so sick of seeing these anorexic actresses,” the former Wonder Woman star told US TV show Extra, Extra!

“These people are crazy. Any place else in the country besides New York and LA and they would be in a hospital.”

Now if you check out the old school Lynda Carter in her blazing stars and stripes and impressive cleavage, you will notice that she is in fact rather slim. But “anorexic skinny? No. She actually looks quite healthy.

Then compare that to modern day Lynda Carter (who I have to say is aging VERY well) and you will see that she is a very model of a healthy woman. Sure, she is still slim. But healthy.

After seeing some tabloid shots of how boney scrawny some of these “superstars” are getting makes me see her point. Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen must share meals, and some of these supposed role models seem to stave off hunger with 7 day benders at LA’s hottest night clubs.

But it just isn’t pretty!

Just a tip to you starlet wannabe’s. When someone rates you a 10, they shouldnt be counting visible rib bones.

As you guys know, next summer is shaping up to be a HUGE one for the super-hero genre. There’s obviously the next Batman film “The Dark Knight”… then there’s the looking better and better Iron Man… and then there’s The Incredible Hulk! I’ve been pumped about this Hulk film ever since they announced it a while back. Yes, I really enjoyed the Ang Lee version… but even I longed to see a true “Hulk Smash” rendition as well. And it looks like that’s exactly what we’re getting.

At Comic Con, they released a concept photo of what the big guy will probably look like. Damn skippy…. now THAT’S the Hulk! Excellent look for the green man.

Not only did they release that poster… but they also announced that Ed Norton himself re-wrote the scipt! Our friends over at FirstShowing put up this report from the Hulk session:

Norton talked at length about his interest in the comic book and television series, stating “I was a Marvel kid, I had subscriptions to a lot of the Marvel comics.” Norton also said that “the whole idea of starting from scratch and re-conceiving the story as a mythic saga was really appealing” to him and that he “thought it was really an amazing opportunity.” Norton also said that his reasons for taking this project on were that the technology allowed for him to actually play both halves of the character, the regular half and the technological half, without losing his actual performance.

I’m not totally sure how I feel about Ed Norton messing with the script. Is he a good screenwriter? i don’t know… he hasn’t done anything in that regards so far that has made it to screen. Some people may think this is good news… and it might very well be… but it makes me nervous a little bit. I’m adopting a wait and see mentality for it right now. HULK SMASH PUNY HUMANS!

Hijacked straight from the cam of some over eager fanboy at the SanDiego Comic Con (No, not John Campea) we get a first look at the IRON MAN trailer.

I have to say it looks pretty damned good.

Its a little sketchy in the darker parts, but we get to see the main idea behind it all. I think Downey is going to do an incredible job as Stark. He plays the millionaire playboy thing SO well.

Now all we have to do is get him drunk so John will like the movie too.

Well it looks like the Terms of Service caught up with this guy. Hope you saw it while it was still up.

Edit - Found on YouTube… for now

Last night was another VERY fun night. My friends over at IESB and LatinoReview organized and really pulled off a terrific party that they called “The Masters of the Web Party” and I’ve gotta tell ya, they really went all out for it as you’ll see in the pictures below.

I got involved with the party because (as you all know) I’ve developed something of a friendship with the Crank and Pathology guys this year, and they were looking to hook up a sponsorship thing for the party… and I worked with Robert Sanchez (IESB) to get it all set up. The party was fantastic, we showed the Pathology trailer and everyone seemed to love it, and the whole night everyone just had a good time.

It was nice to see and hook up with a bunch of the other web guys who were there the night before. So here are some of the pictures from the “Masters of the Web” party that took place on a hotel roof!

Me and Robert Sanchez from IESB getting the last details ready

It was quite a party

REALLY quite a party

Canadians Unite! Me and Berge from JoBlo.Com

Lauren Lee Smith and me. She stars in Pathology, and until she told me, I TOTALLY didn’t know she was also the telepath in Mutant X. I loved that cheesy show

Me and Michael Davis (Director of the new Clive Owen, Paul Giamati action flick “Shoot ‘Em Up”)

Have I mentioned yet that it was REALLY quite a party?

Me and Rachel from IESB

Remember those 2 greatest lightsaber battles of all time “Ryan vs. Dorkman I and II”? They were there.

Yeah… quite a party

After that party, the Pathology guys and I hit a club. Not as fun clearly. :)

So that was the Masters of the Web party. Today is my last day here and I fly home late tonight (I don’t get back till 9am Toronto time tomorrow morning… YIKES!).

Ok let’s call a spade a spade here. I’m at Comic Con right now. I’m looking at all these amazing comic strips. So it looks like fun. So I decide to try doing a little comic strip here on The Movie Blog. But I’m not funny… and I can’t draw. Who cares? I’ll try it anyway.

The reality is that I’ll probably do it once or twice… realize I suck at it and that it’s not as much fun as I thought it would be… and then never do it again. But it’s the weekend, so why not try it just for fun?

So now I present to you, “Adventures In Movie Blogging” #1 (and probably the last one)

I can not even begin to tell you how much fun I had tonight! Here’s the short version. I organized a little party for tonight here in San Diego for a few of the movie websites to get together and hang out, and to give everyone a chance to meet and hang out with the creators of Crank and the upcoming movie “Pathology” (Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor).

In the picture you can see (from left to right) Jessica (FirstShowing.Net), Peter (SlashFilm.Com), Me, in front is Kevin (Cinematical.com), Vic (Screenrant.com), John (Screenrant.com) and Alex (FirstShowing.Net). Other’s came late after the picture was taken. There was much drinking… a LOT of drinking… more than I’ve drank in years actually… and I had a WONDERFUL time. I’m pretty sure we all did.

As an added bonus, Milo Ventimiglia came to the party as well (Heroes, and stars in Pathology) and he brought along his Heroes cast mates Zachary Quinto (who is also the new Mr. Spock for the upcoming new Star Trek movie) and Masi Oka. Zach and I talked a bit about his new role as Spock and what it means to him. He’s such a laid back, humble and engaging guy… much like Milo. Masi is the world’s sweetheart right now, but you’d never know from chatting with him that he’s even aware he’s famous (other than people interrupting us asking for his autograph… which is totally understandable). All three of these guys are so new to fame, and seem to handle it with much grace that other celebs could learn a thing or two from. Much fun.

At one point Brendan from Lakeshore Entertainment took us all down to a reserved boardroom to show us all the very first screening of the Pathology trailer WHICH WAS FRICKIN WICKED! We all went back upstairs to the roof top beach party area and kept going till they closed the palce down at 2am. I had SOOOO much fun. It was a genuine treat to meet and hang out with the web guys. We liked it so much we started talking about doing it again apart from comic con sometime soon.

I’m including a bunch of pictures from this evening. Check it out:

Here’s that pic I described above with all us web geeks

Me with the guys from Heroes

Peter with Brian Taylor

Jen (Rotten Tomatoes) and Kevin

Mark Neveldine

Like I said, a good time was had by all… these people were all so much fun to hang out with. I must come back next year and do this again!

The new “The Dark Knight” trailer that was shown here at Comic Con has predictably made its way online. Not much to see… but much to hear as we get our first sounds of Heath Ledger’s voice as Joker. Check it out:

As if the news that the Grindhouse films were being split up for dvd release (Planet Terror and Death Proof will each get their own individual dvds releases and not together like in the theater) wasn’t bad enough… I just found something out that perhaps everyone else knew already… but I didn’t. Edgar Wright (the director of the “DON’T” trailer) just told us that the fake trailers from Grindhouse (some say they were the best part about the movie) will NOT be included on either movie. WTF!?!

The fake trailers from Grindhouse were one of the movie’s big selling points. There were so much fun, and really an integral part of the whole Grindhouse watching experience. To keep them away from the fans of the film (the few who went out and supported it in theaters) on both DVDs is nothing but a swift kick in the nuts.

The strategy here is obvious. They want to get you to buy the DVDs twice. They’re going to keep the trailers from you when they release the two films individually… and they get you to buy the Grindhouse Special Edition DVD with both movies AND he trailers.

I totally understand how this makes sense from a marketing standpoint… but at the same time I think it’s awfully insulting to the fans. Such a shame.

It’s always refreshing when you get to sit in on a session with a couple of guys who just talk like they do when they’re in the bar instead of putting on their best “interview face”. I had the chance this afternoon to sit in with Nick Frost and Edgar Wright to talk about the upcoming DVD release of their film “Hot Fuzz”.

A couple of interesting things came out in this interview:

1) Edgar Wright actually used to work in that exact same supermarket in Hot Fuzz

2) Getting “edited for family friendly” versions together (very funny)

3) The upcoming Grindhouse DVDs will NOT… I repeat NOT have the fake trailers on them (more on that in another post)

It was a great, casual (by invitation only) session. Instead of me trying to explain it, I thought I’d just let you watch it. here it is:

Hey there guys. So day #2 didn’t get of to the start that I wanted at all. The Warner Bros. session was at 10:30am today… I called a cab at 9:30am… and the thing took over 30 minutes to get here. By the time I got to the CON, the line up to get into the WB session was already over an hour long. So screw that noise.

Instead, I took the opportunity to actually walk around the convention floor and see some stuff. IT WAS AMAZING! I’m so glad I didn’t end up going to the WB session, cause the rest of the weekend is totally booked for me and I’m not sure I would have had another chance to see all the stuff.

So here are some quick snaps shoots I took on the floor.

The Ark of the Covenant

Balls Of Fury Posters

All Lego R2D2 and C3PO

All Lego Cewbacca

Random upcoming movie posters

Some DC Heroes

A Role Playing Gamers Dream

BSG “Frak Off” shirt

New Hulk Movie display

Giant Optimus Prime

Scott of my FAVORITE online comic strip PVP

More Transformers stuff

Screenwriting software even on display

New movie Skinwalkers on display

One of many Star Wars displays

Vader Heads

15 ft. Tall Voldemort

World Of Warcraft

I’ll try to get as many more shots as I can later

As bad as the recent crop of holiday movies have been (sadly, Fred Claus doesn’t look so hot either after seeing the trailer) I’m still a guy who likes Christmas movies… even is they stink. What can I tell you? I just love Christmas.

Anyway, yet another Vince Vaughn Christmas film seems to be in the works and this time he’ll have Reese Witherspoon with him if everything works out. The film is titled “Four Christmases” and apparently follows a couple at Christmas time who have to try to find a way to visiting all four of their divorced parents. I can relate to this predicament on some level because having been married once, just trying to fit in 2 sets of parents and keep them happy was hard enough.

The film also has an interesting history. Yahoo News gives us this:

“Christmases” was originally set up at Sony Pictures, which eyed it for holiday release in 2004, but the project was dropped because it conflicted with another holiday comedy at the studio, “Christmas With the Kranks.” New Line picked it up in the fall with Adam Shankman attached to direct. Shankman instead segued to the studio’s “Hairspray.”

Count me a “curious” until I actually see something.

You know, when we first got a look at the new Alvin and the Chipmunks poster a little while back, I think the whiplash cases around the world increased 300% from the shear number of us shaking our heads. Well… the first Alvin and the Chipmunks trailer has now hit the web. Let the disgusted shaking continue my friends.

Would someone please tell me what Jason Lee is doing in this?!?!

Security on The Dark Knight has been pretty impressive considering how everyone and their mother wants to get a real look at that set and what’s going on there. So far the only real material to come out for it has been blurry pics take from huge distances (aside from the stuff the studio itself has put out for people to see).

This morning, Paul sent me a link to this nice little video apparently taken of a street scene action shot. Once again, it’s indeed taken from a distance, but it’s still pretty cool to see. The folks at a Batman Movie site got this video and the contributor said this:

just witnessed the Joker’s semi being flipped over from the back to the front. It drove North on LaSalle and shortly after it crossed Monroe it did the flip. I would give it a 10 for nice form and degree of difficulty. Turns out that the spikes in the front were for the front end to dig into the pavement to help it flip. Now the truck is crushed!! Saw The Joker in full makeup hanging around in front of Northern Trust Bank. He was doing things any villan would do…high-fiving, text messaging, smoking, and actually looking bored.

Well, enough about that… here’s the video:

If Good Luck Chuck is the one film at Comic Con that I’m looking forward to the least… then it would probably have to be said that 3:10 To Yuma is the one I’m looking forward to the most. This project just looks like pure gold. It’s being directed by James Mangold (Walk the Line, Cop Land, Girl Interrupted) which is reason enough to be excited… but it also has 2 of the best actors today in it as your hero and villain, Christian Bale and Russell Crowe.

This was also my first big let down of Comic Con. None of the three listed above were there. Come on! If you’re going to try to showcase your film at an event like Comic Con… at LEAST get 1 of the big 3 to show up to the event! It’s a shame they weren’t there.

In their place were 2 other actors from the film (who are no slouches themselves). Peter Fonda and Ben Foster (Angel from X-Men 3). As good as both of these guys look in the movie (and trust me… they both look fantastic), neither of them are very interesting interviews. Most of the panel time was awkward… although Foster did tell some pretty interesting stories about how Crowe took all the cast to Cowboy camp so they could learn to ride and shoot.

They showed a couple of clips from the movie that deliver EVERYTHING I’ve been hoping this movie would give us. In one of the clips, Foster (who is the second in command of Crowe’s gang, and in charge after Crowe gets captured and is now trying to find and rescue him) burns a man alive in order to get information on where the law is keeping Crowe. The guy displays so much intensity it’s hard to believe he’s such a little guy.

Not much about the movie itself was talked about. Mostly chat about westerns in general… how cold it was when they shot the film… the tricks they learned on keeping their hands warm when doing shoot out scenes… but nothing about the movie itself. That combined with the lack of the 3 main dudes… left me kind of bored throught the whole 3:10 to Yuma presentation. Oh well… that movie is still going to be amazing.

If there is one movie out there on the horizon that I have absolutely ZERO interest in, it’s “Good Luck Chuck”. First of all because I don’t think Dane Cook can act or is funny in the least. Secondly because despite being quite beautiful, Jessica Alba is just a couple of notches above Jessica Simpson when it comes to acting ability… and thridly, the film just looks boring and filled with recycled gags. Did the Good Luck Chuck session here at Comic Con change my thinking at all? Well… maybe just a little bit.

First thing I should mention is that they didn’t show us any footage that we haven’t seen before. As a matter of fact, then only thing they really showed was a trailer that’s been on the net for a while now… so nothing new to get us excited about at all. They also offered nothing new about the movie itself to increase my interest in it… which as I said is ZERO.

However, I should say this. Jessica Alba has always come across as being likeable. But holy crap… in person… she is more than just likable… she is down right totally charming as hell. She’s very quick witted, very gutsy, and a VERY good sport. Solid sense of humor and just gives off this aura of someone you’d love to just hang out with because she’s so cool. Even back stage, once the panel was over, she was just a complete charmer… and it comes off as so natural, that if she’s just faking it, then I have to re-evaluate my thoughts on her as an actress. I can’t help it… I LIKE Jessica Alba now (that doesn’t mean I’m much more interested in seeing Good luck Chuck though).

Dane Cook was also VERY good. He is a publicists dream face guy. I met him at the MTV Movie Awards briefly, and there is no taking away that he is a very likable guy… but it still remains that I don’t think he can act… and as charming as both these people are (honestly they really are) I’m still not at all interested in Good Luck Chuck.

Just came back to my hotel from the Midnight Meat Train session at Comic Con. If Clive Barker is to be believed, and if what I saw on my set visit a while back is any indication… AND… if the world premiere of the new trailer wasn’t just an illusion, this is going to be one hell of a fun, horrifying movie. This evening, a panel consisting of original short story writer Clive Barker, Director Ryuhei Kitamura and cast members Bradley Cooper, Vinnie Jones and Leslie Bibb took to the stage to discuss the new movie.

First of all the trailer was fantastic. Eerie, bloody, and there is enough of it there to give you a solid sense of what the film is. It starts by showing us Bradley’s character, who is a photographer in New York city (I think it’s New YorK anyway. Admonished by his publisher to take more risks and to REALLY get shots of the true city, he happens upon a woman’s murder in the subway at the hands of Vinnie Jones’ character (known as Mahogany).

Bradley becomes obsessed with Mahogany and begins to follow him to discover what he’s doing. Clearly, horror ensues.

Clive Barker paid the ultimate compliment to Kitamura by saying this film is the single greatest adaptation of his short stories to date (including those he’s directed himself). See the video here:

The funniest part of the session though was easily when the moderator asked Clive how he came up with the title for “Midnight Meat Train”. His answer is CLASSIC! Watch it here:

From what I understand, Midnight Meat Train won’t be hitting theaters until sometime in 2008, so we still have quite a wait in front of us… but keep this movie in the back of your mind. I really do think there is potential here for the name “Mahogany” to become one of the classic horror names and characters. Let’s see how it actually works out.

More Reboot news is on the way and you can help make it!

If you check out the website Zeros2Heroes, you can sign on, create a profile with a cute little cartoon avatar and take a look at the revamp of Reboot while it is still in development!

You’ve seen it before: a big entertainment company trying to squeeze out a few more ducats from a classic and much-beloved story. They tart it up, modernize it, stick in a hip new sidekick, then parade the new and improved production in front of the fans who are suitably disgusted.

Naturally, the production bombs and no one can seem to figure out why. But this time, it’s going to be different.

Rainmaker Entertainment is bringing back ReBoot. And they want you the fans to help them get it right.

So there you have it. The concepts are online, and each are working on a comic book for each to really express their story.

Right now in the discussion area, there are 5 different ideas about how to continue on for the ReBoot world, written by 5 different teams. Only one will become the next ReBoot and you get to decide which one. We have ReBoot:Regenerated, ReBoot:Arrival, ReBoot 2.0, Reboot:The Last Guardian, and ReBoot: The Last User.

Personally, I like the Last Guardian story and I really hope to see more of that for the next generation of Reboot.

So go over to Zeros2Heroes and sign up for an account, and when you are filling out your profile, in the “I’m loving:” section be sure to put “The Movie Blog.com” and we will see just how many of the International Friends we can get on their social network!

ReBoot!

Hey guys. As much as possible over the next couple of days I’ll be updating with posts, some video and audio as well as I adventure through the geek jungle known as Comic Con.

Right now I’m sitting in the Denver airport waiting to catch my connecting flight to San Diego. My first order of business is to:

1) Check into my hotel

2) Have lunch with Karl Kozac (Director of the new comedy coming out called “Skid Marks”)

3) Hit the “Midnight Meat Train” session at the Con

I’ll figure my evening out later.

Later guys!

Even the very reputable rumour mill of all things Harry Potter, Muggle.net have reported and recinded the rumour that Naomi Watts was cast in the next Harry Potter feature film the Half Blood Prince.

The Leaky Cauldron says:

Various media and websites have been claiming that actress Naomi Watts has been cast as Narcissa Malfoy in the upcoming film of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. TLC has confirmed these reports are FALSE

Having that rumour out there however has made me think that Watts could nicely pull off the role of the sinister Death Eater’s platinum blonde snobby wife Narcissa “Cissy” Malfoy. She even fits the Brits only stipulation put in place by JK Rowling.

Nacissa makes her first appearance alongside her husband Lucius at the Quidditch match, though this is not depicted in the movie, so no actress has yet to play her. In further books, starting with Half-Blood Prince, Narcissa becomes a more predominate character instead of just Malfoy arm-candy and would require an actress of deeper character to play her instead of just a pretty face with light blonde hair.

Who would you think would make a better choice for Cissy Malfoy?

Matt Damon is pure entertainment. Off the top of my head I can honestly say that I cannot think of a SINGLE thing I have seen Damon in that I didn’t like. Frankly this is one guy who really deserves it. He is truly a star.

Not to say the other’s don’t deserve the recognition they have, but I really think Leonardo DiCaprio should have his name set in stone there too.

DailyStab has pics of Matt Damon with his own star on the walk of fame.

Who else ISN’T on the Walk of Fame that you think deserves the Honour?

I have to say that I did like the first Saw movie. It really made you think, and put you carefully in that “if I was in their place, could I do what they were asked to do?” kind of fear. But then they made a sequel, and another one. Then a fourth is on its way now too. Enough is enough. I’m already tired of the torture porn horror genre.

The guys over at Bloody Disgusting gave us a look at the poster for Saw 4:

All I kept thinking when I saw this poster is that cute kid from Jerry Maguire saying “The human head weighs 8 pounds!”

Well it looks like he was right!

For a better look at the poster, Click Here

Ever since the MPAA made the amendment to the ratings system that gets glamourized depiction of smoking a harsher rating, people have been all up in arms. Now we get news that Disney is keeping the House of Mouse squeaky clean with their newest announcement.

Yahoo Movies says:

Walt Disney Co. on Wednesday became the first major Hollywood studio to ban depictions of smoking, saying there would be no smoking in its family-oriented, Disney-branded films and it would “discourage” it in films distributed by its Touchstone and Miramax labels.

Disney Chief Executive Robert Iger also said in a letter to U.S. Rep. Edward Markey, whose committee last month held hearings on the effects of movie images on children, that the studio would place anti-smoking public service announcements on DVDs of any future films that feature cigarette smoking.

Now before anyone gets all in a huff over this, I have yet to find fault with this move. There is no argument that can be made that would include a glamourous character being depicted as clean and healthy while engaging in a smoker’s habit in a movie aimed at children.

Also, no where has Disney said they would outright BAN smoking on their less family oriented distribution labels. Simply that they would discourage it. Just like those surgeon general warnings you ignore on your cigarette packages, I think that is just a candy coated effort to say they are “trying” to do their part.

So it sounds like Disney is making a move that the MPAA has already stated they will enforce. If a movie contained glamourous smoking, it wouldn’t get the rating their family labels are targeted at, so omitting smoking in any manner isn’t really a stretch. There are a lot of ways that you can depict a character as evil without putting a cigarette in their mouth.

So is this a bold move by Disney, or are they just blowing smoke?

Hey there guys, John here.

Just a heads up. As it turns out, I’m going to be on set all day for a movie (guess which one), and Doug Nagy just got called in to do a comedy show tonight in Toronto. That means neither of us will be around for the show tonight… so we decided to cancel the live show. We’ll be back on Friday. Cheers!

Hey there guys,

Well, as most of you know I’m heading down to Comic Con and I can’t believe how many of you have emailed me to let me know you’d be there too. I really don’t have much time to get together… but I thought I’d put up my schedule so you can see what sessions and events I’ll be at. Try grabbing me at one of these and we’ll shoot the breeze for a while!

THURSDAY

3:15pm Mighnight Meat Train - Hall H

5:15pm Spider-Man CGI - Room 6B

8:30pm Superman Doomsday Screening - Ballroom 20

FRIDAY

10:30am Warner Bros presentation - Hall H

2:15pm Shoot em Up panel OR Hot Fuzz Press Conference (haven’t decided yet)

6:15pm Kevin Smith - Hall H

9:00pm Movie Blog “Pathology Party”

SATURDAY

10:00am Bionic Woman - Ballroom 20

12:45pm Heroes Cast Panel - Ballroom 20

2:15pm Disney presentation - Hall H

4:15pm Marvel presentation - Hall H

5:30pm Columbia Pictures presentation - Hall H

8:00pm Masters of the Web - Webmasters Party

SUNDAY

11:30am Dragon Wars - Ballroom 20

12:30pm Pathology panel - Ballroom 20

So that’s where I’ll be. If you’re there, and you see me, please take a minute and say “hi”… I’ll be the one all by himself and crying quietly. :P

We’ve talked a little about the meteoric fall of Jim Carrey a couple of times recently. For a time, this man turned everything he touched into pure gold. But recently, the dude can’t seem to find his stride at all. The Number 23 was a wretched movie. Fun with Dick and Jane was a let down, and he’s had a couple of cool sounding projects fall through (including that funny sounding one where he and Ben Stiller were going to play male sex slaves).

Now he’s just signed up for a new comedy that sounds a lot like Liar Liar in a few ways. Yahoo News gives us this:

Jim Carrey has said aye to “Yes Man,” a comedy he hopes to shoot in October. Based on a memoir by British author Danny Wallace, the story centers on a man who decides to change his life by saying yes to absolutely everything that comes his way. Unexpected comedic adventures ensue.

After reading that, can you see why I instantly thought of Liar Liar? At any rate, I really hope this one works out. I’m one of those guys who really enjoys Carrey when he’s on his game. But “Yes Man” doesn’t sound like the vehicle to do it to me.

For the life of me I just can’t understand why American Idol is so popular. A few years ago we had another name for it… it was called “karaoke”. Holy crap people… it’s just a bunch of pretty faces singing other people’s songs to pre-recorded soundtracks!!! Whatever.

But this little story I came across did catch my attention. Apparently Disney is getting set to produce a film based on a true story about an American Idol in prison. The good folks over at cinemablend give us this:

the movie will be about the real life “American Idol” type contest held in an Arizona jail, as told in an L.A. Weekly article by Joshuah Bearman. The story will focus on Bret Kaiser, a detention officer with a heavy metal past. He created the “Inmate Idol Singing Con-Test” which put prison hostilities aside for a music contest. Kudos to him for working both “inmate” and “con” into his title. Apparently the finale for the contest even had Alice Cooper as a judge, so expect him to probably put in an appearance in the movie.

On the one hand, this holds a lot of potential to just be another one of those Disney Drivel “feel good about everything” movies. No doubt. However, I really like this story. Just reading the short synopsis I’m damn curious to start searching for more information on it find out all the details about how this thing actually worked. So yeah, I guess I’m a sucker for individual people trying to do what they can to make a difference. Most of us just sit on our asses and complain about things without doing shit.

The great white whale also known as Indiana Jones 4 has already started gearing up for what looks like will be a year long publicity campaign having already released a lot of stuff to the media. They’re also going to have a presence at Comic Con with some panel discussions and whatnot. But this image got released from someone who apparently got inside the Comic Con trade floor early and snapped off a couple of shots. The image below is courtesy of our friends over at slashfim:

If you want to see a much bigger version of the picture, go here.

There are a lot of good things to say about Alex Proyas as a director (ok, I wasn’t totally thrilled with I, Robot… but that seemed like one hell of a tough film to pull off). The man who did films like “The Crow” and “Dark City” is apparently being lined up by the studio to direct the forthcoming “Silver Surfer” film.

The good folks over at slashfilm give us this:

Marvel producer Avi Arad revealed the following tidbit in article about super hero filmmaking in Australia: Arad would not name the films he planned to shoot in Australia, but he did reveal he was attempting to hire an Australian director for one of the movies. He declined to say the director’s name, but there has been speculation Australian director Alex Proyas was being wooed to direct the film adaptation of another Arad project, ‘Silver Surfer’.

It should also be mentioned that Alex Proyas is listed as “Announced” and “In talks” on the IMDB with regards to directing the Surfer.

Personally, I don’t like this move at all. I like Proyas, but a Silver Surfer movie?!?! I think he shouldn’t take it. Fantastic Four 2 was so lame, and the Surfer character was a disappointment of Jar Jar proportions (he’s the Silver Surfer… he never talked…. and not one single solitary fight scene. What the hell were they thinking?).

I’d much rather see Proyas take on something else… but if not… he’ll at least make the Silver Surfer a hell of a lot more interesting than FF2 did.

I’ve talked about the upcoming “Dragon Wars” (aka D-War) a few times now. On the one hand, it looks like everything that appeals to the 12 year old in me. Giant monsters running amuck in the modern day city with dashes of mythology thrown into the mix for good measure. But everything I’ve seen from this film thus far just looks ass bad. I mean HORRIBLE.

Still, there is no taking away that this Dragon Wars poster looks sweet as honey. If I hadn’t been the trailer and footage from this movie already… and all I’d seen is this poster… I’d be drooling to see this flick right now.

Over on The Movie Blog Community, contributor RobertWolf (who was lucky enough to see a screening of The Simpsons Movie) put up the first Simpsons movie review. And he liked it! This is what he had to day about it.

The Simpsons have been around ever since I could remember. We all grew up with Homer, Bart, Lisa Marge and Maggie. It was only a matter of time before these iconic characters would jump to the big screen. A lot of Simpson fans have waited for this moment. I was a huge Simpsons fan when I was younger but as I grew up the seasons decreased in entertainment in my opinion. Because the show for me didn’t have that same appeal as it used to, I didn’t think much when I heard the movie was coming. I finally started to hear good news like the old writers were coming back. The trailers that were released made me chuckle and I began to get excited. So what did I think of The Simpsons Movie? It was a solid good movie.

The movie itself was kinda refreshing animation wise as all we get now are 3D animations. The Simpsons stuck with 2D and thats where this movie shines. It was so good to see a 2D animation back on the screen. The movie didn’t feel long and boring. It was an hour and twenty seven minutes long I believe. Not once during the movie did I check the time or got bored. The Simpsons did what it used to do for me and thats ENTERTAIN!!!!

Homer is the highlight of this movie and that’s never a bad thing. Homer always makes you laugh especially with his new pig which was my favorite part of the movie. A lot of secondary characters don’t get even a line in but that’s ok we know who all these characters are, we don’t need them on screen for the movie.

One thing this movie does is, it highlight’s a few emotional scenes which worked in some parts but didn’t in some. When an emotional scene came up you felt for the characters because you know them, but the end result of the emotional impact falls dead in it’s tracks.

One thing did strike me watching the movie, this whole movie does not add anything new to The Simpson franchise. It doesn’t necessarily do anything new for The Simpsons but one thing that stuck in my head on the way out, they should stop making Simpson season’s on tv and release a movie once every two years. The movie was far more entertaining then any of the new episodes could ever be.

Overall The Simpsons movie was funny, entertaining and I left with a smile on my face. It’s downfall was the stupid end results of the emotional scenes which I kinda felt like they’ve done already on the show. The Simpsons is worth checking out, it’s a solid good movie. I’d give this one a GO!

If you haven’t visited The Movie Blog Community yet, you should go check it out. It’s a separate blog where YOU can register and post movie news and thought for others in the community to comment on.

There is a major war going on, and the main one isn’t even the HD format wars. No sir, it’s the online/mail dvd rental business wars with the main combatants being NetFlix and Blockbuster. For a long time NetFlix was really dominating… but a couple of things have happened that have made a fight out of it.

First of all came the revelation that NetFlix was “throttling” it’s costumers. In other words, those who used the service the most were purposefully being pushed down in the waiting que for movies. This ticked a lot of heavy users off. Then Blockbuster introduced some wonderful ideas by letting people return their movies at the store if they wanted to, and getting additional free rentals if they do. I’m no Blockbuster supporter, but that move was genius.

This year so far NetFlix stock has dropped by 24% and they’re feeling lthe pinch not only from Blockbuster, but also the developing downloading services. in response, they have just recently announced that they are dropping their prices in an attempt to fight back. IMDB reports:

it is reducing the price of its two most popular subscription plans by $1.00 per month — $16.99 for the plan allowing customers to keep up to three DVDs at a time and $8.99 for the plan allowing them to keep one.

Nothing serves costumers better than a good old fashioned price war! Let’s hope Blockbuster is now forced to respond by offering something new as well.

Good grief there aren’t enough words to describe how pumped I am about seeing 3:10 To Yuma. Aside from the fact that 2 of my favorite actors are the leads (Russell Crowe and Christian Bale), it’s also being directed by by James Mangold (Walk the Line, Cop Land).