Halloween is likely my favourite holiday of the year. Frankly I think we deserve a stat holiday for it but someone felt that celebrating the founding fathers discovering America was more important and Halloween lies right between them.

Part of what makes me love Halloween is that its the only time of year a woman can dress like a whore and not be judged for it! A man can wear a dress and not be judged! Someone can dress like Zombie Michael Jackson and it has new meaning! Its a Halloween Miracle!

That’s what the holiday is all about. Expression and Understanding!! The compassion for your fellow man (or woman - slutty men just don’t work as well but still amusing!)

So this week instead of a Forgotten Friday I wanted to introduce a contest.

A Costume Contest!!

EMail Me a picture of your costume from any one of the 36 parties you were invited to this weekend along with your screen name.

It can be a group shot, a posed action scene or just you out getting dirty looks for being too old to go door to door.

On Monday I will review all the submissions and post the best picking out a winner.

And what does that winner get?

Respect! Fame and your picture right here on the best damned movie site on the net!!

So send in your shots, just for kicks! I will be posting my costume. Share your joy of this festive season. After this we just get snow and guilt laden family dinners under the guise of goodwill. This is the real holiday!

So what are you planning on wearing? Is it clever or just lame like the image at the top of this post!

BY ODIN’S BEARD!??!?!

Are we close to finding out who is officially in to wear Odin’s Beard? It seems that Anthony Hopkins has been approached for the role and is currently in talks to take the job. While nothing is final yet, I hope this comes to pass!

Screen Junkies says:

Sir Anthony Hopkins is in talks to play a Norse Allfather in Kenneth Branagh’s Thor. Hopkins is said to be for the role of Odin, father to Thor and his evil adopted brother Loki.

If not Brian Blessed, this would be my pick for the powerful yet soft father figure of all Norse Mythology.

Odin is often depicted in the myths as stern yet compassionate. A wild temper only fueled by his sensitive emotions. Hopkins has proven he can be scary ass in presence and rages with the best of them. But he is a soft gentle soul as well.

This would be perfect for me.

One of the book series I got for my kids that I was pleasantly surprised is getting adapted is Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third’s How to Train your Dragon.

The book tells the tale of a viking teenager named Hiccup who takes an unconventional relationship with a young common garden dragon named toothless.

And now a teaser poster gives us our first look at what Hiccup might look like!

I don’t know if this film will encompass all the Dragon related books in Hiccup’s adventures or if they will adapt them as individual films. The books in the series are: How to Train your Dragon How to Be a Pirate, How to Speak Dragonese, How to Cheat a Dragon’s Curse, How to Twist a Dragon’s Tale, A Hero’s Guide to Deadly Dragons, How to Ride a Dragon’s Storm and How to Break a Dragon’s Heart.

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Could there be a Men in Black 3 in the works? Well they hired a writer and rumour has it that Sonnenfeld may direct. But who will be in it?

“Tropic Thunder” writer Etan Cohen is penning the script, and Barry Sonnenfeld, who helmed the first two films, is said to be attached to the new installment, though there is no formal deal or offer as yet.

The X-factor remains Will Smith. The A-lister, who starred with Tommy Lee Jones in the first two, has not committed to the pic, though in recent days the buzz in development circles has been that he is now interested in returning. Smith does not currently have a go movie lined up.Tommy Lee Jones’ involvement is uncertain.

The big key to whether anyone cares about this will be if Will Smith signs back on. Right now he is a massive draw, never failing to bank a film.

If this doesn’t have Smith, I don’t know that I would be interested. They sequeled Daddy Day Care and The Mask only to prove that it wasn’t the same without the personality in the character. Are there any other Men in Black worth following? Could they retire Agent J and focus on new agents?

I liked the Men In Black films, and I really like the premise of aliens living in secret among us. Sadly Agent M will never get his flashy thing.

Careful when you identify some eyecandy actresses as just a hot body and pretty face that you would love to see in porn. It might give them some ideas. Like to make a movie about having sex every day to avoid falling into a rut in your marriage.

Jessica Biel isn’t one of those eyecandy actresses, but she could ride that train for the rest of her life and I would not care one bit. She is also producing films and this is her third title which she will also star in.

Get the Big Picture says:

Jessica Biel is set to star and produce a film based on screenplay titled Fucking Engaged, about a couple that decides to have sex everyday leading up to their wedding in an effort to avoid becoming their parents.

So do I need a trailer to make me want to see this? No. Its a movie where Jessica Biel will have dozens of sex scenes. I am sure at this point it doesn’t even need a plot. Somewhere after the 17th scene they can just roll the credits. That will be fine.

The title of the movie is Fucking Engaged, often censored like the title of this post, and I would imagine is going to get changed before this puppy is done.

In a previous post today we have the International Avatar Trailer, but also released recently was this 4 minute featurette clip about the making of the film.

MTV asked JJ Abrams that since he isn’t doing Mission Impossible 4 anymore, perhaps he would be interested in rebooting Superman?

Worst Previews quotes Abrams:

“No one has talked to me about it,” said Abrams. “Writing that script was a long process. It was a very passionate character for me. As a kid growing up it meant a lot to me. It would be wonderful and fun to see that brought back. I don’t know what Warners is thinking or what their plan is. It would be a blast.”

I have all sorts of faith in anything JJ Abrams does. So if he was handed Superman, I would be more than eager to see what he has in store.

His script was rejected, but we don`t know exactly why. At one point Kevin Smith was writing a script, and there were countless other scripts during the struggle that finally brought us Superman Returns.

Personally I could see a Superman that continues from Returns, and should they contact me about writing it (snicker) I would opt not to reboot but rather just yank it into line with the rest of the DC films (both happen to be Batman) and make Supes “real”.

But no one has asked him and they are just as likely to review any other scripts they already bought than go with his. It all depends on what works.

As we anticipate the DVD and BluRay release of Star Trek next month, Spike TV snuck out one of the deleted scenes.

RamaScreen describes:

below is a deleted scene, via Spike, from the movie showing us a masked ruffle-headed Klingon interrogating Nero played by Eric Bana, trying to get information from him about the future. Nero fights back, lets his right hand man go and says ‘The wait is over’ the line said in the trailer but was missing from the theatrical cut.

I really wish this was in the film, as I found Nero a little lacking as a superior force. Seeing something like this could have helped enforce his character as a powerful leader. I kind of felt Nero was wasted in the film while we spent too much time re-aquainting ourselves with the heroes. It does introduce the Centaurian Slug which Nero uses on Pike later. Obviously an homage to the Ceti eel.

In spite of all that I loved the film, but I didn’t love Nero. Just liked. He said he would call for a second date, but I don`t see it happening.

Clancy Brown is one of those “Oh yeah, that guy” actors. I bet he could walk down the street and no one would even ask for an autograph. And if the rumour is true, he may be the top contender to play the DC Comics antihero Lobo.

Fused Film says:

A source close to production told them that Brown might be the man. Apparently with the amount of special effects needed to create the character, there isn’t too much concern in bringing in a high profile name to lead this project.

“Ultimately regardless of whether you do it all CG or its a guy in a suit, with CG, you’ll still end up doing a lot of CG animation. So do you need a celebrity? Do you need a name or do you just get someone who is good and who’s gonna nail it?“

The very idea of a Lobo film perplexes me. It can go one of two ways. They take this very two dimensional character and create something very cool for him and make a great film. Or they realize there isn’t anything to do with him and just fart something out hoping to bank on the incomprehesible popularity of the character.

I agree that you don’t need to go A-List to cast him, but I wonder if they are going to CGI Lobo entirely? Sgt. Zim and the Kurgan both had physical presence on screen, so they could use him. But no one is as impossibly proportioned as Lobo is, and the die hard fans that are going to want to see this will just moan if he isn’t 400 pounds and 9 feet tall.

I would really like to be surprised by this film, and see something that makes me want to see it. Casting Clancy Brown might be a good plan, but I still don’t see why this guy is getting a movie when there are so many other worthwhile characters in the roster with actual stories.

Its been floating around a couple days, but I didn’t want to post it until we got the real one, but to hell with it.

Here is the International Trailer for Avatar:

The aliens do look very real, and the eyes do not have that creepy look to them. The aliens do have a bit of a cartoony look to them with the bold blue skin. That kinda of makes them look a little “fake” but I don’t mind. Their whole world seems to be filled with vibrantly coloured creatures and plantlife, so it works.

I also like that the trailer spells out the story a little better, though it is as we presumed. Human takes an alien “Avatar” form and infiltrates the indigenous population and becomes sympathetic to their plight in the process.

If a better version comes online, I will be sure to post it!

Castle fans were eagerly watching for Nathan Fillion’s suggested Easter Egg in last week’s episode, but it was anything but hidden. Fillion’s character in the show is anything but his persona from Firefly, but he relishes in his “Space Cowboy” costume before being shot down.

The true Easter Egg in this not so subtle tribute to Nathan Fillion’s Firefly character is a prop on the shelf just to the left of the screen that you can’t see very well in this clip. It is the “It’s a nothin part ’til you dont got one” from the Firefly Episode “Out of Gas”

And her line “Didn’t you wear that five years ago” was clearly a nod to the last time Fillion wore the browncoat in 2005’s feature film Serenity.

Sigh… I miss Firefly.

A new Trailer is out for Alice and Wonderland that shows us a tiny bit more than what the teaser trailer offers, but in reality its not much more.

I was hoping for a little more of a trailer, but this does have a little more than the teaser. Just not much.

I am still eager to see it.

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Zach Galifianakis is an awkward little treat on screen, and after his role in The Hangover, I am willing to see him in anything. And of course Amy Adams has some magic spell on me with her infectious presence. So that only makes me more interested in seeing the two potentially together in Town House.

/Film says:

the film is based on the Tish Cohen novel of the same name. The plot revolves around an agoraphobic man who lives in an inherited town house with his teenage son. He’s forced to reassess his life after royalties from his rock star father start to dry up, and ends up befriending a call girl.

Zach Galifianakis as a slightly off, mildly crazy guy? I can deal with that. Amy Adams as a Call Girl? Meow.

I have so far not been let down by anything I have seen Amy Adams in, and I am curious to see how they play off each other.

Sandra Bullock has always played fluffy fun roles, and rarely steps into the more dramatic. Its worked well for her, but after seeing this trailer for The Blind Side, I think I want to see more of her in dramatic roles.

Trailer Addict Calls it:

American teenager in Memphis, whose father was murdered and whose mother was a crack addict, is shuffled through the public school system, despite his low grade point average and absenteeism. But his tremendous size and quickness attracts the interest of a wealthy white couple who take him in and groom him both athletically and academically to become one of the top high school football prospects in the country.

This has “feel good” written all over it. I am in.

I am all for another Dwayne Johnson action film. He always excels in those roles. However his co-star in an upcoming heist revenge film called Faster.

RamaScreen says:

Thornton has signed on to co-star in this revenge actioin/drama/thriller about an ex-con bent on avenging the death of his brother, murdered 10 years earlier when the two were double-crossed during a heist…

Things get even more complicated and intense because while hunting down the people responsible for his brother’s death, the ex-con (Johnson) is also being pursued by several guys who want him dead.
Johnson’s character is called Driver, the guy hunting him down is simply called Killer. They haven’t hired any actor to play that role yet. While Thornton is set to play Cop, a veteran policeman who trails Driver as he races to settle with those responsible for the murder.

I think my lack of anticipation here stems mostly from Thorton’s accusation that Canada is “all potatoes and no gravy” that he spouted out while promoting his musical career earlier this year. I know he made the remark to get at a radio show host who was instructed not to mention his acting career, but it forever made me see Thorton in a different light.

Maybe a trailer or more info on this project will change my mind, but right now his involvement alone is enough to turn me off of it.

A new micro featurette is online for Twilight Saga’s New Moon, which is very much more of a werewolf movie than it is Vampires this time around.

Taylor Lautner plays a more dominate role this time out, and in this featurette he, Kristen Stewart and others in the wolf pack talk about just how that works.

I really did enjoy the change of pace having the Cullens mostly absent for the better part of this chapter giving us a closer look at Meyers’ version of the werewolf legends.

Among my top ten films of all time I list The Power of One, which has Morgan Freeman in a movie about standing against the wrongs of Aparthied - the segregation of blacks and whites in South Africa.

Morgan Freeman is returning to that theme in a story about Nelson Mandella which seems to have a strong paralell to Power of One, which instantly makes me downright inspired to see it.

Collider gives the nutshell:

If you aren’t familiar with the film, “Invictus” tells the true story of how Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman) joined forces with the captain of South Africa’s rugby team, Francois Pienaar (Matt Damon), to help unite their country.

Check out the Trailer here:

This looks amazing, and has a great cast in it too. Damon looks amazing in this, and Freeman is channelling Mandella to perfection.

I can’t wait for this.

Visuals alone make me wnat to see The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus despite every media outlet branding it as a certain actor’s final film. The amazing cast also has me drawn to it, and the odd story has me sucked in as well.

Well a number of clips for the film were released, and gathered together in one long clip to see.

Frankly I am satisfied with letting this film and its surreal whimsical story sell itself instead of always tagging on that tragic end of an actor. People were skeptical that there was too much promtion for Dark Knight involving Ledger’s death, but that was NOTHING compared to what we see here.

Lets let this film be Terry Gilliam’s visual adventure and not some publicity stunt. Go see this movie because it looks amazing, and not because it was Heath’s final film.

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I never got around to seeing Smokin’ Aces, and I haven’t found a reason to until I saw this trailer. There must be a reason that its getting a sequel (money?) and for those of you following it the trailer is online.

JoBlo offers this description

Walter Weed (Tom Berenger) is an unassuming desk jockey at the FBI when the Bureau uncovers a plot to assassinate him. A team of degenerate, psychotic assassins dispatched by mystery man Hal Leuco to win a huge bounty includes a resourceful beauty who has a unique method of killing her prey (Martha Higareda), a power-tool wielding psychopath (Jones) and a deadly master of disguise (Tommy Flanagan). Also in the hunt is the fan-favorite Tremor family from the original film, featuring nymphomaniacal gun-nut (Autumn Reeser) and her lethal kinfolk (Maury Sterling, Michael Parks and C. Ernst Harth). Baker (Clayne Crawford), the agent in charge of the operation, puts himself and his team in the line of fire to defend Weed, but it’s not until the smoke clears on the film’s explosive climax that the surprising identity of the plot’s mastermind is revealed.

Now check out the trailer:

Looks deliciously stylish and devilishly sexy. Over the top action could prove to be worth the ride. Maybe I will get around to seeing the first one to figure out what all the fuss is about!

This is fantastic news if it turns out to be true (but this is normally a pretty reliable source). The website Marketsaw is reporting that Spider-Man 4 is going to only have ONE villain… and that villain is going to be The Lizard.

You might remember that a couple of days ago it was confirmed that Dylan Baker was indeed going to be back for Spider-Man 4 as Dr. Connors… but it was never mentioned if he would become The Lizard or not. Looks like he will!

I think this is good news… especially the one villain part. What do you think?

Hey there guys! This post is more for our regular readers who have been following The Movie Blog for a while. You may have noticed that over the last few months, I haven’t been posting nearly as much as I usually do and that Rodney has been picking up most the slack. Well… there is a very good reason for that:

A few months ago I was contacted by AMC Theatres and agreed to become the Editor for their brand spanking new movie news blog “Script To Screen”. Since that time we’ve been working on getting the site ready for launch… and yesterday, the new AMC site went LIVE! You can see the new site here.

I’m joined by my new associate editor, the immortal Kellvin Chavez, who is also the Editor n’ Chief over at Latino Reviews, and by our contributing writer Christina Warren of Mashable (you’ve been hearing her on our podcasts a lot lately). We’re adding more writers in the coming days as well.

First of all… I’m not going anywhere. I’m going to continue to do The Movie Blog as a place for my thoughts and opinions, and I’ll be doing AMC STS for news. Now that the STS site is finally up, you’ll be seeing more from me around here on The Movie Blog.

This is going to be a great arrangement for The Movie Blog, and I’m really looking forward to getting the ball rolling!

Sorry for my absence, but it’s been a hectic couple of months and we’ve had to keep quiet about it. But now we’re live. Thank you for all your continued support and encouragement!

As a side note, today I put up my first video for AMC. It’s a quick interview with our old friend Milo Ventimiglia from Heroes about his new movie Armored coming out next month. You can see it here:

The opening segment of The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day has been put up online.

This gets right to the meat of the film setting the pace of the film in about 5 minutes, recapping the first movie and jumping head long into the next.

This looks like its going to be a kickass ride. Billy Connolly’s assessment at the beginning says it all. They called out the Brothers by killing a priest and making it look like the Saints did it. Only one problem with that. It worked.

I love that.

And knowing those sassy legs at the end of the clip belong to Julie Benz makes this all that much better!

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Golf is just one of those sports that I find no appeal in whatsoever. I have played a couple times, and I enjoy the company of those I am with more than the game itself but I can do that without a golf course.

That being said, I find golf movies entertaining almost in spite of the sport itself being as amusing as watching grass grow. Especially golf comedies.

And Steve Carell looks to be heading up Missing Link, a new golf comedy that no doubt will have my attention.

GeekTyrant says:

It’s looking like Carell will produce and possibly star in a new golfing comedy called Missing Links, which is based on the novel by ESPN’s Rick Reilly. Carell would play a golfer angling for a better place to play. The story follows a group of bumblers who, after playing for years at a run-down municipal golf course in a working-class Boston neighborhood, concoct a series of schemes that they hope will lead to them teeing off at a nearby elite club.

I like Steve Carell for his humble everyday man personality and this looks like a good fit if he is to star in it as well.

I look forward to hearing more about this.

Sometimes when playing video games there are cutscenes that are just so amazing I wonder what a whole film created using the same stylings would look like.

Well that film might just be The Cup of Tears, a CGI Live action Hybrid film directed by Gary Shore.

Geek Tyrant describes it as:

Follows a scorned geisha who creates a magical cup made of tears that causes any man who drinks from it to fall into a permanent sleep. One night the cup is stolen, setting off a chain of events that threatens civil war amongst the clans. Taro, a gifted samurai, sets out to find the cup and one who can break the spell.

That was pretty awesome.

This was filmed on an ultra low budget using the new RED camera (Same camera John used for The Anniversary). Recently discussions about live action anime adaptations costing too much to meet the visual appeal of its source material. I think this is an option that certainly proves it is possible.

I look forward to checking that out really soon.

A new poster for Sherlock Holmes is online.

I do like the layout and the shelved collection of oddities and other characters in the background, and I don’t even mind the pun of the slogan “Holmes for the Holiday” as this is being released for the Christmas season.

But damn, they airbrushed the hell out of RDJ to the point that he looks a little like Alan Cumming. I wonder if this was even from a photo or if it’s off the video game cover? That barely looks like the smarmy actor cracking wise that we are used to. For a brief moment I thought he was recast and I missed the news.

I would have preferred to see a little more of Rachel McAdams in the poster to, but the film is called Sherlock Holmes, not Sherlock and his Amazing Friends.

Cinematical has the enbiggenated version.

Keira Knightley has won out for the role of Eliza Doolittle in a remake of the musical My Fair Lady.

Empire Online says

Keira Knightley, long rumoured to be on for the role, will shortly be starring as Eliza Doolittle in a redo of My Fair Lady. She’ll be re-teaming with Joe Wright (Atonement, Pride and Prejudice)

Keira seems destined to star in each and every period film in existance!

My wife loves her version of Pride and Prejudice (my favourite version as well), and I have no doubt she will be in love with this one as well. I will likely be forced to endure multiple viewings as well as the repeated scenes captured as I walk through the living room while she is bored on a Sunday afternoon.

But My Fair Lady is a musical, and I have yet to hear Miss Knightley’s vocal prowess, she has been reportedly taking singing lessons winning out the role over Scarlett Johansson.

The story is a musical version of the Pygmalion, which concerns Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower girl who takes speech lessons from professor Henry Higgins so that she can pass as a lady. Daniel Craig is already touted to be playing Higgins.

Let me first say that I have zero confidence in a Footloose remake. The director Kenny Ortega directed the High School Musical films, and while I enjoyed those for what they were (teen pop musicals) I didn’t see a real paralell to those and Footloose so I feared for its direction.

But it seems that Kenny Ortega has moved on from the project citing creative differences.

Chud shares:

Kenny Ortega has left the film over disagreements with Paramount’s production prez Adam Goodman over the tone and budget. Ortega, who has directed the High School Musical movies, wanted to make something with big musical numbers and spend a bunch of Paramount’s cash. Goodman, meanwhile, wants something ‘edgier’ and more of a drama - probably closer to the original than to the Broadway adaptation.

I think every last quality that made it great in the 80s is exactly why it wouldn’t work now.

In the 80s, dancing and music were not a part of pop culture, they WERE the culture. I can think of no other fad, style or mentality that dominated so many subcultures as music in the 80s did. No matter what you listened to, it defined you. This generation is still influenced by its music but not nearly to the degree that it did in the 80s.

So to have a film about a rebellious young hipster who moves to a small town where all that is banished, and actually illegal? That had REAL value. An updated story where they had a town where any one popculture influence was illegal, today’s youth wouldn’t relate. Remove any one popculture reference, and there are a dozen others to satisfy the crazed defining qualities of todays youth.

And that Ortega was directing implied to me they would be adapting the stage musical with the characters breaking into song and dance much like High School Musical. While that still had its appeal, it lost the message of Footloose to begin with. At least that is steering back towards the point of the original film.

Bottom line for me is that Footloose taught me how to dance. Not literally, but it gave me a deeper meaning to going to school dances and clubs. It wasn’t an activity or show. It was an outlet and expression. Today I don’t dance at all. Its just not the same. And frankly I would look like a retard to dance like I used to.

I worry that this remake would also look like that to me. Just not the same.

At all.

Broken Lizard has just enough low brow comedy to appeal to me without offending me completely. They have found just the right mix of “that’s just so wrong” and witty comedy to make just about anything funny.

That being said, I have patiently been waiting for The Slammin’ Salmon to get a theatrical release, and Christmas has come early for me as this December the film will be getting its wide theatrical release.

Anchor Bay’s theatrical distribution arm will be distributing THE SLAMMIN’ SALMON according to Variety. The flick is about a one night competition between a group of waiters where the top seller gets a $10,000 bonus and the loser gets the shit beat out of them by Michael Clarke Duncan who plays the dumb ex-boxer owner of this swanky Miami restaurant.

The trailer reminded me of the Ryan Reynolds film Waiting, which shows a dirty behind the scenes look at the restaurant business. It really made me question the fake smiles and tolerant faces of those who serve me at restaurants.

The Slammin Salmon however appears to be a more encapsulated story that deals with the events of one night, and I just love Michael Clarke Duncan’s character who is constantly impressed with his own charm. Beautiful.

If you haven’t seen the trailer, check it out here:

Netflix is taking the direct streaming content service by storm offering it on a multitude of platforms. This service is a free content service that delivers movies and TV shows via devices like a Roku set-top box or XBox 360.

And now finally they are getting Playstation 3 users on board!

Dark Horizons says:

Sony and Netflix have announced that they are teaming to make thousands of movies and TV episodes from Netflix available to be streamed instantly to TVs via the PlayStation 3.

Netflix expects to begin streaming via the PS3 system next month at no additional cost to Netflix members in the United States who have a PS3 system.

I bought my PS3 purely to kill two birds with one stone. First was to get a next gen gaming system for myself (kids got the Wii) as well as a BluRay player.

Once I got the unit, I found out that much like the 360, I could stream media from my computer making it the central hub of my living room entertainment system.

When I found out about the Roku set-top box to stream Netflix content, I was so Jazzed. And that you could do it with your 360 was interesting but I didn’t have a 360.

And then I found out you couldn’t get it in Canada. (If anyone knows a work around I would pay the service fee for a US Netflix account gladly) So while I find this all fine and dandy, and a step in the right direction for customized entertainment content delivery, I am really hoping that one day my grand country catches up with this technology!

The hype machine has already been moving full forward for Tron Legacy, but this is the first look at an official poster… which is probably fake.

The image is clearly supposed to be a disc weapon from the film, but with that title “It’s not just a game anymore” it automatically made me think it was a Simon Says electronic game from the 80s. Well a two tone version anyways.

With films like Viewmaster and Battleship coming out I wouldn’t put it past them but I am satisfied that this image is making its way about the intarwebs with the forewarning that its very likely fake.

Considering all the other amazing visuals, I would hope we would get something better than this.

Via

George Miller, the man behind Mad Max 4: Fury Road, allowed some media types to follow him around the set where they are building some of the cars to be used in the film.

In the clip we barely get a glimpse of the cars, and he talks about how they are spending the next year creating them, as well as addressing the casting rumours. He doesn’t mention Charlize Theron or Sam Worthington by name but sidetracks it saying that nothing is finalized as of yet, downgrading those casting news back down to rumours.

He then sidetracks to talk about the climate of movie production in New South Wales.

An interesting view just to glimpse those topics, however I would have liked to have actually seen THE CARS!! We get a look at an engine as he muses about their production, but no real look at them.

Well we have more than a year, so I am sure it will come up eventually.

Mamma Mia is headed into the Hollywood machine to churn out a sequel to the highly successful musical featuring the stylings of Abba.

But will it be the music of Abba? One might presume as much considering the title, and Seyfried has expressed her feelings of leaving out Abba.

Cinema Blend says:

There seems to be some confusion among the movie’s cast as to exactly what songs they’ll be singing in the next film. Last month Colin Firth said here that they’d be picking a new band to provide the sequel’s lyrics but Seyfried insists, “I know it’s still going to be Abba music, because what else would it be. Come on, I wouldn’t do Mamma Mia 2 without Benny and Bjorn.”

I was conflicted with Mamma Mia, but I enjoyed the music and especially the surprisingly adorable vocal talents of Amanda Seyfried. But I also wondered exactly who lost a big game of poker to get Brosnan in there. Man he was terrible.

But still, Mamma Mia made tons of money so why not do a sequel. Maybe Seyfried will sleep around with three different guys then hatch an elaborate plot to lure them to her island paradise to find out who the baby daddy is. Maury can cameo.

Paranormal Activity is one of those films that needs no advertising because the word of mouth on this and its viral status alone did it all.

But as per the rule in Hollywood, if it makes money (and this film made 2000 times its cost on its first week) then they will likely do a sequel.

Dark Horizons shares:

Costing a mere $11,000 to make, the studio picked up the rights to the film for $300,000 and spent less than $10 million on marketing with most of the promotion coming from online viral campaigns and word of mouth via a staged rollout releasing scheme throughout October.

Going wide this week, the film sat at the top of the box-office with $22 million - easily beating the critically slammed “Saw VI” which opened in more theatres to $14.8 million.

This phenomenon is widely being compared to The Blair Witch, and we saw how that sequel worked out so well.

The very reason that this film made so much money and gained so much popularity is precisely why they should hesitate to make a sequel.

A clever little webcomic online called xkcd often tickles me, and today’s strip embodies exactly how I feel about the scale of Movie Quality vs Movie Enjoyability.

Everytime you look back and wonder if there was ever anything worse than JarJar in the Star Wars films, remember the Holiday Special. George Lucas denies it exists for a reason.

He still accepts that JarJar exists even though he knows it was not his best idea!

So what are your “So-Bad-It’s-Good” films??

With Star Trek 2 a foregone conclusion the questions arose as to just who would be in the film. One name we thought was forever lost to the franchise was William Shatner since his character died in Generations.

Well what would Star Trek be without a time travel plot device? Someone really has to put a lockdown on that tech … seriously.

Get the Big Picture quotes Abrams:

“The problem was his character died on screen in one of his Trek films and because we decided, very early on, that we wanted to adhere to Trek canon as best we could…the required machinations to get Shatner into the movie would have been very difficult to do given the story we wanted to tell and also to give him the kind of part that he would be happy with.”

Adds the director-producer, “It was this thing where it would have felt like a gimmick in order to get Shatner in the movie, which would have honestly, to me, been distracting.” But the past, as they say, is prologue. And now that the story can go new directions, Abrams says he’s “open to anything.”

So while Abrams is open to the idea, it doesn’t mean it will happen but this is a nice reminder that with Trek effectively getting a Reboot with this sequel, there is no reason we can’t see Shatner involved.

I could see them having Shatner appear, but he wouldnt neccessarily be the exact older James T Kirk that we all know from the original series. Perhaps he makes an appearance as future Kirk that shows Pine-Kirk what became of him later in life due to a choice he is about to make. Maybe Shat-Kirk will be the Kirk who comes back in time to change his own history… again.

I kind of hope they don’t go that way JUST to have Kirk involved. Let Shatner play Pine-Kirk’s grandfather or something like that just to suggest the family resemblance.

I want this new Trek to move forward, not bury itself in its own past.

One of the things I love about the Spiderman movies was the quiet addtion of Peter’s college professor Dr. Connors, who comic fans are well aware later becomes Spiderman’s enemy The Lizard.

Well with all the speculation around who the potential villains could be for Spiderman 4, we throw another log on that fire as Dylan Baker, the actor who played Connors confirms he is back for part 4.

ScreenRant says

Dylan Baker, the actor who played the minor role of Dr. Curt Connors in the last two Spider-Man movies has confirmed that he’ll be in Spider-Man 4. Now, this doesn’t mean we’ll be seeing his scaly alter ego known as The Lizard, but it sure wouldn’t be surprising.

If they DON’T go with the Lizard as the villain, I would be shocked. This would be the longest buildup to a character appearance EVER. Especially considering the previous badguys have all been introduced and sprang to life within one film.

So Baker has confirmed that Connors will return, but not neccessarily The Lizard.

I would love to see the Lizard or Mysterio be the badguys, but only if it works. Multiple villains is not a bad thing if written well. But if you can’t make it work, I would sooner see Lizard instead of Mysterio.

Ghost in the Shell is one of those mastpeices of Anime like Akira that hold up over the years. It is among my favourite animated films of all time.

Now Dreamworks is trying to make it a live action film again.

First Showing

DreamWorks has hired screenwriter Laeta Kalogridis to adapt the Ghost in the Shell manga into a futuristic live-action 3D police thriller.

As with any film with as many rich visuals and effects, I worry that the undertaking to make a faithful adaptation will cost more than Avatar, and therein lies its risk to make its money back.

I personally am excited to see some of these animated wonders be given life as a live action feature and I don’t jump to the conclusion that they will rape the Asian stylings out of the film like everyone assumes the Akira adaptation will do.

Not saying they won’t, but I have faith that if they are choosing these as source material, they will want to be faithful to it to some extent.

This project was shelved when Speilberg tried to roll the ball, so who knows if this has more legs or not.

I hope it does!

Deciding against an Ice Age 4 (yet) Blue Sky Studios and Fox Animation will be creating Rio, with voice acting by Anne Hathaway and Neil Patrick Harris.

Anne Hathaway, Neil Patrick Harris and Rodrigo Santoro are negotiating to lend their voices to “Rio,” the next collaboration between Blue Sky Studios, Fox Animation and director Carlos Saldanha, all of whom are riding the $882 million global tsunami of “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs.”

“Rio,” which follows the adventures of a nerdy macaw who lights out from his small-town Minnesota cage for the exotic Summer Olympic city of Rio de Janeiro, is scheduled for an April 8, 2011, release. Like “Dinosaurs,” it will be filmed in 3D digital animation.

I find Hathaway to be irresistable and only half of that includes what her mouth does. But still she has a melodic pleasant voice I could enjoy in animation. But what really got me here is NPH doing voice casting.

That man is the master of the spoken word. He could speak the alphabet and I would be amused by it. So despite this plot sounding like a ripoff Madagascar (domesticated animal returns to his wild origins?) I am looking forward to seeing how it shapes up!