Sometimes you just need a good comedy that plays on sexual stereotypes and exploits it for laughs.

So why haven’t cougars been shown the love? Ever since Stiffler’s mom played MrsRobinson, I have been waiting for an inapporpriate comedy about the sexdrive of an over 40 hot mamma.

When Spence and Hogan graduate from college, life looks bleak. They are forced to work for hideous divorce lawyers that torture them constantly. Spence has the “girlfriend from hell” and Hogan just wants to start his life. As luck would have it, the guys are presented with an unusual opportunity, they open a club of young men devoted to pleasuring sexy, older woman known as “Cougars”. It is the Cougar Club that teaches the friends’ life’s lessons of love, respect and friendship.

Looks like some light brainless fun. Carrie Fisher is shattering my inner 14 year old’s Slave Leia fantasies, but she’s funny, so that’s cool.

Men in Black is a fun set of films that had a huge franchise potential which raked in massive cash for the studio. But after its 2002 sequel, they just didn’t bother to make another.

Well 8 years later we catch wind that there WILL be another Men in Black but it wont star Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones. So casting is opening up and the rumour wheel is already turning with names like Josh Brolin and Sacha Baron Cohen.

Bloody Disgusting shares:

Columbia Pictures is officially having conversations regarding their third entry in the Men in Black franchise as we’re being told by industry insiders that in addition to Jonah Hex cowboy Josh Brolin likely (still unconfirmed) to star, they’ve shown strong interest in both Sacha Baron Cohen (Sweeney Todd, Bruno) and Jemaine Clement (“The Flight of the Conchords”) for a character named “Yaz” (a new agent?). Neither are locked, this should be taken strictly as rumor for now

Now before I get a pile of emails and comments from wannabe actors without agents or ambitious nobodies… we are NOT the casting agency associated with this film. (Seriously, we get emails all the time from people who obviously didn’t read the article saying “Put me in UR Movie! I am perfect for the role” like I can do anything about it …)

Now that the public service announcement is out of the way, I really like the Men in Black series, and I think it would be great to focus on some of the other agents. I mean, there are 24 other letters in the alphabet, so why should agent M and J get all the attention?

Keep the charm and move forward. No need for Smith and Jones. I am not sure about Cohen as an agent, but he does odd well enough that he would make a great alien of some sort.

The first film grossed nearly $600m with an impressive $440m from the sequel. According to “the rules” there NEEDS to be another, but they didn’t. Probably because Will Smith costs too much. They can do this without him and its been a while.

Lets get some new Men in Black.

Welcome to this week’s DVD and Blu Release Report for Tuesday March 9th, 2010!

Each week I will feature some of the biggest titles making their way to my bookshelf and rental piles. I try not to buy too many movies, just like Kevin Smith tries not to do weed. So here are my picks this week as well as which ones will get rented, and which ones will dent my wallet right out of the gate.

In what looks like another spinoff site of Flynn Lives the forced viral marketing website for Tron Legacy, it would seem that we do not have to wait the week out to get to see the Tron Legacy Trailer Online.

Cleverly this little site has been set up to make it look like they have hacked Encon to deliver this ahead of schedule. Check it out:

I am loving the feel of this film.

The Oscars last night were not nearly as exciting as I would have hoped. I spent it online Ustreaming the event and hanging out with the International Friends in a live show. I might do that again sometime.

Our hosts Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin were really only involved at the very beginning after an awesome Neil Patrick Harris musical number (I vote for Neil to host next year’s Oscars!!) and after that they did the standard “Oh look its (fill in celebrity’s name)” and make a funny shot at them. But they really felt like they were reading and were not able to just be themselves. I was really disappointed with them as a whole, even if they had a few good jokes.

I wasn’t disappointed by any of the winners, but most of them were to be expected. I was glad that Hurt Locker won Best Director and Best Picture, and Bigalow’s speech was emotional and genuine. I also loved Sandra Bullock’s speech. She’s funny, poised and classy. And she called Meryl Streep her lover.

Here’s the full list:

Best Picture

*The Hurt Locker
Kathryn Bigelow, Mark Boal, Nicolas Chartier and Greg Shapiro

Actor in a Leading Role

* Jeff Bridges
Crazy Heart

Actor in a Supporting Role

*Christoph Waltz
Inglourious Basterds

Actress in a Leading Role

* Sandra Bullock
The Blind Side

Actress in a Supporting Role

* Mo’Nique
Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire

Animated Feature Film

* Up
Pete Docter

Art Direction

*Avatar
Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg (Art Direction); Kim Sinclair (Set Decoration)

Cinematography

*Avatar
Mauro Fiore

Costume Design

*The Young Victoria
Sandy Powell

Directing

*The Hurt Locker
Kathryn Bigelow

Documentary Feature

*The Cove
Louie Psihoyos and Fisher Stevens

Documentary Short

*Music by Prudence
Roger Ross Williams and Elinor Burket

Film Editing

*The Hurt Locker
Bob Murawski and Chris Innis

Foreign Language Film

*The Secret in Their Eyes (El Secreto de Sus Ojos)
Argentina
Directed by Juan José Campanella

Makeup

*Star Trek
Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow

Music (Original Score)

*Up
Michael Giacchino

Music (Original Song)

* Crazy Heart

“The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)”
Music and Lyric by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett

Short Film (Animated)

*Logorama

Short Film (Live Action)

*The New Tenants
Joachim Back and Tivi Magnusson

Sound Editing

*The Hurt Locker
Paul N.J. Ottosson

Sound Mixing

*The Hurt Locker
Paul N.J. Ottosson and Ray Beckett

Visual Effects

*Avatar
Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R. Jones

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

*Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire
Screenplay by Geoffrey Fletcher

Writing (Original Screenplay)

*The Hurt Locker
Written by Mark Boal

Any upsets for you?

As regular readers here will know, there is a Broken Lizard film called the Slammin Salmon that I have been dying to see since I first heard of it. And now the film is FINALLY getting a release on DVD and Blu Ray on April 13th!

I was a little surprised not to see Michael Clark Duncan on the cover as he was one of the primary reasons I wanted to see this. Well that and Cobie Smulders - Robin Scherbatsky on How I Met Your Mother. But still excited its finally coming out.

In the latest comedy from Broken Lizard, “Slammin’” Cleon Salmon (Duncan) is a terrifying bull of a man, who uses fear to rule over his misfit wait staff – the Broken Lizard troupe, as well as Cobie Smulders and April Bowlby. On this particular night, he takes his bullying skills to a new level. In an effort to pay off a gambling debt to the Japanese Yakuza, Salmon sets up a contest to “inspire” his wait staff to sell more food than they ever have before: the top selling server wins $10,000 while the waiter in last place gets served with a broken rib sandwich – courtesy of the Champ himself.

Spurred on by greed and panic, the staff resorts to backstabbing, bribery and indecent proposals in an attempt to up-sell their patrons while simultaneously sabotaging their co-workers. As the hours pass, the dining room action becomes more frenzied as the contest escalates into a brawl for first place in order to win the money.

And check out the Trailer.

I can’t wait to see this!!

At the boxoffice this weekend, Alice clearly dominated the pack with an impressive $116m opening, and while I have heard some kneejerk reactions that it is on its way to beating Avatar, I think thats a little presumptuous.

I didnt get around to seeing Brooklyn’s Finest, but happy to see that it settled in as the second place hit just edging out Shutter Island in its third week. I am hearing mixed reviews.

Boxoffice Mojo reports:

Opening Weekend March 5-7th
Alice in Wonderland $116,300,000 Opening
Brooklyn’s Finest $13,500,000 Opening
Shutter Island $13,300,000 3 wks
Cop Out $9,145,000 2 wks
Avatar $7,700,000 12 wks

Cop Out can brag that it beat Avatar but that encapsulated statement only holds true because Avatar is on its 3rd month in the Top 5.

What did you see this weekend?

After last night’s Oscars, instead of rubbing elbows with the overdressed elite, Jon Favreau was at home with an itchy trigger finger waiting to Tweet to all his followers that the Iron Man 2 Trailer was live on Jimmy Kimmel, and subsequently spammed all over the internet.

Check it out:

This is the commercial they originally were going to air during the Superbowl but decided to spare some change and let it run during Kimmel’s show instead.

I love it, and I can’t wait to see this. Favs said in a tweet yesterday that it was going to have a scene at the end that was a tribute to the comics, which I hoped was going to be a Demon in the Bottle hint, but instead we get to see the very cool portable briefcase suit in chrome and red.

And the Attack of the Iron Men scene looks great too.

It all looks good.

Tonight I am going to try something new just to see how well it goes.

I am going to do a live stream and chat of me watching the Oscars. Now this won’t be all that fascinating as it will mostly just be my ugly mug staring at the screen, but it will have a chat feature as well for people registered at UStream so that I can interact directly with chatters.

So join me over at Ustream to check out this new feature and join in The Movie Blog chat window and let me know if its something you want to see more of.

See you there starting at 8pm EST!

Tonight is the Oscars, the 82nd Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Awards with Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin tag teaming on the hosting duties! I love both of these guys so I hope they do a great job hosting.

Tonight I will be hosting my own “Oscar Party” online with a post that I will be updating as it goes in mini Audio Editions.
The Official Oscar list: with my guesses on who I think will win in Bold (not who I would pick, just guessing to see if rumour, public trends and comments hold true.

Actor in a Leading Role

* Jeff Bridges in “Crazy Heart”
* George Clooney in “Up in the Air”
* Colin Firth in “A Single Man”
* Morgan Freeman in “Invictus”
* Jeremy Renner in “The Hurt Locker”

Actor in a Supporting Role

* Matt Damon in “Invictus”
* Woody Harrelson in “The Messenger”
* Christopher Plummer in “The Last Station”
* Stanley Tucci in “The Lovely Bones”
* Christoph Waltz in “Inglourious Basterds”

Actress in a Leading Role

* Sandra Bullock in “The Blind Side”
* Helen Mirren in “The Last Station”
* Carey Mulligan in “An Education”
* Gabourey Sidibe in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”
* Meryl Streep in “Julie & Julia”

Actress in a Supporting Role

* Penélope Cruz in “Nine”
* Vera Farmiga in “Up in the Air”
* Maggie Gyllenhaal in “Crazy Heart”
* Anna Kendrick in “Up in the Air”
* Mo’Nique in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”

Animated Feature Film

* “Coraline” Henry Selick
* “Fantastic Mr. Fox” Wes Anderson
* “The Princess and the Frog” John Musker and Ron Clements
* “The Secret of Kells” Tomm Moore
* “Up” Pete Docter

Art Direction

* “Avatar” Art Direction: Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg; Set Decoration: Kim Sinclair
* “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” Art Direction: Dave Warren and Anastasia Masaro; Set Decoration: Caroline Smith
* “Nine” Art Direction: John Myhre; Set Decoration: Gordon Sim
* “Sherlock Holmes” Art Direction: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
* “The Young Victoria” Art Direction: Patrice Vermette; Set Decoration: Maggie Gray

Cinematography

* “Avatar” Mauro Fiore
* “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” Bruno Delbonnel
* “The Hurt Locker” Barry Ackroyd
* “Inglourious Basterds” Robert Richardson
* “The White Ribbon” Christian Berger

Costume Design

* “Bright Star” Janet Patterson
* “Coco before Chanel” Catherine Leterrier
* “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” Monique Prudhomme
* “Nine” Colleen Atwood
* “The Young Victoria” Sandy Powell

Directing

* “Avatar” James Cameron
* “The Hurt Locker” Kathryn Bigelow
* “Inglourious Basterds” Quentin Tarantino
* “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Lee Daniels
* “Up in the Air” Jason Reitman

Documentary (Feature)

* “Burma VJ” Anders Østergaard and Lise Lense-Møller
* “The Cove” Nominees to be determined
* “Food, Inc.” Robert Kenner and Elise Pearlstein
* “The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers” Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith
* “Which Way Home” Rebecca Cammisa

Documentary (Short Subject)

* “China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province” Jon Alpert and Matthew O’Neill
* “The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner” Daniel Junge and Henry Ansbacher
* “The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant” Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert
* “Music by Prudence” Roger Ross Williams and Elinor Burkett
* “Rabbit à la Berlin” Bartek Konopka and Anna Wydra

Film Editing

* “Avatar” Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua and James Cameron
* “District 9” Julian Clarke
* “The Hurt Locker” Bob Murawski and Chris Innis
* “Inglourious Basterds” Sally Menke
* “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Joe Klotz

Foreign Language Film

* “Ajami” Israel
* “El Secreto de Sus Ojos” Argentina
* “The Milk of Sorrow” Peru
* “Un Prophète” France
* “The White Ribbon” Germany

Makeup

* “Il Divo” Aldo Signoretti and Vittorio Sodano
* “Star Trek” Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow
* “The Young Victoria” Jon Henry Gordon and Jenny Shircore

Music (Original Score)

* “Avatar” James Horner
* “Fantastic Mr. Fox” Alexandre Desplat
* “The Hurt Locker” Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders
* “Sherlock Holmes” Hans Zimmer
* “Up” Michael Giacchino

Music (Original Song)

* “Almost There” from “The Princess and the Frog” Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
* “Down in New Orleans” from “The Princess and the Frog” Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
* “Loin de Paname” from “Paris 36” Music by Reinhardt Wagner Lyric by Frank Thomas
* “Take It All” from “Nine” Music and Lyric by Maury Yeston
* “The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)” from “Crazy Heart” Music and Lyric by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett

Best Picture

* “Avatar” James Cameron and Jon Landau, Producers
* “The Blind Side” Nominees to be determined
* “District 9” Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham, Producers
* “An Education” Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey, Producers
* “The Hurt Locker” Nominees to be determined
* “Inglourious Basterds” Lawrence Bender, Producer
* “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness and Gary Magness, Producers
* “A Serious Man” Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, Producers
* “Up” Jonas Rivera, Producer
* “Up in the Air” Daniel Dubiecki, Ivan Reitman and Jason Reitman, Producers

Short Film (Animated)

* “French Roast” Fabrice O. Joubert
* “Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty” Nicky Phelan and Darragh O’Connell
* “The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte)” Javier Recio Gracia
* “Logorama” Nicolas Schmerkin
* “A Matter of Loaf and Death” Nick Park

Short Film (Live Action)

* “The Door” Juanita Wilson and James Flynn
* “Instead of Abracadabra” Patrik Eklund and Mathias Fjellström
* “Kavi” Gregg Helvey
* “Miracle Fish” Luke Doolan and Drew Bailey
* “The New Tenants” Joachim Back and Tivi Magnusson

Sound Editing

* “Avatar” Christopher Boyes and Gwendolyn Yates Whittle
* “The Hurt Locker” Paul N.J. Ottosson
* “Inglourious Basterds” Wylie Stateman
* “Star Trek” Mark Stoeckinger and Alan Rankin
* “Up” Michael Silvers and Tom Myers

Sound Mixing

* “Avatar” Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson and Tony Johnson
* “The Hurt Locker” Paul N.J. Ottosson and Ray Beckett
* “Inglourious Basterds” Michael Minkler, Tony Lamberti and Mark Ulano
* “Star Trek” Anna Behlmer, Andy Nelson and Peter J. Devlin
* “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers and Geoffrey Patterson

Visual Effects

* “Avatar” Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R. Jones
* “District 9” Dan Kaufman, Peter Muyzers, Robert Habros and Matt Aitken
* “Star Trek” Roger Guyett, Russell Earl, Paul Kavanagh and Burt Dalton

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

* “District 9” Written by Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell
* “An Education” Screenplay by Nick Hornby
* “In the Loop” Screenplay by Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche
* “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Screenplay by Geoffrey Fletcher
* “Up in the Air” Screenplay by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner

Writing (Original Screenplay)

* “The Hurt Locker” Written by Mark Boal
* “Inglourious Basterds” Written by Quentin Tarantino
* “The Messenger” Written by Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman
* “A Serious Man” Written by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
* “Up” Screenplay by Bob Peterson, Pete Docter, Story by Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, Tom McCarthy

The biggest debate will be if Avatar will take best Picture, and all other activity will be overshadowed by the battle of the Ex’s between Katherine Bigalow and her exhusband James Cameron up for the same Oscar and their respective films facing off in a number of other categories too.

See you at the Oscars!

Jimmy Kimmel will have the full Iron Man 2 Trailer Sunday night after the Oscars on his show, and Jon Favreau has been giving hints via his His Twitter with details like online availability (right after it airs on TV) as well as a hint at the closing scene in the trailer:

The #IronMan2 trailer ends with a new take on an old classic from the books.

Now I have always thought the Demon in a Bottle story is too good not to use, so I wonder if they will be using this image somewhere in the movie?

That is my guess when he says “new take on an old classic from the books”.

We have already been told Demon is waiting (despite that storyline being integral to the War Machine character origins) so its possible if they DO put that scene in the trailer, it might be from near the end of the movie leading off into a possible Iron Man 3 story, or driving the drinking problem as a slow burn that will be hinted through The Avengers and climaxing in Iron Man 3.

But all this speculating will have to wait to see what iconic scene they are paying homage to in the trailer.

Remember last week when they started this big countdown to the Tron Legacy Trailer being released today. Well today is here, and no damned trailer!

Well they were not really lying, the trailer is being released today. IN THEATERS. Here is an image to tide you over. It’s like offering you a free meal and handing you a photo of it.

So this morning when I was watching Alice in Wonderland in 3D, I was treated to the Trailer that isn’t online today. The nice treat was that during the regular Trailer segment they give you the “Put on your 3D Glasses Now” screen and then showed us 2 more trailers.

So I got to see the Tron Legacy Trailer in 3D. As well as How to Train your Dragon, that looked cute.

It’s pretty cool and shows a lot of updated images from “inside” but mostly catches us up with Sam Flynn being explained that his father disappeared shortly after making an announcement that he was going to change the world. He gets a tip that a phone call was made from his father’s abandoned arcade, where the phone has been disconnected for the last 20 years. Sam investigates and is sucked into Tron’s world.

Sexy girl in dayglow accented bodysuit, lightcycles and some really neat Disc fighting scenes and thats it. Enough to get my wanting more.

But no trailer to share today. You know that’s going to get bootlegged before the weekend is over. I don’t know why they think they can make us wait another week before we get a peek.

With the Oscars coming this weekend, everyone is looking to see who will be honoured at the industry’s most glamourous event! Every category has its short list and betting and discussion is taking place over each and every one of them.

There are some categories I just don’t care about, but even those have value. Everyone should be resepected for their contribution to films.

But some categories should be added as time goes on. As animated features were taken more seriously, a category was added to honour them. So why not other categories? Stan Lee suggests the Best Cameo Artist category!

But in all seriousness, I think there should be a Best Trailer Category as well. These are the snippets of the film carefully selected and edited in the hopes of making you want to rush out to the theater! This is truly a difficult task!

I have seen trailers and not cared, then later picked up the movie and loved it. (Fountain, Emperor’s New Groove) … those guys FAILED to make a good trailer that drew me into seeing the movie. I had to discover it by accident! And other times I have seen a trailer that makes a movie look awesome (The Musketeer looked great) and then the movie sucked ass. THAT GUY deserves an Oscar. He took what he had and spun golden beer flavoured nipples!

Any categories you think should be added?

Zak Snyder can do anything. That guy has the midas touch! I mean, he could do a CG film about creepy ass looking owls facing their darkest days who are seeking out some legendary clan of armor wearing warrior owls, and it would look spectacular!

Oh wait…

Is it just me or does this look rediculous? They could have done the same thing with just about any other animal and it might not feel so weird, but these owls just don’t look like characters I can feel some connection to. Its just creepy odd.

I know Snyder’s stuff is all stylized and I look forward to seeing what he has up his sleeve (after 300 he has his own big shoes to fill) but this is a step back. This looks awkward.

The Hurt Locker is carrying a lot of the spotlight lately, and as with any success you will find someone clinging to your coat tails trying to get a piece of it too.

Seems that Sgt Jeffery Sarver, a bomb squad tech who participated in research Mark Boal used while writing an article, says that the character portrayed in Hurt Locker is HIM and he was never compensated for his story.

Worst Previews shares:

Sarver alleges that virtually all of the situations portrayed in the film were occurrences involving him that were observed and documented by Mark Boal, who followed Saver around for 30 days back in 2004 in order to write a Playboy article. Boal then used that article as a jumping-off point for the film’s screenplay.

Boal says that the charges are baseless. “I think Sarver is a brave soldier and a good guy,” he said. “Like a lot of soldiers, he identifies with the film, but the character I wrote is fictional. The film is a work of fiction inspired by many people’s stories. I talked to easily over 100 soldiers during my research.”

When you subject yourself to a researcher who you KNOW is there to study you (and peers) for a role, can you really be surprised if something you said, how you acted or even phrases you coin get used? Its not like this guy posed as a soldier and secretively took notes observing their roles. They knew why he was there. He knew he would be quoted for the article (which later became the basis for the screenplay)

Sarver claims to have coined the phrase Hurt Locker, and wants credit for that too. But when slang gets used that is picked up during research, should they get paid for it? This just smells of a money grab to me. Hurt Locker is getting a LOT of attention right now and it can be hurt by negative publicity so this guy suddenly says the film is almost entirely a film about him, not based on people like him. But actually him.

I don’t see much coming of this. Just a desperate ploy for a guy to benefit financially from the film’s success. If the film wasn’t getting this attention, do you honestly think this guy would have come forward about it?

There is a little film called Iron Cross, which was hoping to generate some Oscar buzz on a $400,000 “For Your Consideration” ad campaign in Variety Magazine, which the paper has been running non-stop since November all the way up until the end of the voting season at the end of January.

However when a negative review for Iron Cross was published online at Variety, the director Joshua Newton (who paid for this expensive ad) nagged them to take it down.

In Contention shares:

Must be good, right? Well, Variety’s own critic Robert Koehler didn’t think so in his damning review of the film, which he denounced as “preposterous” and “hackneyed,” among other choice adjectives. A slightly embarrassing result for a film the paper had previously boosted, but as Gawker’s John Cook reports, Variety solved the problem quite easily — by removing Koehler’s review from their website altogether, after “Iron Cross”’s producers complained.

The moral of the story appears to be that $400,000, plus a little nagging, can buy you a clean critical slate from one of the industry’s foremost tastemakers..

So this is Variety’s continued stance of integrity? Maybe no one will notice this one little review. I mean who reads their website anyways??

Well it was noticed and this subtle support by omission with all their wisdom, Variety bent to the pleas of their advertisers removing editorial to appease their paid adspace.

I find it appalling that Variety removed the offending review because the producers were also ad buyers. Did the Iron Cross producers think that buying adspace would give them a free pass from review?

Well apparently it did, however Variety has >put the review back up. It is the right thing to do.

In a new turn of events, it seems that Newton (Director of Iron Cross) has now figured that its ok to manipulate the press with heaps of money, and is offended that it bit him in the ass and is now considering to SUE Variety for posting the negative review. Gawker reports

Newton, a British filmmaker whose Holocaust revenge drama turned out to be Roy Scheider’s last movie, told Gawker that he and his investors are contemplating a lawsuit against Variety for selling them on a $400,000 Oscar campaign only to turn around publish a review calling the film “hackneyed,” “preposterous,” “mediocre,” “choppy,” and “uncertain.” Variety pulled the review, by freelance critic Robert Koehler, in December.

“We are currently reviewing our options,” Newton told Gawker. “I can’t comment on the legalities, but suffice it to say—how can I put this? There are issues. There are valid issues.”

Maybe I am just new to this whole journalism thing, but he has to realize that he bought AD SPACE with a publication that caters to the entertainment industry. I mean that was the whole point in buying in that publication right? Because the people passing judgment on his film (Oscar voters) will be reading it?

But its what they do! They do reviews on films, and there is no guarantee the critic will like it. You have to face that reality when you offer up your work for critique that it might not be well received.

How can he now sue them for doing their job, when he bought the adspace there because they presumably do their job???

He tried to essentially buy off Hollywood’s biggest industry publication (and they will take anyone’s money to sell adspace) but when he figured out that the reviewers don’t work in ad sales he got all confused.

Good luck with the lawsuit. You paid for ads, not a review.

Seems that Disney is moving fast with their new toys, and they are playing well with their existing franchises too. Some animated series are in the works for Tron, as well as for The Mighty Avengers.

Geeks of Doom shares:

On December 17, 2010, Tron: Legacy will be released in theaters. Disney has decided to use the constantly-growing buzz around this return to Tron to develop a brand new animated TV series to air on the Disney Channel. The show will be aimed at kids aged 6-14, and a 10-part animated mini-series of episodes will begin airing in the Fall of 2011 to set the actual series up.

This timing seems a little awkward. They are making a Tron Animated series nearly a full year after Tron comes out? What if the movie isn’t as big a hit as they (and by ‘they’ I mean ME dammit) hope it will be? I guess that will give them plenty of time to cancel it if it does right?

But they are also making an animated series of The Mighty Avengers to gear up anticipation for the film destined to land in the summer of 2012.

Disney also announced a second new animated TV series, this time using their massive acquisition of Marvel to reach out to the eyes of younger viewers. The show will be called The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and will be aired this upcoming Fall.

Now that makes sense to me. Setting up the film with some brand recognition ahead of time. I look forward to seeing what they do with that.

Looks like Avengers is less likely to be canon with the feature film, but I would wager that a Tron animated series will fit in well with the movie. Perhaps serving as a prequel?

I am good with Avengers standing as its own thing. Tron has a lot of potential to fill some gaps.

Seems that Guy Ritchie is being tapped for an adaptation of Excalibur. I thought this was the one that Bryan Singer was working on, but it looks like this will be a different version.

This take will be adapting Warren Ellis’ version. Of course being the comic book nerd I am I instantly thought of the X-Men spinoff book Excalibur (with my fav X-man Nightcrawler), but this is apparently a gathering of the Knights of the Round Table story. I have never been let down by Ellis, so I am all over this.

CinemaBlend shares:

Bryan Singer is working on some form of Excalibur movie, but there’s another, competing Excalibur in production written by Warren Ellis. And now that version is rumored to have an equally high-profile director. Pajiba says Sherlock Holmes helmer Guy Ritchie is may be attached to direct.

I am actually really curious about seeing ANY version of Excalibur and I don’t know which of these I would rather see.

A remake of the classic Excalibur would be great. The original (which had Patrick Stewart in it) was trippy, but I would like to see what they do for a remake of that version.

But a Guy Ritchie version? I really liked Sherlock Holmes, so I would be open to give that a shot too!

But both of these guys have big things on their plate with Ritchie ditching Lobo to fast-track Sherlock 2, and Singer returning to XMen for First Class, then remaking Battlestar Galactica (too soon) for the big screen.

Could be a while before this actually happens.

Now that I think of it, I wish Ellis was writing an Excalibur film. Dammit. Now I can’t stop thinking of that.

A new Toy Story 3 poster has hit the net and I love it.

It reminds me of what makes Toy Story so magical.. aside from that magic that makes toys alive and stuff. But its all about the toys - obviously. And this looks like a peek right into the toybox, because as the “people” in this equation, this is how we will see them.

I am also amused by seeing things like that phone on wheels toy. I had one of them.

Via

Tim Burton gets stereotyped for a lot of things in his films. Mostly being all gothy dark and twisted.

I tripped over this funny video today at College Humor sharing the ingredients of the Tim Burton pie.

There is no denying it. Legos are awesome.

And say what you will, but Star Wars is awesomer than anything. It just is.

So years ago when we could stop trying to make Legos work with our City and Space Lego sets, they finally released the Star Wars sets. There was a joyous song in the heavens that day. And now that we have technology to do stop motion animation, it is with a great squee of geekitude that I get to share this wonderfully crafted little youtube short with you:

That was incredibly well put together, both in form and function. The effects were cool, the sound was great and the action was just fun to watch.

This is why I love being a film fan.

RowThree found it. Blame him.

With movie marketing just grasping at the straws, its amazing to find out what properites are being shopped for adaptation to the big screen. Video Games have always been a well of fail to dip into, and yet they keep going back. So here’s a novel idea! Go back FARTHER!!

Seems that the WB is trying to secure the film rights to the game that started the arcade craze back in ‘78. Space Invaders.

LA Times says:

Warner Bros. is negotiating to acquire feature rights to the landmark shooter from Taito, the Japanese company that originally manufactured the game. If the rights issues all work out, the project would bring on Hollywood fixtures Mark Gordon, Jason Blum and Guymon Casady as producers.

They are also considering making Missle Command (Fox) and Asteroids (Universal) at competing studios, so its only appropriate that WB would try to snatch up their own classic video game franchise to make a vaguely connected movie for.

Really, all these studios can hope for is to take some completely unrelated script with some original idea that has some shred of comparison to it and then tweak it to have some ties to the concept to market the living crap out of it with a heavy dose of nostalgia for these arcade classics.

How else is that interesting but unproduced Alien Invasion script going to get made into a film? Right… we make it the Space Invaders movie, and boom! Permission to print money.

So while there is this little camp of “there is nothing original left in Hollywood” is chanting try to see past the marketing and realize they will HAVE to write completely original and interesting scripts for these movies. They have nothing else to go on.

Seems the Greek Myths are not doing being exploited yet, and that intimidating hulk of a man known as Mickey Rourke has been cast as the evil villain in the new War of the Gods movie.

Filmofilia shares:

Rourke has been cast as the villain, King Hyperion and will star opposite Henry Cavill and Freida Pinto.

The story about a Greek mythological battle, follows a young warrior Theseus who leads his men into battle with the immortal Greek gods to defeat evil and the powerful elder gods of the Titans in order to save mankind.

I love the idea of Rourke as a villainous King. He has that presence that makes you think this guy could become such a leader of men and a ruthless presence.

I look forward to seeing what they do with this more now that Rourke is involved.

Seems the idea of a fifth Indiana Jones film has been batted around, and even a concept may have been suggested by Lucas trying to get Ford and Speilberg in on the game for another round.

DarkHorizons quotes Harrison Ford

The actor tells The BBC that “we’re seeing what comes of it…The process works like this, we come to some basic agreement and then George goes away for a long time and works on it. Then Steven and I get it in some form, some embryonic form. Then if we like it we start working with George on it and at some point down the line it’s ready and we do it.”

My biggest concern is that despite Ford showing that he still had what it took to play Indiana Jones, I really wasn’t that impressed with Crystal Skull. To be fair, I didn’t hate it like some people did, but everything outside of Indy himself was just ok to bad.

However one of the things we heard a lot of while waiting for Crystal Skull was that Ford would just be too old for this shit, and for the most part they were right.

Now they are entering the same cycle of Lucas writing an idea that Spielberg and Ford will get a peek at, some approval process and banging out the dents (and CGI monkeys) and then more waiting and working on it.

People were worried that Ford was too old for it, and he proved them wrong. But the longer they wait again, the more that concern will appear, and there is no guarantee that Ford will be able to shake of that criticism.

I’d love to see them find a mid-younger actor to do a “Not-So-Young Indiana Jones Adventures” movie telling one of the many adventures Jones had BEFORE the Lost Ark.

At the same time, there will be many who hated Crystal Skull who wont want to give this a chance, but I have some hope that there is magic still in that old whip and hat, and if they do get around to doing this again it will be judged on its own.

Zack Penn has finished writing his script for The Avengers.

Its done. Well at least this version of it. Which means that all the other films that lead into the ensemble cast team film would already have to have their plot points in place too.

Worst Previews gets this from Joe Q’s Twitter

And while we have yet to find out what some of these movies are about and how they will tie into “The Avengers,” Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Joe Quesada has just revealed that everything has already been figured out.

He wrote on Twitter: “Definition of “goose bumps.” Pressing enter and watching a screenplay entitled “AVENGERS” come out of my printer. It’s official, I have the greatest job in the world.”

This is the first draft. Which of course means that it is the first in a volley of back and forths from writing to re-writing and tweaks to fit the vision of the film. The curious part is that roles like Cap and Thor would have already been set in place to have the story work with them. I doubt he would have walked into writing this with no input from the other leadup writers.

I cannot stress enough how this impresses me that they are making Avengers this way. Carefully crafting these stand alone films until they climax with a big enesmble picture. Then spinoff characters are likely to get their own titles too.

Just the fact that they have the first draft for The Avengers in hand and Queseda is liklely reading it and making notes over cookies and milk in his Spiderman flannels. Yeah, he does have the best job in the world.

I can’t wait to see how this unfolds.

I really like these “How it Should have Ended” clips. They shine the light of obvious logic on movies just to show us what really should have gone on if it made sense. And then in situations were it didn’t make sense and there is no logic, they just swing the other way.

Check out how JJ’s Star Trek “should have ended”

“Turn of the Lense Flare Generators!!”

“I know right? I mean who designs a star ship that has bright lights shining in your face from ..every.. possible… angle” (that was a little taste of the Shatner there)

And that ending. That ends the debate.. or does it?

ThinkHero found it. Blame him.

Remember the silly stunts and over the top action with just a dash of the supernatural found in the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie? Got that feeling of raw adventure and just light hearted wit and fun in your head?

Ok, now go watch this trailer.

Clearly Bruckheimer’s stamp is all over this, and that’s why I am looking forward to it. I loved the first Pirates movie, but after that it just got too far away from the careful blend of over the top stunts and a little bit of magic to plunge head first into a supernatural world that stripped away any of that swashbuckling fun.

Oh and this has Gemma. Well.. yeah… I am just going to leave that right there.

Reshoots are often something I try to look forward to seeing the silver lining of. But this one just leaves me itchy.

It seems the recent rumours of George Lucas directing the reshoots for Red Tails himself are true. He couldnt arrange for director Anthony Hemingway to return, so he stepped up to the task.

The Film Stage shares:

George Lucas was reported to be shooting reshoots for the new movie he is producing called Red Tails, which is being directed by Anthony Hemingway. His earlier credits include HBO’s The Wire. The initial reason behind this was because Lucas and producer Rick McCallum were not satisfied with the footage presented.

Now while they continue to raise an unfounded eyebrow making assumptions that Lucas didn’t even call Hemingway and wanted to get into the director’s chair for the reshoots himself.

The only thing that bothered me was that these reshoots are happening because Lucas was “not satisfied with the footage”. Because he is so well known as a discerning director? NoooooooooO! (spoken like Revenge of the Sith Annakin/Vader for irony)

Lucas is a brilliant mind, and a visionary. But he needs to let others direct his works for him.

In related news he was seen on the set of Red Tails quoted as saying “What? Like its hard?”

With Oscar trends being foremost on film fans and industry pundits minds this week, I came across this article at The Daily Beast that talks of a social faux pas committed on behalf of The Hurt Locker’s financier, urging Academy Voters

When director Kathryn Bigelow first heard that Nicolas Chartier, the Frenchman who financed and produced her film, The Hurt Locker, had sent out emails last week urging members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to vote for Hurt Locker and “not a 500M film”‘ (i.e., Avatar), the first thing she did was pick up the phone and call Jon Landau, who produced Avatar, to express her horror.

At least Bigelow did the classy thing and stepped forward distancing the film and herself from Charier’s actions before rumour and speculation buried this in some horrible grudge match.

The article goes on to say that despite their gratitude for their financial saviour (who without this film may not have been made) Chartier was a handful on the set, often prone to fits of rage and attempted to fire more than one crew member before he was politely asked to stay off the set.

Now the well meaning producer of the film has crossed the line and what he thought would be a plea for level heads has been received as an inappropriate smear campaign. Contacting the voters in any way to attempt to curry favour for votes is strictly against the Academy Rules.

Bookies are placing even odds on Hurt Locker and Avatar to win the Best Picture, and while I enjoyed Avatar a great deal for what it was, I hardly think it was Best Picture. But popularity and respect for Cameron among Academy Voters might just tip that hand.

I won’t be surprised if Avatar wins even if I think it doesn’t deserve it. This new 10 film process leaves too much room for vote sway instead of limiting the voters to the Top 5.

This fiasco is just the surface of the drama this film is stirring

On Friday, another blow came in the form of a front-page Los Angeles Times story—”The Hurt Locker Sets Off Conflict”—saying that several soldiers and Army veterans found the film an inaccurate representation of combat, and that the U.S. government had pulled its funding of the film after seeing the script.

Wait, suddenly NOW they decide to make a stink about this? So no one knew about the US Government pulling its funding from the film? This was a big secret?

Fortunately that mess hit the news AFTER the ballot deadline and can’t affect the voting.

Do you think Avatar has a shot at winning? Should it?

Read More »

I caught wind of this unique looking Ben Stiller flick called Greenberg a while ago, and some more preview clips were sent to me to share. And share I will!

This really looks like a nice blend of Stiller’s dramatic chops seasoned perfectly with his comedic timing. I am really looking forward to this.

Check out the preview clips:

Greenberg hits theatres March 26th!

They are not just living the American Dream, they are selling it!

David Duchovny and Demi Moore star in this romantic comedy about a “stealth marketing” family that is positioned in an influential and wealthy neighbourhood. Their job? Pose as the perfect family and when people see what they have, they will want what they have. But when the staged romance starts to blur the lines, Mr Jones thinks he might actually have something for Mrs. Jones.

It does look like a fun film, but my biggest problem is that I just don’t find Demi to be all that ‘desirable’ anymore. Just from the trailers, I am buying the hard business woman persona, but I just don’t see where his sudden attraction comes from. That might be the harder sell in this.

Still going to keep an eye out for this one.

Edit Andrew at RowThree.com has offered up his review when he saw this at Toronto International Film Festival last year. Thanks Andrew!

Welcome to this week’s DVD and Blu Release Report for Tuesday March 2nd, 2010!

Each week I will feature some of the biggest titles making their way to my bookshelf and rental piles. I try not to buy too many movies, just like Kevin Smith tries not to do weed. So here are my picks this week as well as which ones will get rented, and which ones will dent my wallet right out of the gate.

Johnny Depp was recently quoted as saying he hopes that they make a cameo for him in the upcoming Jonah Hill produced re-envisioning of 21 Jump Street.

Screen Crave says:

The film is in development over at Sony, and will be written and produced by Jonah Hill. When asked about the possibility of appearing in the film version of the series, Depp seemed humorously intrigued.

“I’m hoping they’ll let me do a cameo,” Depp said with a laugh. “Someone will say, ‘Whatever happened to Tom Hanson?’ and they’ll find me somewhere hoarding jars of peanut butter and shaking in my underpants.”

I love that idea, but clearly this is just something that Depp came up with as a funny idea. I think it would be great to see him in the movie, but not as his old character. Just have him standing in a phone booth or something.

Hill already said that his reimagining would not be a direct sequel or directly related to the show, but rather would just adapt the tv show’s concept for a film adaptation.

Dead Rising was a video game that was essentially a homage to the rage filled zombie fighting classics like Romero makes. The game really had no plot, but it was fun as hell as you ran around a mall attempting to survive the zombie apocalypse with weapons that range from a teddy bear to a park bench and everything in between.

So since it was a video game based loosely around a movie (genre), it only makese sense that they would then make a movie based on the video game. I am not sure at what point in that logical loop that it stopped making sense, but this laughably terrible looking trailer is Capcom releasing a feature film based on their upcoming sequel to the popular Zombie Game Dead Rising.

Just terrible. Might be so bad that its good, and in which case I will have to try it out. If I can get my hands on it!!

Each week will will kick off the dreary Monday by recapping the Boxoffice Results from the most recent weekend and share what insights we might have.

This week, it looks like DiCaprio and Scorsese were hitting a solid pace with their well received Shutter Island holding the #1 spot, Kevin Smith leads with the biggest opener of the weekend.

Smith - a confessed hockey fanatic, who appears to be taking harsh criticisms in stride, commented that he took Silver this weekend as it seemed like the trendy thing to do. He also comments that the film took more at the boxoffice than WB was projecting, which is a win for him and other projects that he wants to bring to the studio giant.

The Crazies, the better of the two new films this weekend in my opinion came in third.

Here is the official breakdown via Boxoffice Mojo

Shutter Island $22,206,000 2nd wk
Cop Out $18,565,000 Opening
The Crazies $16,521,000 Opening
Avatar $14,000,000 11 wks
Percy Jackson $9,800,000 3rd wk

Did you get out this weekend? What did you see, or wished you had?

Technology is just a wonderful thing when it is used for good. Respected film critic Roger Ebert will be able to once again speak with his own voice even though he lost the ability to speak after surgery for Cancer.

Yahoo News says:

Ebert recorded commentaries for DVD movies before he lost his voice. A Scottish company called CereProc (SAYR’-uh-prok) blended digital recordings of Ebert speaking to make his text-to-audio voice.

Ebert writes that the voice will be heard predicting Oscar winners on a segment of “The Oprah Winfrey Show” airing Tuesday.

He says he may be able to use the voice for radio and Webcasts.

It is amazing that they can do this, so each time he uses his digitized voice to speech tool it won’t be a constant reminder that we will never again hear his voice.

To me that is just awesome.