It appears that Kurt Sutter has decided to ditch on Punisher: War Zone. He was originally a writer for the project but now has decided to bail out in order to save face. We get the following scoop thanks to our friends at cinematical:

Kurt Sutter, one of War Zone’s writers, has elected to take his name off the project. Over on his blog, Sutter claims that not only does he not deserve credit, as his original script has been rewritten out of existence, but he no longer wants credit or any association whatsoever with the project. In fact, he has few kind words for the film whatsoever. In his words, War Zone is a “simple story, very obvious dialogue and the inclusion of as many characters from the anthology that a movie will allow.” It’s a very tight script, he notes, but not very unique and not something that he could take any pride putting his name on. Sutter’s dismissal of the current script earned him the ire of Punisher fans, though it is a bit perplexing as to why ducking out of WGA arbitration should earn you a death threat.

This is never a good sign. I do not care how many re-writes a project has, if it is still quality - you want your name on there. This appears to be a “jumping ship” scenario and I cannot say that I am surprised. Jain jumped ship, now Sutter joins the fray. This project is losing people faster than the bush administration (ba - dum, pshhhht).

What has me most concerned about this blog entry is the inclusion of as many characters as possible. Too many characters is the achilles heel of comic book movies and should ALWAYS be avoided at all costs. I am wondering how many characters they will bastardize with one fell swoop. I suppose we will wait and see.

International friends, are you still holding out hope for this, or is the writing on the wall?

We have news today about the progress of the Edgar Wright Ant-Man film! We get the heads up thanks to our friends at moviesonline:

Finally after years of being in development Edgar Wright (Hot Fuzz) has finished up the script for AntMan. While talking to Empire Magazine about Grindhouse double bill he revealed some little tidbits about what he has planned to do next:

“It could be that. I finished the script and I’m having a meeting about it next week,” he said. “But it depends which comes first in the queue basically. I’ve been working on two at once, and I’m also about to start developing two more scripts, one of which is with Simon [Pegg]. It could be Scott Pilgrim (another comic book adaptation who must slay a girl’s evil exes in order to date her) is next or it could be Ant Man, we shall see.”

Apparently this will be a comedy/action super hero hybrid. I am certainly interested to see Wright’s take on Ant Man; he is a character that gets no love and I always enjoy when someone who has an affinity for a character does a film about them. I pray for the day when Clint Eastwood does a Power Man and Iron Fist film.
With the amount of coin comic book films are pulling in, I do not foresee any end in sight. As long as they are good, I could watch 2 a month; they are enjoyable action films with legendary mythic characters battling the forces of evil. I an appreciate a different take on a comic book movie, so long as it respects the character and remains entertaining.

International friends, what do you think? Is an Ant-Man film penned by Edgar Wright something that you would look forward to?

We have word today that Roland Emmerich is going to return to the apocalyptic genre in an upcoming film titled 2012. We get the scoop from ropeofsilicon:

Roland brought you Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow and his apocolyptic end times features aren’t over yet as he is now shopping around a film called 2012, a film described only as an apocalyptic spec script written by Emmerich and Harald Kloser. The kicker here is that many studios are interested. There isn’t a studio front-runner mentioned but the article does point out that outside of Warner Bros. grabbing 10,000 B.C., Fox was able to nab Independence Day and Day After Tomorrow. Thoughts are that once the film finds a home production will begin immediately with Emmerich in the director’s chair.

I have not been a fan of any of Emmerich’s films, the trailers for 10 000 B.C. look horrible and I would hazard a guess that I will dislike that too. Sometimes you just find a director that really doesn’t do it for you and Emmerich is one of those guys for me. If I had to choose between one of his films or watching a lake for jumping trout; I will choose trout every time.

I do love post apocalyptic films and I must give a nod to Emmerich for his dedication to the genre. With global warming everywhere in the news I am shocked that a glut of scorched earth post apocalyptic films have not been thrust upon us yet. All you need are sluts, cameras, a set in the New Mexico and you are ready to go. This film has yet to find a studio, so no word yet on when it will be released.

Owen Wilson is getting ready to go back to work for the first time since his suicide attempt a few months ago. He’s starting production on his new film “Marley & Me” with Jennifer Aniston. Yahoo News gives us this:

Wilson, 39, and co-star Jennifer Aniston begin shooting March 10 on 20th Century Fox’s “Marley & Me,” the studio said. It tells the tale of a couple who adopt a dog to give parenthood a trial run, then find the mischievous pooch more than they bargained for.

First thing that I want to say here is how great it is that Wilson appears to be back on his feet after his ordeal (even if it was self inflicted). We may never truly know what factors were involved with what happened to Wilson, and maybe that’s for the best. But whatever the motivation was, whatever illness or depression or circumstances pushed Wilson to where he found himself, it’s fantastic to see him back on his feet and apparently back to work. I’m a fan of Owen Wilson and I’m cheering him on.

Having said that, with Drillbit Taylor opening up on March 21st, you can sense that a lot of people are still feeling… I don’t know… “weirded out” (for lack of a better phrase), about the whole thing. If Johnny Depp had gone through the same thing, no one would bat an eye at his return to the screen (especially if he was coming back to another dreary Tim Burton movie), but Owen Wilson is a comedy actor. We’re accustomed to seeing him on screen and smiling, laughing and forgetting about the crappy stuff in life for 2 hours. Now, seeing the trailers for Drillbit Taylor just feels weird. I look at Owen on screen, and all I see is a depressed guy… obviously because my perception of him is still being tainted by what happened in August.

Part of the problem is that nothing has been done at this point to help the film fan community get past it. Wilson has never spoken publicly about yet (I’m not saying he should or shouldn’t have in general) and thus to most of us, our most fresh images of Owen Wilson publicly is of the shocking headlines. Some time ago he did that little interview about the Darjeeling Limited, but not a thing was mentioned about his crisis, and thus it stayed on everyone’s mind.

The question is not “Should we get over what happened with Owen Wilson?”. Obviously the answer to that question is “YES”. But “shoulds” aren’t always reality, and at this point, a lot of the movie going public is still thinking of Owen Wilson in terms of the near tragedy last summer, and trying to get people excited about seeing a movie with him right now where he’s trying to make them laugh is a hard sell.

Personally, I’m sticking with Wilson and I look forward to enjoying the rest of his career. But even I have to admit that it’s going to be very strange seeing him on screen right now… and maybe for a while.

How about you? Are you ready to see WIlson doing comedy with a clean slate? Or are your perceptions of him still a little tainted? What do you think it will take for most people to “get over it”?

We find out news today that David Yates will be directing the final two part installment of Harry Potter though the blog of Lois Lowry. We get the scoop from our friends at comingsoon via ropeofsilicon:

Thanks to an article from Coming Soon we are tipped off to a blog post from children’s and young adult author Lois Lowry, whose book “The Giver” was supposed to be directed by Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix helmer David Yates once he completed work on Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. However, it looks as if “The Giver” has been pushed aside as Yates is apparently going to direct three Potter’s in a row as Lowry tells us the following:

Bad news from The Giver Movie front. David Yates, the director currently working on the next Harry Potter film, was supposed to begin The Giver film next. But he has just decided he wants to do the final Harry Potter first, thereby postponing The Giver by several years. Maybe the opening of this film could be held simultaneously with my celebration-of-life service after I succumb to old age? Or the producers will decide to get a different director. Stand by. But without holding your breath.

Personal blogs continue to break news; and the news spreads fast. I must admit, I was really hoping Guillermo Del Toro was going to get this gig. He proclaimed his interest, and I thought him to be a shoe in. Then news of him scoring the directing chair on The Hobbit came out and I began to wonder if he would be able to do both projects. This news is not yet confirmed so we do need to take it with a grain of salt, but It certainly seems to be as good a source as any.

I am not upset at all that Yates is on board for the next Harry Potter installment and I hope I do not give that impression. I just really wanted to see what direction Guillermo took the film as he is currently one of my favorites, and a genius when it comes to directing fantasy films.

We will certainly keep you posted on this news and l will continue to hunt for an official announcement.

Beyonce Knowles has signed on to appear in the ensemble film, ‘Cadillac Records’ as blues singer, Etta James.

Yahoo!News gives us more details:

Beyonce Knowles has signed on to play blues singer Etta James in “Cadillac Records,” a 1950s period film about the founder of Chicago’s Chess Records and his lineup of stars.

The 10-time Grammy winner joins a cast that includes Adrien Brody as Chess Records founder Leonard Chess, Jeffrey Wright as Muddy Waters, Cedric the Entertainer as Willie Dixon, and Columbus Short as Little Walter.

Now this seems like a better fit for Miss Knowles. It was no secret that she was bitter of her losing to ‘Dream Girls’ co-star, Jennifer Hudson last year at the Golden Globes, and some people thought she was “snubbed” for an Academy award nominee. (Somebody should have told her losing 20 pounds for a role doesn’t necessarily guarantee you a nomination.)

I’m not a huge fan of her acting “talents” to be quite honest, (it’s like she can’t do a role unless there’s singing involved) and she will look a lot better if she has people like Jeffrey Wright and Adrien Brody around her in an ensemble film.

However, I’m pretty psyched about this film. It’s been a while since we have seen a GREAT (Dream Girls was mediocre in my opinion) movie about influential R&B. (‘The Five Heartbeats’ is the last I can remember.)

However, those are just my thoughts. What do you think of Beyonce Knowles as an actress?

In an effort to maximize the amount of spoof movies we see this year, A Christmas Carol will be remade just in time for the holidays. We get the scoop today from the professionals at Variety:

Kelsey Grammer will reprise the role of Ebenezer Scrooge for the indie satire “An American Carol,” directed by “Scary Movie 4″ helmer David Zucker. Grammer, who previously played Dickens’ stingy protag in the NBC-Hallmark production of “A Christmas Carol” in 2004, will play a modern-day Ebenezer in new film, which lampoons contemporary American culture, particularly Hollywood. Zucker penned the screenplay along with Myrna Sokoloff.

I dislike spoof movies, but will always give them a chance. Some have been classics and I always try to keep that in mind when I trudge through so many horrible films. A spoof of A Christmas Carol with Kelsey Grammer as Scrooge actually doesn’t sound all that bad on paper. There are a lot of funny directions that you can take this story and it has been done a number of times on various sketch programs.

Kelsey Grammer is also a very talented comedic actor. His interaction with David Hyde Pierce on the show Frasier was great and the two of them acted out some of the funniest moments I have seen on T.V. If you have not seen the episode Motor Skills you must do so ASAP. They decide to take an automotive night school class so they can feel more like men and fix their cars, but halfway through the course they decide that they have no desire to learn a make a conscious decision to “coast” through the course. When the teacher says “Does anybody here speak French” I laughed till I hurt.

In summation, I like Kelsey, and dislike most spoof movies; so we will see what happens.

I make no secret about it. Aside from Christmas, the Oscars are my favorite day of the year… always has been… even before the birth of The Movie Blog. I’ve been a film fan all my life. My earliest childhood memory (no joke) is being taken to see Star Wars for the very first time (I’m sure a part of the reason it’s still my all time favorite movie). So with film always being a passion of mine, you can understand why the one day of the year that celebrates the achievements of the industry is a big deal to me. I almost count down the days to the Oscars each year too. It’s that big of a deal to me.

However, last week on the Uncut LIVE show, Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor mentioned that the Oscars were “next weekend”, and it caught me totally by surprise. It’s not that my interest in the Oscars has waned at all, on the contrary, with all the best picture nominees this year being excellent films, I’m more interested in the awards show than ever. So why did the Oscars sneak up on me this year? The writers’ strike.

With all of the chaos and uncertainty surrounding the now thankfully settled writers’ strike, the Oscars got sort of lost in the mix for me. Not only was there drama going on around the strike, but the strike held the potential of canceling the show (even though Oscar producers insisted the show would go on regardless). With all of that, the actual date for the Oscars became inconsequential. Thus my mild surprise when I realized it was this weekend.

I don’t think I’m the only one in this boat either. With all the uncertainly surrounding it, I think a lot of people have either forgotten, or at least marginalized in their own thoughts the fact that the Oscars are indeed this Sunday. Even media outlets have had far less coverage and buzz pieces about the event. Marketing for the show is down and just less people in general seem to be talking about it.

On top of the Strike, there is another factor to take into consideration for the lack of buzz about the Oscars this year. There are no blockbusters or high profile films up for the big award this year (with the possible exception of Juno which has made just over $130 million… more than all the other nominees combined). That isn’t a reflection on the QUALITY of the films nominated this year… but it does mean that a LOT of people haven’t seen ANY of the movies nominated for best picture this year. If people haven’t seen the films, they have less personal vested interest in the awards. If you don’t have someone to root for, you’re less likely to be interested in the process. As great as Juno, No Country and There Will Be Blood are… almost no one has seen them, and that doesn’t help the Oscars at all.

Don’t get me wrong here. I’m NOT suggesting that the Oscars should nominate film based on popularity. NEVER. All I’m pointing out is that there will be years where all the best films had no one see them… and that’s just a part of the game. Unfortunetly for the Oscars, that phenomenon is happening on the same year a writers’ strike just ended.

To compound the problem, last year’s show was a dreadful mess with a dreadful host, and yet again this year, they’re turning to a TV personality to host the movie industry’s big event. I love Jon Stewart. I think he’s the funniest man on TV right now… but he shouldn’t be hosting the Oscars. His last outing was “ok” (1000x better than the Ellen train wreck), but lacked any magic at all. I’ve said for years, the Oscars should have a legitimate movie star hosting the show. That doesn’t mean it will always WORK and that just any movie star should host (Whoopie anyone?) but that should at least be their staring point. George Clooney would be a great host for example.

The point is, The Oscars are this Sunday, and I can’t remember a year when less people seemed to care. Between the writers’s strike and the lack of any high profile films being nominated, it’s really not surprising. Traditionally, the Oscars are the second most watched television event of the year just behind the Superbowl, but don’t expect the ratings to be huge this year.

Do you think there are other factors involved in so few people talking about the Oscars this year?

It looks like Hasbro is whoring out every brand possible in a new deal they stuck with Universal. We get the scoop today from the professionals at Variety:

Universal Pictures has announced a six-year partnership with Hasbro to produce at least four feature films based on branded properties. The properties include “Monopoly,” “Candy Land,” “Clue,” “Ouija,” “Battleship,” “Magic, The Gathering” and “Stretch Armstrong.” The deal comes after the successful screen transformation of the Hasbro property “Transformers,” which DreamWorks and Paramount turned into a Michael Bay-directed global hit, and which has a sequel scheduled to begin production this year.

“This deal gives Universal access to some of the greatest brands in the world,” Shmuger and Linde said in a statement. “Hasbro’s portfolio of products has tremendous emotional resonance with children and adults. They offer an exciting opportunity for us to develop tentpole movies with built-in global brand awareness, which is a key component of our slate strategy.”

How the fuck are you going to pull off Battleship the movie? Are you going to have a film about 10 boats that launch missiles at each other till one remains? You know at one point when a captain is going down with the ship he will proclaim: “you sunk my battleship”. If video game films always suck, I can only imagine the type of films we are going to get that are based on classic table games.

I enjoy the card game Magic: The Gathering, the name is horrible but the game itself is gobs of fun. I really do not want to see a film based on the game; it is going to be awkward. They do have enough imagery, and characters to make a fantasy style film in the world of Dominaria, but Hasbro has shown in the past that they are more concerned with moving future product than they are about making a quality film celebrating their work. (Remember when they killed Optimus to sell Rodimus and Ultra Magnus?)

This just seems strange , they are pimping out all these brand for the familiarity of the name. I am doubtful that any of these projects will be good and I get confused when I try to consider how they will approach them. I guess we will wait and see. Until then, unpack your game of battleship, and enjoy it as it was intended.

We have a picture of the new Two Face toy that looks like it was taken from space! We obtained this image from Dark Horizons via superherohype:

So there you have it folks, not much to look at. The picture is quite blurry but I can still make out enough in the photo to see a resemblance to Aaron Eckhart. The Dark Night launches July 18, no word yet if this tow will be made available before or after the film’s release.

As a lot of you may know, I am infatuated with the horror genre! Although, I find that a lot of horror films only get seen and make money these days if they are remakes, never-ending franchises, or filled with a cast of talentless hacks who often wind up on the cover of Us Weekly. It seems like it’s all about making a commercial product, rather than making inventive, scary, and creative films.So I thought I would start a blog every week on my recommendations of horror films that deserve to be seen. Feel free to comment on your own suggestions!International horror films are usually known for perfecting a certain subgenre in horror. (Where as North America is known for remaking their perfections.) Italian horror films are known best for their superb giallos, Japanese horror is known for their chill inducing supernatural films, and French horror is known for pushing the ultimate limit with real life horror scenarios. For the past few years, audiences have been shocked by films like ‘Haute Tension,’ ‘Ils,’ and ‘Frontiere,’ but none of these films have affected and scared me as much as ‘A l’interieur.’

This French shocker is about an unhappy pregnant woman(who lost her husband 4 months before in an unfortunate car crash) who decides to spend the night before she’s going to be induced, (which also happens to be Christmas Eve) home alone while she wallows in severe depression. Her quiet plans take a deadly turn when a female stranger comes knocking at her door, begging to use her phone. She soon discovers this stranger is ready to do everything and anything to get inside her house……and inside her pregnant belly.

Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury have really knocked the door down with their gripping and gut wrenching directorial debut. They made a movie to scare ALL audiences, for putting a pregnant woman in danger of having her baby ripped out of her stomach is as scary as it gets.

What’s even more brilliant about this horror film is its ability to make the viewers feel completely immersed in the heroine’s dilemma. This wasn’t a horror movie with stupid and one note characters that you scream at to do the right thing. You feel as utterly hopeless as the pregnant woman, (played brilliantly by Alysson Paradis) for the audience can not even think of ways for her to possibly get out of her house quick enough without endangering the unborn baby and herself. (She gets extremely injured through out this ordeal.)

I also want to commend the directors for making a truly scary villainess. (Something that has been hardly seen) Beatrice Dalle makes Javier Bardem in ‘No Country for Old Men’ look like a wimp. Her character is unrelentless and the fact that she dispatches of some of the innocent bystanders (who come to check on the heroine) so effortlessly, made the experience of watching this movie far more terrifying.

Anyone who prides themselves for being able to sit through ‘Hostel’ and ‘Saw’ are in for a huge surprise, because this movie pushes the envelope with the blood and gore. Many will watch this movie and probably be so disgusted with it by the end for the gratuitous and offensive gore. (That I will not give away for the fear of turning you off the film) To me, this movie’s gore was far different than how popular ‘torture porn’ display gore. Each scene that displays blood is meant to get a strong reaction from the crowd. The gore is meant to challenge the viewer to even finishing the movie, and to feel just as trapped as the protagonist feels in the movie. Each scene involving grisly horror is a powerful one, and that is something I appreciated.

Forget contraceptives. Many women will feel the need to get their tubes tied after viewing this! This movie is not for the squeamish and I highly recommend anyone who is pregnant to NOT watch this film. If you can get through this controversial horror film without feeling completely unsettled and scarred at the end, then you can pretty much watch anything. (That…or you may need a psychiatric exam. :P)

Catch the film that was too shocking to show in a wide theatrical release on DVD this April 15, 2008.

Like the news about Ryan Reynolds being cast as ‘Deadpool’ wasn’t surprising enough. Black Eye Peas’ lead singer/rapper Will.i.am has also been cast in his first acting role as John Wraith in next year’s ‘X-Men:Wolverine.’

Comingsoon.net gives us these details:

He’ll be joining Hugh Jackman (Wolverine), Liev Schreiber (Sabretooth), Danny Huston (William Stryker), Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool), Taylor Kitsch (Gambit) and Lynn Collins (Silver Fox) in the film opening May 1, 2009.

Wraith is a mutant who has the power to teleport, and is another test subject of the Weapon X program that created Wolverine and other mercenaries.

Yet another rapper takes the plunge into acting. Although, this news kind of makes me want to cringe, I’m willing to give this man a shot. Look at Will Smith, Mark Wahlberg, LL Cool J, Mos Def, and Common. They were all rappers first and proved that they also can act. However, when I look at 50 Cent, DMX, and The Game, I get worried that this was the right choice.

Hopefully this wasn’t a marketing decision, because as big as ‘Black Eyed Peas’ are, I don’t see more people going to see it just because Will.i.am is in it. :P

I’m willing to give this man the benefit of the doubt, and hopefully he delivers.

What are your thoughts?

Jumper was made for a sequel; so with not the least bit of surprise I announce the news from an interview collider had with the director. Thanks to moviesonline for the hookup:

The concept for Jumper 2 is definitely a stretch. So much a stretch it feels the director is just hashing ideas more then talking about what the sequel is all about. Collider had an exclusive sit down with the director where he talked about the sequel and spilled the following;

“I actually have a ton of ideas for the sequel because this is whole new arena for me and so my mind was in overdrive the whole time and most of the ideas I came up with we either could tease or just save it for a sequel and so it’s…this power can be used to leave this planet, this power can be used ultimately to go back in time, this power can be used if you go and work for the government you’d be the ultimate Jason Bourne.”

So the sequel hasn’ t been written. but it has been announced, this does not seem like a good sign to me. The first installment was very frustrating, I enjoyed the use of the power and the camaraderie between the two jumpers, but their was not enough background info, the twists were lame and the story overall was a “boy chases girl” pile of bullshit. The above ideas that director throws around sound like the result of a killer hash session (we have all been there).

If they didn’t introduce so many lame tie ins from the first film i may have given the sequel a chance. As it stands right now, I have about the same desire to see Hayden Christensen in jumper 2 as I would Star Wars 7. I wish this franchise would teleport far away from earth, forever.

Lots of toy news has been crossing my path lately with my fascination and Peter Pan syndrome, however news of Mattel’s Joker figures inspired by Heath Ledger’s role in the Dark Knight caught me as odd.

Cinematical reports:

The image comes from The New York Post, who revealed it along with a quote from the Ledger family: “Heath was very proud of his work in the film, and his family is aware and supportive of Warner Bros. and its partner’s plans for the movie.” Mattel will sell two versions of the doll, with both hitting toy shelves this May (two months prior to The Dark Knight landing in theaters on July 18).

So the announcement of Mattel putting out a toy to promote the movie isn’t a strange event. But the timing seems a little puzzling to me. A couple weeks before the movie? A month even? Seems a little soon.

But the thing that gets me the most is that there are no OTHER character toys being announced. Just Joker. Heath Ledger’s Joker. Did they have the marketing plans to release this figure this early before Ledger’s passing?

Is this marketing to capitalize on the tragic death of this movie’s co-star? Well Mattel says Ledger’s death is “not exactly a marketing point,” but to me that sounds like someone saying they are marrying a dying rich millionaire and saying the fact he has money is “not exactly the point”.

Not exactly. Just maybe 90% of the motive here. What do you think?

In the category of pure speculation, we find out that Will Ferrell is considering a sequel to Anchorman.

FilmJunk says:

It seems that Will Ferrell is seriously contemplating a sequel to his popular comedy Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. He has recently been performing some sketches as Ron Burgundy for the Funny or Die Stand Up Comedy Tour, and this reminded him how much he enjoys the character. While there is certainly nothing official in the works as of yet, I think it’s clear that there is a pretty massive fan base out there that would kill to see another Anchorman flick.

I kinda grew tired of the Will Ferrell comedy routine, but of all his films I can honestly say I liked his Anchorman character the most. He fell into that whole rut of unique characters that all just seem the same, like Jack Black or Jim Carrey. Sure, they are funny, but you just get tired of it.
However, one thing Ferrell always has going for him in his movies is a hillarious supporting cast. And that is the true genius of Will Ferrell comedies.

If this happens, it will bring together some of the funniest guys in movies today, and I will be eager to see it.

Superhero Hype caught the news that a Hulk Trailer will be released in early March. But in front of what movie?

Superhero Hype

You’ll be seeing the first trailer for The Incredible Hulk in early March. Our guess is that it will hit theaters with Warner Bros.’ PG-13 rated 10,000 B.C. on March 7 (if that’s true, make sure you call your theater to see if the trailer is playing with the showtime you’re thinking of attending, as it will likely not be on every screen) and then with the R-rated Universal (the studio releasing “Hulk” in theaters) pic Doomsday on March 14.

Recently the Trailers have got me excited about the summer blockbuster again. Last summer was a bit of a letdown with most of the major titles flopping (critically anyways) and a handful of good ones.

So do you think they are right? Would they put Hulk ahead of 10,000BC? Does that seem to be the demographic to target with this movie? Or are they hoping that the raging fanboys will see 10,000BC just to catch a glimpse of the trailer, therefore boosting their numbers for this film?

Well, it looks like Gambit will be joining Deadpool on the Wolverine cameo train. We get wind of this casting from our friends at IESB:

We’ve been hearing whispers for the past few days that Wolverine won’t only feature an appearance by fan-favorite Gambit; the role’s already been cast. The IESB has been able to confirm with studio sources that Friday Night Lights star Taylor Kitsch will be playing Remy LeBeau.

So there we have it. We will see Gambit for sure, and it looks like an appearance from Deadpool as well. Now I don’t mind a few short cameos, but the reason a stand alone film appeals to me is because we will have an opportunity to really focus on one character of the X-Men. I want to spend time in this film figuring out what makes the berzerker tick as a person, I do not want to see him shaking hands and introducing friends for future franchise opportunities.

I have never been into the character Gambit. I dislike his headband and the throwing of playing cards has always bothered me (for no good reason). I think if I could make stuff explode with kinetic energy - eggs would be my object of choice. You get to add insult to injury, and it is October 30th every time you fight crime.

Despite my lack of love for Gambit, he is a very popular X-Man and it was only a matter of time before he was brought on board. I am not sure the Wolverine stand alone picture is the best platform in which to launch him - I would have preferred X-Man 4 but we will wait and see.

It looks like Ryan Reynolds may be slipping into a pair of tights for the upcoming Wolverine film; the word on the street is that he may be cast as Deadpool. We get this news from our friends at AICN via IESB:

Aint it Cool News is reporting a nifty little scoop — Ryan Reynolds may be featured in a Wolverine cameo as everybody’s favorite merc-with-a-mouth. We’ve yet to get official word from anyone on this but — if it’s true — it sounds like a lot of fun. Deadpool is a fan-favorite and the casting of Ryan Reynolds may very point to a spinoff film in the near future.

I enjoy Ryan Reynolds and usually do not mind when he is attached to a project. I am not familiar with the Deadpool character and must ask the international friends for help. Do you guys think Ryan Reynolds would make a good Deadpool? Please share your thoughts in the comments section.

IESB goes on to describe Deadpool as an insane, wise cracking assassin. Ryan Reynolds excels at the wisecracks, and if this is what is needed, I can certainly see why he may have been tapped for this. It would be cool to see him play a character where you are always covered in a ninja-esque outfit. Deadpool always reminded me of Snake Eyes from G.I. Joe when I saw his picture. I am not sure how much screen time will be given to the character, we may see him for an instant, or he may play an extended role in the film. Either way, we will continue to follow this news and keep you up to speed on the updates!

Well I didn’t expect this news today. It appears another Street Fighter movie is in the works, we get wind of this story from variety via the moviehole:

According to Variety, Kreuk, who plays Lana Lang on the Superboy series, will star as martial artist Chun-Li. Duncan will play Balrog, while Klein is stepping into the role of Nash. Yune is taking on the mystical Gen. Rounding out the cast are Moon Bloodgood (of the now-defunct TV series “Journeyman”), Taboo from the Black Eyed Peas, Singapore’s Edmund Chen and Hong Kong film star Cheng Pei Pei. Apparently the producers are still looking for an actor to fill the villain Bison’s shoes. That role, you’ll recall, was played by the late Raul Julia in the previous “Street Fighter” movie.

Andrzej Bartkowiak (”Romeo Must Die,” “Exit Wounds”) is directing from a script penned by “Voltron” scribe Justin Marks. Hong Kong fight choreographer Dion Lam (”The Matrix”) is handling the extreme fight sequences. It all kicks off in March.

I am certainly not excited about his film; because the last attempt was insanely horrible. Michael Clark Duncan is an awesome Balrog, and the inclusion of Gen is certainly welcomed by me. Gen is a cool character that has been around since the original street fighter and his Kung-Fu stylings are not to be underestimated.

I welcome Dion Lam as the fight choreographer and certainly hope this movie gets to showcase his work. If this film just sticks to a tournament style film, it will be the best it can be. We want to see the characters we are familiar with kicking the hell out of each other in a way we are accustomed to. I want to see E.Honda bear-hug someone and I want to see Zangief pile drive someone into the ground.

Street Fighter needs to be treated with reverence. It is an international language and an ambassador of game-play around the globe. When I was 17 I found myself in a Hong Kong arcade, saw someone playing Street Fighter 2, signaled to him with a head nod, a lift of the eyebrows and then a point at the quarter slot. The man nodded and we were off to the races. He didn’t speak English, I didn’t speak Cantonese and the game remained the same.

Hey everyone! Just a quick note to let you all know that on Sunday the 24th (this Sunday) we will be having our 3rd annual “The Movie Blog Podcats The Oscars”.

The way it works is this: About an hour before the Oscars start we’ll be putting up a pre-Oscar podcast show. Then, once the red carpet starts, we’ll be doing 1-2 minute mini-podcasts every single commercial break until the Oscars are over. We’ve had a LOT of fun doing this the last couple of years, and are really looking forward to it this year too. Please plan on joining us and other international friends for the Oscars!