Drew Pearce's Runaways script earns him Iron Man 3 writing gig

Y'take the good, y'take the bad, y'take 'em both and there you have this story which initially bugged me but now kinda has me smiling. It's no secret that the Marvel movie I've been most eager for was Runaways, based on Brian K. Vaughn's stellar comic about a group of teens fleeing their supervillain parents.  While Marvel has pushed that film back until all this Avengers nonsense is over, the script by Drew Pearce must've been pretty damn good. Why? Because he'll be writing Iron Man 3, that's why. Quite the promotion.

Leonard Nimoy to voice Sentinel Prime in Transformers: Dark of the Moon

You might be surprised to learn that Leonard Nimoy has something of a past with the Transformers. Back in 1986, ol' Spock was the screeching voice of Galvatron in Transformers: The Movie. Now instead of voicing the leader of the Decepticons, Nimoy will be lending his pipes to Sentinel Prime, the aged Transformer highlighted in the trailers for Michael Bay's Transformers: Dark of the Moon.

In the comic book Transformer mythos, Sentinel Prime serves as Optimus Prime's predecessor, who dies in battle but not before handing over the Autobot Matrix of Leadership.  In Michael Bay's movies his origin seems a bit less clear. We know he's a fearsome Autobot warrior thought lost long ago. 

I'm looking for any reason to think positive, and this is definitely one. It's good to know that Nimoy's "retirement" doesn't extend to his incredible voice work. 

Trailer Time: The Hangover part II

The teaser trailer for The Hangover part II was flawless. Short. Sweet. Got you hyped to see the characters you loved the first time around. Hey, the Wolf Pack was Back! What's not to love? Todd Phillips was smart not to blow all the best jokes, and since The Hangover was one of the most successful comedies ever, there was no real reason to.  Now we've got the first full theatrical trailer for the film, and...well, I'll just let you watch it first...

Sure Shots: Pirates of the Caribbean; John Travolta is John Gotti; Avatar 2

* We learned back in December that Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer already had a plan in place for at least two more Pirates of the Caribbean movies. In January they brought in Terry Rossio to draft the script, and now speaking to USA Today, Jerry Bruckheimer revealed that writing is already underway...which I thought was just sortof assumed.  The real news is that from here on out, every Jack Sparrow movie will be a stand alone adventure, rather than as part of a cohesive story like the first three movies. Good idea, I think.

* John Travolta's been linked to playing mafia kingpin John Gotti for weeks now, and finally he gets to step into the Dapper Don's shoes. He'll be joining Gotti: Three Generations, to be directed by Nick Cassavetes(Alpha Dog) and written by Leo Rossi. Um, yeah. I'm getting some really bad flashbacks of Travolta in The Punisher. Just sayin'.

* Yesterday at Cinemacon, three special effects giants took the stage to share their thoughts on the future of filmmaking technology. James Cameron, Jeffrey Katzenberg and George Lucas all spoke about 3D and other stuff too geeky and technical for me to even try to describe. I'm still trying to figure out how they fit all those people in one room with their egos taking up so much space. Anyway, Cameron revealed that his Avatar sequels will be shot at an even greater 48 to 60 frame rate. I don't know much, but I know that's friggin' fast. Cameron says the added frame rate will make the experience "just reality". Anyway, he also revealed his desire to bring the cast and crew to Brazil as inspiration, introducing them to the wonders of the rain forest and to meet the indigenous people. The first Avatar sequel is due to hit theaters in December 2014.

Signs of the Apocalypse: Ashton Kutcher and Justin Bieber buddy comedy??

I could probably lump Ashton Kutcher and Justin Bieber in the same boat. They both exist in a world I'd be all too happy to ignore, but their ballooning influence is making it more difficult. I must confess to never having heard a note of any Justin Bieber song outside of a movie soundtrack, but I still see the little runt everytime I flip on the TV. He's even irritating in small doses. The fact that his movie, Never Say Never, is the highest grossing concert film ever is a cause for concern as it only promises more movies to come.  As for Kutcher, I've been fortunate that most of his movies open so badly that they don't linger in theaters for very long. So if I want to avoid some crapola like Spread, I can. Unfortunately he also mixes in stuff like No Strings Attached which I can't ignore. But what if the two were to do a movie together? Would I be able to curb my natural curiosity and check it out, if only to see how awful it was? Looks like I'm about to find out.

New images from Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Every time I start to forget about Transformers: Dark of the Moon(my mind fighting back the pain), a new batch of photos comes out. It's as if Michael Bay knows exactly how long his frivolous little movies can rest in a person's brain. So here today we've got a handful of new images, none of which feature any robots, but more of Shia Labeouf all stealth-like. Seriously, other than the one of Rosie Huntington-Whiteley these photos could've been from any of the other movies and nobody would've been the wiser.

Thanks to SpoilerTV and Collider for the shots.







Transformers: Dark of the Moon opens on July 1st!

Watch: The first six minutes of Sucker Punch

Zack Snyder's Sucker Punch has been out in theaters for a few days now, and the reaction to it has led to some of the most vigorous, thoughtful discussion on a film I've had in years. And then there were some conversations with folks that were so idiotic it was like someone had left a sponge in their head after brain surgery. Sucker Punch is a polarizing film, and I think that was reflected in some way by the mediocre box office.  What I will say is that the TV spots and trailers do not do the film any justice, giving the impression that it's just a brainless sequence of hot skirts and big guns. It's not.

The first six minutes of the film have been released, so you can check them out and judge for yourself if it's for you. The footage introduces us to the film's central character, Baby Doll(Emily Browning) as she goes through a terrible trauma before being sent away to a penitentiary. There's an awful lot going on just in this opening act alone, and I really enjoyed the mood Snyder establishes.

The best fan made trailer for The Avengers yet

The Avengers isn't due out until May of next year, with filming taking place as we speak. So we likely won't be seeing a trailer for the film for quite some time. That hasn't stopped folks from piecing together their own fan made trailers, some of which have been pretty slick. This one, from Youtube user SouperBoyX is by far the best I've seen. 

I love the build-up, showing the usual clips of Nick Fury and Tony Stark discussing the Avengers Initiative, but once the Marvel logo flashes across the screen things really pick up.  We get a little bit of everybody, from Thor, to Captain America, to even Jeremy Renner using a bit of footage from The Hurt Locker to make for a believable Hawkeye. There's an awkward sequence showing all four heroes walking as a unit, but I applaud the effort. The crafting of a fight between Loki and Iron Man was also a nice touch. Too bad there's no footage of Mark Ruffalo to use as The Hulk.

First Thor movie clip!

Unfortunately we are not one of the lucky folks attending CinemaCon right now(*sniff*), so we're missing out on a lot of cool footage from some the year's most anticipated flicks. One of those that attendees are getting a good look at is Thor, including some footage of Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye that I'm extremely jealous about not seeing. But Marvel is doing their best to make up for it, and have released a new movie clip from the film. It's only about a minute long, and doesn't feature very much we haven't seen before in the trailer, but it's good to see it all in one piece.

The scene takes place just after Thor is sent hurtling down to Earth(or Midgard as the Norse gods call it), where he's discovered by Jane Foster(Natalie Portman), professor Erik Selvig(Stellan Skarsgard), and Jane's friend Darcy(Kat Dennings). You can check out that clip below.

Zack Snyder's Superman and the Justice League Superman? Totally Different.

It's been a huge couple of days for Warner Brothers and fans of DC Comics superheroes. Jeff Robinov, the new head guy in charge, revealed that plans were underway for a Justice League film to be completed by 2013. That's huge, given how slow WB has been to get their superhero films in any kind of order. But along with that news came supposition of their plan of attack. I, like many other folks, figured that with Green Lantern and Superman basically starting fresh, and Batman soon to be needing the same treatment, we'd likely be seeing Ryan Reynolds, Henry Cavill, and whoever the new Dark Knight is to lead the super-team.  Turns out we were wrong, at least according to Zack Snyder.

While on the red carpet for the UK premier of Sucker Punch, HeyUGuys asked Zack Snyder how his Superman relates to the new Justice League film,  and he said this...

Sure Shots: Green Lantern; Total Recall; Sean Penn

* After learning yesterday that Michael Clarke Duncan was in talks to voice Kilowog in the Green Lantern film, now today comes word that Geoffrey Rush(The King's Speech) is voicing Tomar-Re, the skinny bird-like alien featured prominently in the trailer. Deadline's story gives the impression that the work is already completed, which makes me a bit weary of the Duncan news.

* Bryan Cranston(Breaking Bad) has been cast as the bad guy in Len Wiseman's Total Recall remake starring Colin Farrell. But this isn't the same bad guy you're thinking of from the 1990 film. In fact, the revealed plot indicates something completely different. "The new story involves nation states Euromerica and New Shanghai, with Douglas Quaid (Farrell) a factory worker in the latter who begins to believe he is a spy, although he doesn’t know for which side. Cranston would play Vilos Cohaagen, the leader of Euromerica who, under the cover of protecting his people, is secretly readying an invasion of New Shanghai." That doesn't sound like the movie I know, or very much like the Philip K. Dick story. Either this is just a fraction of the whole story or we're looking at something new here.


* Remember Tales from the Gangster Squad? Warner Brothers' film based on LA Times articles about an elite squad of cops whose sole job was to stop the spread of the east coast mafia to the west? The directing gig passed a number of hands, but ultimately landed in the lap of Ruben Fleischer(Zombieland), and now a pair of top notch actors have been offered the lead roles. Deadline reports that Sean Penn has been offered the role of Mickey Cohen, the Brooklyn mobster and member of the Jewish Mafia. Ryan Gosling has been offered one of the two lead cop roles. Gosling's been in a slump lately, but broke out of it in a big way with Blue Valentine. Penn is always solid if not spectacular. Let's hope both sign on and make this flick as kick butt as it sounds.

Arnold Schwarzenegger's animated superhero? Who else? The Governator.

Stuff like like this kinda makes me wish Arnold Schwarzenegger had never left office. Then again, I'm not a Californian, who probably have a very different opinion.  A few weeks ago he told a group of 'roided up fans that he was looking over nearly a dozen of different movie projects, a couple of them remakes of some of his classics.  He also said that he'd be packaging a comic book character. Over the last week or so news has leaked out bit by bit that he was considering an animated TV show. Now we know what that show is, and what that comic book character is that he was talking about. Meet Arnold Schwarzenegger: The Governator.

Ridley Scott preps Gertrude Bell biopic

Hey it's nice to get a Ridley Scott story that isn't riddled with Prometheus speculation. I've been enjoying the nice break from all that. Deadline reports the veteran director is next looking to helm a biopic based on the life of Gertrude Bell, the British explorer, writer, and archaeologist most famous for her role in shaping Brit oil policy in the Middle East around the time of WWI.  She earned a good deal of controversy for her stance against the women's suffrage movement, and later on for advocating Arab self-rule.

Scott would also be producing along with Giannina Facio, and has already brought in Jeffrey Caine to pen the script. Caine wrote what I think is the best political thriller of the last decade, 2005's The Constant Gardener.

For whatever reason, my mind instantly turned to Hilary Swank for the role, proably because she's so used to playing fierce, complicated female figures. But this is probably something that's going to go to someone unexpected. Noomi Rapace, maybe? Just throwing it out there.

Craig Robinson is the Anti-Christ in one of three tiny budgeted films from Lionsgate

Studios appear to finally be catching on. With a recent rash of big budgeted flicks either flopping or struggling to earn a profit, the value of smaller scale productions with big earning potential has only increased. Lionsgate has jumped on this idea whole hog, launching a new initiative to create up to ten features a year with budgets of under $2M. Deadline has released the first three movies in this new plan, a couple of which even sound pretty good...

The Agatha Christie estate says Miss Marple deal not done yet

Yesterdayit was reported that Disney had sewn up a deal with the Agatha Christie estate to bring her elderly, spinster detective Miss Marple to the big screen. The plan was to take a fresh approach to the character, bringing in the signifcantly younger Jennifer Garner to play the sleuth. Chorion, the company that owns the Christie rights, told the BBC that the deal isn't quite done yet, despite Disney claiming that it was.

Deadline notes that Christie herself was notoriously posessive and fussy about her characters, with Christie biographer Laura Thompson stating that she "would not have been happy" with Disney's plan to sass Marple up. 

Now that there appears to be some waffling by the estate, is it possible the entire deal could fall through? Would Disney be open to casting someone a bit closer to Miss Marple's age? Someone like say...Helen Mirren? Or Charlotte Rampling? Ok those are just my wishes for the character. We'll have to wait and see how this develops, but suddenly Miss Marple has become very interesting.

Sure Shots: Bill Murray; Melissa Leo; Madagascar spin-off

* I think the time has long since passed that we solely look at Bill Murray as a comedic actor. The guy can do pretty much anything he puts his mind to. A glance at his recent filmography(The Limits of Control, Get Low, City of Ember) show that he's got a wide range of talents. Now he's set to get a little presidential, as he'll be playing Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 32nd President of the United States. The film is Hyde Park on Hudson, written by Richard Nelson, adapting his own 2009 radio play. The film will be directed by Roger Michell(Morning Glory), and focus on the weekend when the British monarchy paid him a visit at his New York home.  Shooting will hopefully begin in July, meaning still no Ghostbusters 3, people!!

* Deadline reports that Melissa Leo, Michael Shannon, Michael C. Hall, and James Marsden are set to star in Dead Circus, a film exploring the mysterious 1966 death of rock star Bobby Fuller. Adam Davenport and John Kaye wrote the script, with Davenport directing. Fuller had a top 10 hit with his song, I Fought the Law(And the Law Won), but was found dead in an automobile soon after. Ruled as an accident or possible suicide, others have speculated murder ever since, with some saying the Manson Family might've been involved. The film will focus on this possibility, with Marsden playing Charles Manson(!!!!) and Melissa Leo as one of his followers(!!!). How awesome does that sound?

* As if the trailer for Mr. Popper's Penguins wasn't aggravating enough, more movies featuring those annoying waddling birds are coming. Y'know those scheming penguins from Dreamworks' animated series, Madagascar? Well they're getting a feature spin-off to go along with their various short films and current Nickelodeon TV series. The as yet untitled film will be written by Megamind scribes, Alan J. Schoolcraft and Brent Simons. Madagascar 3 will be released in June of next year, so expect this to come out some time after that. I'm pretty sure I'll be busy that day with something.

New Pirates of the Caribbean poster features three sexy mermaids

There've been so many character posters for Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides that I'm convinced we'll be seeing the Key Grip in one before the film finally comes out in May. Yet another one has been released, this one featuring three beautiful mermaids who I'm guessing play an integral role in Jack Sparrow's quest to find the Fountain of Youth. Gemma Ward(The Strangers), Astrid Berges-Frisbey(The Sea Wall) play two of the fishy females. The coolest thing about the mermaids is that Jerry Bruckheimer required any actress playing them must have natural breasts. Why? “I don’t think they had breast augmentation in the 1700s." Hey, the man's got a point. No sillicone headlights for this movie!

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides hits theaters in IMAX and 3D on May 20th!

Punch Drunk DVDs

Tangled
Disney celebrates their 50th animated feature with a story that harkens back to their many classic screen fairy tales over the years, yet also takes an innovative visual approach. Mandy Moore voices Rapunzel, a feisty girl with long, ever growing hair. Trapped in a tower by her "mother", she wants nothing more than to see the world for her 18th birthday, and gets that opportunity when the dashing thief, Flynn Ryder(Zachary Levi) crashes into her room.

Trailer Time: True Legend, directed by Yuen Woo-ping

It's been nearly 15 years since Yuen Woo-ping's last directorial effort, the martial arts film Tai Chi Boxer. Woo-ping helped spearhead Jackie Chan's prolific career, with his first two directing gigs being Jackie Chan's Snake in the Eagle's Shadow and Drunken Master. Both? Awesome.  But since 1996 he's focused mainly on fight choreography, assisting in such films as The Matrix, The Forbidden Kingdom, and Ninja Assassin.

Now Woo-ping is back behind the camera for True Legend, a martial arts brouhaha starring Jay Chou(Green Hornet), Michelle Yeoh(Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon), the late David Carradine, and Vincent Zhao(The Blade).  The story revolves around two brothers, one good and one evil with jealousy, who battle it out for family supremacy.  Check out the trailer below, followed by the official plot synopsis. True Legend is due to open in theaters on May 13th!