Casion Royale poster

Got the heads up over at JoBlo.com that the official teaser poster for the next 007 flic Casino Royale has been leaked. Check it out below. It looks...stylish, which seems to be what I'm getting from a lot of the film. More stylish then Mr. Bond has been in his more recent installments. Enjoy.

ANOTHER Iron Man Scriptwriter

Go to any movie news site (JoBlo.com, for instance) and do a search for Iron Man. You're likely to find results detailing movie production status going back for years. Greg's Previews over at Yahoo! Movies has entries dated back to September 2001, detailed a long period of time in which Tom Cruise seemed likely to nab the starring role. More recently, there was a script review for a version that seemed to be a Hulk all over again.

Well, here we go again. Jon Favreau has been signed by Marvel to direct and co-write yet another new version of Iron Man and the film has become a "top priority." Favreau doesn't have an outstanding list of credentials. He directed Elf and Zathura: A Space Adventure, as well as wrote and acted in Swingers. Still, nobody can start out with a big name, and I hope the guy can finally get this movie on its feet.

Tweek Recommends for the Week of April 24-30

Here's the rundown: I take a gander at the upcoming releases for the week, and select one wide and one limited release film. I'll give you a short synopysis of the film and its cast, and why I think it's a winner. Even if the list of options really blows, I'll give you at least one for those of you who just HAVE to see something THIS weekend. Don't worry, if I think even my top choice is going to suck, I'll tell you.

Wide-Release Film
RV- Robin Williams. Robin and his dysfunctional family go for a road trip in an RV, and we can all see where this is going. Williams is great, and usually puts on a good show, but this movie overall looks pretty unspired. I'm only moderately recommending it.

Limited-Release Film
The Lost City- Andy Garcia, Dustin Hoffman, Bill Murray. According to Yahoo! Movies:

During the Cuban Revolution of 1958-59, the three brothers of the Fellove family are ruined: brother Luis supports Castro as a clandestine terrorist and is killed by the forces of Batista; brother Ricardo joins Castro's forces as a freedom fighter and kills himself when he realizes that Castro is just another power-hungry dictator; and wary brother Fico, a nightclub entrepreneur, stays apolitical during the Revolution and sees his life's work confiscated by Castro's puritanical and acquisitive goons.

Sounds intreguing. And it's nice to see some big names taking part in smaller films. I respect that. Acting shouldn't be just about the money. They should do it cause they love it.

Footnote
I could not in good conscience recommend Flight 93 to you guys this week. For those who don't know, it's a movie about the plane that didn't make it to DC on 9/11 and crashed in a field. I completely respect the opinion of those who think it's too soon or simply don't with to relive it. That said, I heard the early review by Ebert and Roper, and they say nothing is dramatized at all. You don't learn any back story for any of the characters, there's no big moments of suspense. The movie starts, and what you get is a nearly real-time representation of events without exploiting or dramatizing the story. You see what these people did in these 2 hours, not what they've done their entire lives. If you were thinking about seeing this one, I say you should.

Scolding My Followers

I'm officially telling you guys to stop seeing Scary Movie 4. It only dropped one spot this week to #2 at the box office. What did manage to overcome to take the first place last weekend was Silent Hill. No real surprise there, as any decent horror movie seems to get first lace for at least a week, and this one looked more then decent. My pick, The Sentenial made it to number 3. C'mon you guys, you have to do better then that. Though I have to admit, there was some tough competition this week.

Sorry for this being so late. Blogger has been giving me some fits.

Some...Odd Narnia Plans

Plans for the future of The Chronicals of Narnia series were recently outlined in "Entertainment Weekly." The next installment in the seris is going to be Prince Caspian, a rather short book that is proving difficult to adapt and may be pushed until Winter of 2008. After that, the studio is going to make The Voyage of the 'Dawn Treader' and The Silver Chair, creating "an interlocking trilogy that will be shot in that order." So, books two, four, five and six are going to be made, with one, three and seven left out in the cold for now.

Star Trek XI Begins It's Journey

Paramount has hired the co-creators of "LOST," JJ Abrams and Damon Lindelof, to direct a new Star Trek film. Abrams will also write the film with his co-writers from M:I:III. Paramount wants a release to be ready in two years time. This movie is going to go WAY back, and focus on Kirk's early days at the Academy. I've read a script review for a Trek film of this premise. Warning, there are **SPOILERS** in the review.

My opinion of the review: eh. I'm a Star Trek fan, and the reviewer says the movie really captures the essence of the Star Trek spirit, whatever that means. But the storyline failed to really grab me or give me any, "THAT ROCKS!!" moments. What it did have was a lot of cheese-ball, Hollywood only meetings and chance encounters. Still, Abrams is one hell of a story teller, and I'm willing to give him a chance. I'll keep you posted.

Thermopylae + Sin City = F*$^%ng Sweet

I browsed back a bit to see if I'd mentioned this, and realized that I dropped the ball. So, here it is. Those responsible for the kick-ass blood fest that was Sin City are making about movie about the infamous Battle of Thermopylae. For those that don't know this tale (probably my fav historial account), a Spartan army realizes it's doomed against the thousands upon thousands (an estimated 2.6 million fighting men, plus support. Some more reasonable estimates extrapolated from earlier accounts of the same man who gave the 2.5 mil number place this number between 500,000 and 1.5 million) of invading Persians. They run back to warn the main forces and organize a defense, leaving 300 elite Spartan troops and a few older men from other nations behind the delay the invading force. These 300 took a stand in a narrow passage between a sheer rock face and a straight drop to the ocean, a pass "so narrow two chariots could barely move abreast. So 300 men against at least a million. 300 men with nothing to do but stare death in the face and hope to delay it long enough to save their country.

Here's where it gets good.

After scouts saw how small the Greek force was, and their naked calestinics, Xerxes (leader of ther Persians) figured they'd just disband, and hung around for 4 days. On day 5, the battle began. The greeks went wall to wall shields, long spears pointed out. This was enough to prevent short spears and arrows from doing any good. Persian armor was also relatively light, which made those long spears good weapons against those who cam in close enough. The Greeks would fake a retreat, then turn around right back in formation. Ancient historians said that the Persian arrows blotted out the sun, but they still got their asses kicked. On day two, Xerxes sent his Persian Immortals to take care of business. The Greeks cleaned their clocks. Things were looking good. The narrow pass made it impossible for the Persians to take advantage of their large numbers, and the Greeks just plain kicked ass. It was looking like this laughable force of 300 soldiers had a shot at winning.

But, of course, there's a bastard in all this. The truely great stories never have the simple good vs. bad conflict. The superb stories also deal with decent from within. A Spartan traiter snuck out and informed the Persians of a secret passage through the mountain that lead around behind the Spartans. The Persians exploited this knowledge, surrouned the enemy, and it was all but over. Still, even when their leader had fallen, the Spartan army fought to the last man to protect his body rather then surrender. Every last Spartan fought to the death, never giving in even when all was hopeless.

The battle was enough for Greece to rally an opposition and ultimately drive out the Persians, using the bravery shown at Thermopylae as inspiration.

Enter Frank Miller, graphic novel writer (Sin City, Batman: Year One, The Dark Knight Returns).

300 is the story of those Spartans who died at Thermopylae. It will use a similiar graphic style as Sin City. The actors even had to endure combat training as the Spartans did back in the day. You can check out the offical site here, including concept art, video diaries, and a production blog. The movie is set to release Spring, 2007.

Sorry if the history lesson bored you. Can you tell I love the story?

WWII Comic Adaption

WWII adventure comic "Sgt. Rock" is now slated to become a movie. Here's the sum from Dark Horizons.

Sgt. Frank Rock was the leader of his infantry unit, Easy Company. He first appeared in a 1959 issue of "Our Army at War." In 1977, with the character's steadily rising popularity, the comic was renamed "Sgt. Rock" and ran until 1988.

Sounds interesting. I'm gonna keep my eyes and ears tuned to this one.

X3: Online

X3: The Last Stand has got its offical website online, and it's pretty kick-ass. I havn't gotton to explore it all yet, but it's sweet. Check it out at x-menthelaststand.com.

Tweek Recommends for the week of April 17-23

Here's the rundown: I take a gander at the upcoming releases for the week, and select one wide and one limited release film. I'll give you a short synopysis of the film and its cast, and why I think it's a winner. Even if the list of options really blows, I'll give you at least one for those of you who just HAVE to see something THIS weekend. Don't worry, if I think even my top choice is going to suck, I'll tell you.

Wide-Release Film
The Sentenial- Michael Douglas, Keifer Sutherland. Douglas starts an investigation into a possible traiter in the United States Secret Service. Sutherland is put in charge of the investigation, an investigation that leads back to Douglas. Looks really sweet. Check out the trailer here. Though I have to say, tough to go wrong this week. Looks like three solid films coming out. Still, this one, in my opinion, tops them all.

Limited-Release Film
The Celestine Prophecy- Yahoo! says: "Based on the book, a man tracks down an ancient Peruvian manuscript containing prophecy of a New Age of spirituality." Don't know a lot about this, but the other two look like they suck. This one doesn't seem much better. A "Da Vince Code" knockoff if you ask me. Here is the trailer.

The Weekend: (Kinda) Praising My Followers

This week, you guys listened to me, unfortunately, and made Scary Movie 4 numero uno at the box office. After that, Ice Age: The Meltdown dropped one spot to take #2. The Benchwarmers, The Wild, and Take the Lead rounded out the top 5 this weekend. Good job, kinda. I wish you'd listen to me on a week when I actually recommend a good movie. But, I can't be too harsh. I did recommend it after all.

The Da Vinci Quest

Linked to above, Google has teamed up with Sony and Bob Langdon to reveal "The Da Vinci Code Quest." A puzzle a day for the next 24 days, with the chance to win prizes (of course), like a trip to New York, London, Rome and Paris. The other mentioned prize is a "Colossal Sony Electronics Package." The total value of all prizes is "over $100,000", which rally doesn't tell us anything at all about what they're giving away. Anyway, it's linked to above, or I'll put the link again here just in case you don't know what that means. You'll need a Google account, 'cause the puzzles pop up on your Google homepage.

Terri Shiavo: The Movie?!?!

Without getting into a political debate, I just want to say how rediculous this is. And while I would love to go on a huge rant about how Hollywood is willing to take advantage of anything and sink to the lowest filth just to make a couple buck, I can't. You can't blame Hollywood too much if this one gets made. According to joblo.com:

Her husband, who a lot of people came to detest throughout that whole controversy, has sold their life rights to a group of producers including Lawrence Bender (Pulp Fiction) to be adapted into an upcoming movie. Michael Schiavo has sold the feature rights to his upcoming memoir "Terri: The Truth," co-written by Michael Hirsch, to the producers (which include the producers of PATCH ADAMS...) who look to now sell the story to a studio before proceeding with attaching any talent, including a writer to adapt the book.

This is a film that should never get made. It's all over people. Let the issue, and Terri, rest in peace.

A WHOLE SPIDEY 3 WEBSITE...

..DEDICATED TO THE SAME PICTURE WE'VE ALREADY SEEN!!! Yes, there is a new website for Spider-man 3. No, it shows us absolutely nothing new. Don't get me wrong, it's a really kick-ass picture. It was certainly enough to get me excited (ooooo, Venom). However, this is not major development. If you need your daily dose of Black-Spidey, check it out over here in all it's semi-animated glory. I'll keep my eyes and ears peeled and let you know when more stuff hits the site.

Tweek Recommends for the Week of April 10- 16

Here's the rundown: I take a gander at the upcoming releases for the week, and select one wide and one limited release film. I'll give you a short synopysis of the film and its cast, and why I think it's a winner. Even if the list of options really blows, I'll give you at least one for those of you who just HAVE to see something THIS weekend. Don't worry, if I think even my top choice is going to suck, I'll tell you.

Wide-Release Film
Scary Movie 4- Dr. Phil, Shaq, Wayans Bros., some other unimportant people. Please, I'm begging you skip this section. Don't read this, then I can't be too angry at you. Go back to last weeks recommendations and pretend it's brand new and make it #1 at the Box Office. Or better yet, check out the limited-release flic below. If you want to see what is probably the only funny part in the entire movie, just watch the trailer here. (I admit, it's a cheap gag, but I laughed at Phil).

Limited-Release Film
Hard Candy- SEE THIS MOVIE AT ALL COSTS!!! This was a huge hit at all of the film festivals accross the country. A 15-year-old girl gets sucked in by an internet predator. They meet, he takes her to his house, he has this whole photo shoot thing set up. But in the end, who's really stalking who? This looks uber-awesome. I really wish this one was out near me somewhere, but alas. Damn theatres. They'd make more money if they'd open themselves up and take a gamble every now and then. Most good movies these days most people will never see because they aren't backed by a major motion picture company. But that's a different rant. Make this movie #1. Show those big shots that the little guy (or girl) has a chance too!! Watch the trailer and be sucked in here.

The Weekend: Scolding My Followers

This is going to be part deux of my new features. I've got my new feature, "Tweek Recommends," coming out on Mondays telling you what to go see this week. This part is going to be me scolding or praising my followers, depending on how my recommendation fared.

For week number one, my followers get a harsh beating at my hands. I told you to go see Lucky Number Slevin, and instead you flocked like blind sheep to put Ice Age 2: The Meltdown in the top spot for the second week.

Adding insult to injury, The Benchwarmers were the second place spot. I can't belive you let yourselves be seduced by that Napaleon Dynamite kid. He seriously has only one facial expression: the "I'm dumb, not funny, and can't act" expression.

To make matters worse, you let Antonio Bandares waltz his way into #3 for the weekend with Take the Lead. Dancing, I mean, come on.

Finally, #4 was... NOT Lucky!! The week-old Inside Man was up here yet again. To be fair, this is one that would've been on my "Tweek Recommends" column if I'd had one two weeks ago.

It isn't until we look way down the list to number 5 that we finally see Lucky Number Slevin. Come my followers, you must do better. We must flock to see what I tell you to see. Now, proceed down the hall to the dungeon on the left for your severe beating with a cat-of-nine-tales. Oh, and don't talk to Brutus, he will bite.

A Web of Stars

So, I really want to know what exactly Nickelodeon paid to get this movie made. Their live-action adaption/remake of Charlotte's Web features Academy Award Winners Julia Roberts (as Charlotte), Kathy Bates and Robert Redford, Academy Award Nominees John Cleese, Oparah Winfrey and Thomas Haden Church AND non-decorated actors Dakota Fanning, Steve Buscemi, Cedric the Entertainer, Reba McEntire and Andre Benjamin.

So I can't really speak for content, but this one sure has talent behind it. Should be an excellent kids movie. You can check out the teaser for it here.

EDIT: Jennifer Garner will also be voicing a character in the flic.

Tweek Recommends for the Week of April 3-9

So, I'm going to start a new weekly feature here. Welcome to "Tweek Recommends." I'm going to pick at least one movie a week to recommend to those movie-goers for the upcomming week. I'll usually try to do this on Mondays, but I just got the idea so this time it starts on a Tuesday.

Here's the rundown: I take a gander at the upcoming releases for the week, and select one wide and one limited release film. I'll give you a short synopysis of the film and its cast, and why I think it's a winner. Even if the list of options really blows, I'll give you at least one for those of you who just HAVE to see something THIS weekend. Don't worry, if I think even my top choice is going to suck, I'll tell you.

Whad' ya say we dive right in to our first installment.

Wide-Release Film
Lucky Number Slevin- Josh Harnett, Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, Sir Ben Kingsley, Lucy Liu. What seperates this movie from the competators is class. Now, I know some of you may jump right down my throat thinking that Take the Lead has lots of class. How can it not, it's about dancing. Different kind of class. I'm talking a classy film like Ocean's 11, or it's (disappointing) sequel. Take the classy dialogue and feel of that film and stamp that on a mobster film. Slevin (Harnett) finds himself mistakenly pulled into a mob war between The Boss (Freeman) and The Rabbi (Kingsley). The infamous assassin Goodkat (Willis) makes Slevin his new target. Slevin has to outsmart all sides to get himself outta all this mess, along side some random girl (Liu). You can check out the trailer for yourself here.

Limited-Release Film
Free Zone- Natalie Portman. Unlike some weeks, I really don't know a whole lot about this film. So, I'm gonna put up a plot summary I found here.

A Jewish-American woman still reeling from her breakup with her Spanish fiancée hits the road with a middle-aged Israeli woman, who is looking to collect the 30,000-dollar debt owed to her by her husband's former business partner, and a Palestinian woman, who claims to know the elusive moneyman's whereabouts, in this road-trip drama from Kippur director Amos Gitai. In her efforts to escape the painful memory of her breakup with former fiancée Julio (Aki Avni), Rebecca (Natalie Portman) agrees to accompany Hanna (Hanna Laslo) on her arduous journey through Israel to the Free Zone -- a tax- and customs-free region where those from countries at war with one another amiably buy and sell cars -- in hopes of collecting a large debt owed to her by her ailing husband's business partner known only as "The American." When Hanna and Rebecca finally arrive in the Free Zone only to discover that Hanna's contact and money have mysteriously gone missing, a Palestinian woman named Leila (Hiam Abbass) agrees to lead the skeptical Hanna to both "The American" and Hanna's rightly due cash.

Enjoy your week at the movies.

The Future of Home Entertainment is Here...For a Premium

Today, six major movie studios announced their intent to begin selling movies through online downloading services, specifically Movielink and Cinema Now. The studios that announced their participation were Warner Bros, Universal, Sony, Paramount, Fox, and MGM. That pretty much covers the spectrum. Movies from these services can be burnt to DVDs, but those will only play on computers authorized by the particular service.

Now, let's talk numbers. Average DVD cost today- somewhere around $15. Little more for new releases, little less for some of the "oldie but a goodie" labeled movies, WAY less for the cult classics. Well, using this service, you're gonna pay between $10 and $20 smackeroos for the older movies. New releases: somewhere in the range of $20-$30. WAY too much.

I've also failed to cover the upcoming release of titles being released on HD discs, which will only play in HD DVD players. $30ish bucks per title. I've seen players for as low as $200, but I not from any big name distributers. Trust a general price closer to $500-$1000.

It gets worse. A format war has begun.

HD DVD has a rival. The Sony-developed Blu-ray. This is another High Defination formatted disc, which ALSO requires its own player. The players are set right now to cost around $1,000, with titles going for either $30 or $40 depending on what you choose of the very limited selection.

Both of these formats keep getting delayed (HD DVD was originally supposed to be released on March, 28. Wal-Mart and Best Buy had even already been taking pre-orders). Both of these have release dates staring mid-April/May now.

Here's why this sucks.
1. WAY to expensive for most of us mere mortals to afford.
2. The HUGE VHS library I still have at home that doesn't have a DVD counterpart.
3. The format war. Now you have two different, exclusive formats competing for the majority market. Whichever one wins, that leaves the other camp as MAJOR losers. They would've already invested so much money in one format, and all for naught.

Why can't we all just get along? C'mon, give us one format, or at least players that will support both, and for MUCH cheaper. There's no excuse for these titles to cost that much. It's a piece of plastic, let's be honest. And there's no way you can convice me it costs half of what their charging to produce these. If they really want their format to win, they should get these these prices down to normal DVD standard. C'mon industry. Rally behind one standard and get those prices down. In te end, you're only pissing off the consumer and promoting the pirating you bitch aboutu so much.

The only good news: Windows Vista (*cough* buy Mac *cough*) will natively support both formats.

Simpson's Teaser and Plot

I've found a link to one of the movie teasers on YouTube. Check it out here.

Also, and take this news as very much rumor with no certain basis in fact, the plot has been leaked to be about Homer screwing up (duh!) and causing a dome to be built around the city limits of Springfield.

Ponder.

EDIT: It's been taken down in that particular instance. Updated link here. If that starts to fail, just search for "Simpsons teaser."

EDIT: It now has a permant home at Apple. Watch it here.

Superman 3-D

About 20 minutes of Superman Returns in IMAX is going to be converted using their 3-D technology, the first ever Hollywood movie to get this treatment. Personally, with or without 3-D, if you get the chance to see a theatrical release in IMAX, do it. I saw Batman Begins in IMAX and it was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. It really is an awe-inspiring experience. Being in 3-D will only make it that much more awesome. This is definately an exciting development. Too bad the Louisville IMAX near me only ever shows science movies.

DOH!!!

America's favorite idiot is coming to the big screen for the first time, along with all of his family. The Simpsons has two different teasers that hit theaters friday attached to Ice Age 2: The Meltdown. But be warned, only about 2 in 3 showings of the movie will have one of the two teasers. So I wouldn't advise going to see this solely for the Simpsons. This news was (mostly) kept a secret until Friday, as FOX only told the world of a "secret" trailer. It's not online yet, but I'll be sure to let you know as soon as I find it.