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Friday, November 22, 2002
Thank God It’s Friday!
If Ain’t It Cool News is correct, then Jim Caviezel is set to don the cape and tights of the Man of Steel. Caviezel, best know for starring roles in FREQUENCY, ANGEL EYES, and as Jesus in Mel Gibson 100% dead language movie about the life of Christ, is heavily rumored to be director Brett Ratner’s pick to play SUPERMAN. So Superman is only going to be 5’8” tall? Are there no tall actors in Hollywood anymore? Also, an Australian newpaper has reported that the latest feature film of the superhero who stands for truth, justice, and the American way will be filmed on location in the land Down Under. Oh, the irony.
 Take a look at that little pic. His name is Ingo Rademacher. If you watch GENERAL HOSPITAL, then you already know that. Superhero Hype has an inside source that claims that the Australian hunk will be playing one of the two villains in the next SPIDER-MAN flick. Well, since it has been widely reported that the villains are going to be Doctor Octopus and The Lizard, he must be playing one or the other. Can you envision this guy as Dr. Octavius? Me neither. Can you picture him as Dr. Curt Connors, who later mutates in a reptilian humanoid? Possibly. Personally, I think he grew his hair out and dyed it black he would be dead-on perfect to play Dr. Michael Morbius aka Morbius, The Living Vampire.
Well, if the tidal wave of comic books making their way to the big screen wasn’t overwhelming enough, now comic strips are getting into the game too! Get ready for a live-action version of GARFIELD. According to The Hollywood Reporter, live actors will be mingling in a ROGER RABBIT-style with the title feline and his dimwitted cohort, Odie. Peter Hewitt has been given the director’s chair. You may or may no know him as the director of BILL & TED’S BOGUS JOURNEY, ABC’s WILD PALMS miniseries, and for the obscure farting comedy THUNDERPANTS.
A site called Bloody Disgusting has a description of the first teaser trailer for FREDDY VS. JASON that will be attached to prints of the next installment of the LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy. "It will start with Freddy's theme and a camera is twirling around the hockey mask and then when the mask is in the center of the screen the glove will come crashing through". I’m sure it will look more spectacular than it sounds.
In what can only be described as a surprising turn of events, the Wayans Brothers are no longer involved with the latest installment of the SCARY MOVIE franchise. Instead, David (AIRPLANE, THE NAKED GUN) Zucker will return to the genre he helped create in the first place as will be sitting in the director’s chair when filming begins in March. Hey, maybe this one will actually be funny for a change? If so, he might wanna start by changing the film’s title, which currently is SCARY MOVIE 3: EPISODE 1 – LORD OF THE BROOMS. Yes, that is exactly what the Wayans Brothers planned to call it!
And finally today, if you head over to IFILM right now, they have 5 minutes of footage from STAR TREK: NEMESIS online for fans to view. Seems word of mouth on this one so far is pretty good and Paramount is hoping this one will have the same kind of crossover appeal that WRATH OF KHAN and THE VOYAGE HOME had. We’ll have to wait and see, but you can check out 300+ seconds of footage for yourself right now.
–Scott Foy
posted by Christopher 6:54 AM | Comments
Wednesday, November 20, 2002
Good morning, Mr. & Mrs. Fanboy and all the geeks at sea…let’s go to press!
According to a report on Ain’t It Cool News, Warner Brothers wants to make a LETHAL WEAPON 5. No shocker there except for the fact that they are considering making it minus Mel Gibson, who has stated he’s done with the series. Danny Glover has already agreed to star in the project because, well, let’s be honest, it’s not like he really has many high paying movie roles offered to him that much these days. Seems Warner Brothers wants the sequel to focus on Danny “Like I’ve got anything better to do!” Glover coming out of retirement to avenge the murder of his long-time partner, Mel “Well, I do have better things to do!” Gibson. If you can think of a worse idea, the folks at Warner Brothers would probably consider making it! Maybe next they’ll make another DIE HARD only with Bruce Willis’ estranged wife fighting the terrorists who finally succeeded in killing her husband?
The "unnecessary remake of the week" award goes to Paramount for their plans to remake John Frankenheimer’s classic 1962 thriller THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE. On the plus side, Denzel Washington will be playing the role originally played by Frank Sinatra so there may be some hope of it actually being good. Still, this is not a film crying out for a remake.
And our unnecessary feature film version of an old TV show award for the week goes to Universal, who according to Dark Horizons, is in talks with Jim Carrey to star as agent Maxwell Smart in GET SMART. Nothing they do will ever surpass the genius that was THE NUDE BOMB.
After completing the cinematic masterpiece that will be SCARY MOVIE 3, the Wayans brothers will stupefy moviegoers yet again with a similar comedy based around science fiction films such as ID4 and SIGNS. Wanna bet the SIGNS spoofage will include aliens that blow pot smoke out of their wrists? According to Moviehole, four different studios are in a high stakes bidding war to get the rights to produce this latest Wayans assault on mankind. $10 says they end of calling the film SCI-FI MOVIE.
Speaking of unfunny comedies we don’t want, Rob Schneider has signed on to star in DEUCE BIGELOW II. Every time Rob Schneider makes a movie an angel loses it wings.
It appears Keanu Reeves must have taken a hard kick to the head while filming the sequels to THE MATRIX. That might explain why Dark Horizons is reporting that that Mr. Reeves has stated that he would like to do another Bill & Ted movie with himself and Alex Winter playing the characters in their 40s. Umm…no, Keanu, please don’t! On the plus side, Keanu does have enough frame of mind to know that remaking BILLY JACK is a bad idea and has dropped out of the project.
The king of all coolness himself, Bruce Campbell, has gone on the record saying there is no validity to the rumors of him playing The Lizard in the next SPIDER-MAN movie going so far as to describe it all as “fanboy crap.” He will be in the movie, but in a much smaller role. Personally, I say cast him as Lightmaster and have him get his butt kicked before the opening credits, but then nobody ever listens to me.
According to Variety, Nicholas Cage will be playing IRON MAN in a feature film of the Marvel Comics character. According to Total Film, Nicholas Cage will be playing SWAMP THING in a remake of the 1980 Wes Craven version of the DC Comic. Who to believe? Who cares? Either way, this brings the total number of comic book movie adaptations that Nicholas Cage’s name has been attached to somewhere in the vicinity of 4,368! Why don’t they just do a movie version of FRED HEMBECK DESTROYS THE MARVEL UNIVERSE with Cage playing every single superhero and villain and get it over with already?
 Moving to the boob tube, as has been reported by various web sources, The WB has all but put BIRDS OF PREY out of its misery so expect official cancellation notification any day now. On the other hand, it seems Fox is willing to stick with the ailing FIREFLY and has ordered more scripts. ABC, on the other hand, remains clueless as they are once again teaming up with the producer’s of THE BACHELOR to produce the new reality game show, “ARE YOU HOT?” in which viewers will pick the sexiest man and woman in America. However, it would appear that HBO has them all beat when they unveil CATHOUSE following the season finale of THE SOPRANOS. In this documentary-style reality show, hidden cameras have been set up inside a real-life Nevada brothel for our entertainment. Remember when there was a time when we could all actually make fun of Japanese TV for being loopy?
For everyone who has been waiting to find out what the all CGI Incredible Hulk will look like won’t have to wait too much longer. Superhero Hype reports says that Universal has the big green guy will be revealed to the world for the first time in all his glory when the new trailer for Ang Lee’s THE HULK premieres during the Super Bowl. Will it look real? Will it look like Lou Ferrigno? Will it look like the prototype action figures that were unveiled last month? If so, does that mean that the Hulk himself will spend most of the movie running around buck naked? These questions and more may or may not be answered on Jan 26th, 2003 when the Super Bowl airs on ABC.
–Scott Foy
posted by Christopher 8:01 AM | Comments
Tuesday, November 19, 2002
Wanna be a star?
Cloud Ten Pictures is holding open auditions for their to-be-aired-in-Canada TV series version of Left Behind, the end-times-bestsellers-turned-hit movies. They like hyping it as a blending of The West Wing and 24 with Left Behind (the setting is behind the scenes in Anti-Christ Nicolae Carpathia's Global Community Government). NO ACTING EXPERIENCE NEEDED!!! Auditions are currently to be held December 13th and 14th in Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Philadelphia, Toronto, and Montreal. Check out www.cloudtenpictures.com for further info and the chance to vote for an audition location. I voted for San Francisco, :) !
Blue Underground DVD has announced the Gary Sherman's cult shocker Dead & Buried will get a stateside release from them on November 4th, alongside the notorious Fight for Your Life (aka I Hate Your Guts) and forgotten slasher flick Bloodrage. Trailers and poster/still galleries are the only extras at this time, but more may be added. The Piers Haggard snake thriller Venom will also slither onto shelves Sept. 2, courtesy of our friends at Blue Underground. Their website also reports that cult actress Lynn Lowry (I Drink Your Blood, Shivers, and the 1982 Cat People) was snagged for an on camera interview about her work on Romero's The Crazies.
–Chad H. "Chadzilla" Saxelid
posted by Christopher 7:30 AM | Comments
Actor James Coburn dies
James Coburn, best known for roles in The Magnificent Seven and tongue-in-cheek spy thrillers Our Man Flint and In Like Flint, died Monday at the age of 74. B-movie fans will remember him not only as Flint, but also as a perpetual heavy in Westerns and thrillers like Charade. Further adding to his b-movie cred, Coburn was a student of Bruce Lee and the second unit director on shlock fave Convoy. Read the CNN article.
So long, Flint.
posted by Christopher 4:44 AM | Comments
Monday, November 18, 2002
Reader Joe Littrell points out a couple of articles of interest:
• First, the sad news that Nathan Juran (director of such films as 20 Million Miles to Earth and The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad ) passed away at the age of 95. Read more at The Guardian.
• Also, the Miami Herald recently published this article about a gathering of the original actors from The Creature from the Black Lagoon at the state park in Wakulla Springs where the creature's underwater scenes were shot. (All of the action above the water's surface was filmed on a back lot in California.)
Thanks Joe!
posted by Christopher 8:44 AM | Comments
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