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Thursday, July 24, 2003
Batman Fanflick by professional filmmakers
A small group of professional filmmakers made a short film called Batman: Dead End, apparently without the cooperation of Warner Bros. It's the best live-action Batman I've seen in quite some time, even if there isn't much of a story and the franchise crossovers border on overkill.
Clark Bartram is Batman, with Andrew Koenig as the Joker. (Koenig is particularly good, even given some hokey dialogue.) I also like the minimalist Batman costume, especially when they obviously had the means to produce something more elaborate.
Watch Batman: Dead End in Quicktime here (about 40 MB).
posted by Christopher 6:00 AM | Comments
FoyWonder's News Roundup for July 24, 2003
Good morning, Mr. & Mrs. Fanboy and all the geeks at sea…let’s go to press!
In news that should horrify Dragonball fans everywhere, there’s a very strong possibility that the man who helped screw up GODZILLA beyond imagination may end up in the director’s chair for the DRAGONBALL Z live action movie. Yes, IMDB has Roland Emmerich listed as the film’s director. This fact has not been confirmed by anyone out of Hollywood just yet but just the fact that IMDB has him listed as the film’s director is a significant development not to mention a terrifying prospect.
In much better directing news, IGN FilmForce says that Michael Bay has officially withdrawn his name as a contender to direct the live-action TRANSFORMERS movie. Seems he’ll be too busy with other projects. Thank God!
In the “I’ll believe it when it actually happens” department, the website Wing Kong reports that screenwriter Corey Mitchell spoke with producer Debra Hill and director John Carpenter last week about the prospects of making BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA 2. Seems Carpenter would love to make a sequel to the uber-popular cult classic assuming a suitable screenplay can be concocted. Kurt Russell is also said to be interested and there’s even talk of approaching Jackie Chan to co-star. I’d love to see this happen but I think we all know how horribly wrong things went the last time Carpenter and Russell teamed up to do a sequel to one of their classic movies. Keep your fingers crossed for this one.
(Wing Kong has since removed sequel information pending "clarification on the details." -Ed.)
Looks like the next Marvel Comics movie to get out the gates will be DEATHLOK. Now that DIE ANOTHER DAY director Lee Tamahori has officially signed on to direct, production will begin in the very near future. As previously reported here, the plot of the movie will reportedly have virtually nothing in common with the actual Marvel Comic. In fact, the movie’s plot is being described as “a cross between ROBOCOP and THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE.” Oh, let me take a wild guess. A soldier dies and is brought back as a robot assassin programmed to kill someone extremely powerful but the human side rebels against his computer programming and soon the cyborg is out to stop his creators? Don’t know for sure but I bet that’s what they have in mind.
Everybody get your axes because there’s a new musical on the way that needs to be hacked to death pronto! GREASE director Randal Kleiser will return to the musical genre to make a big screen musical version of LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD. Starring in this wolf in sheep’s clothing will be N’Sync’s Joey Fatone, Debi Mazar, Lainie Kazan, and Elvira herself, Cassandra Peterson. Personally, I think I’ll just stick with K. Gordon Murray’s Mexican musical version from the sixties. If it doesn’t have Stinky the Skunk in it then I don’t wanna see it!
Speaking of big, bad wolves, just how cursed is the new Wes Craven werewolf flick CURSED? So cursed that producers Miramax shut down the production after seeing some dailies they hated and didn’t let production continue until a new ending was written. Whether or not that solved the film’s supposed problems remains to be seen.
Unnecessary remake time! Adam Sandler’s Happy Madison production company is going to remake Burt Reynolds’ 1974 hit THE LONGEST YARD for Paramount. The original movie cast Reynolds as a former quarterback doing time for shaving points in a game. In jail, the warden asks him organize a team of inmates to play against a team of prison guards and tries to bribe him into to throwing the game in exchange for an early release. The good news is that Sandler will not star in the remake. The bad news is that Paramount is also partnering up with MTV films for this one and plan to cast the film with “urban music stars” and somehow the internet will play a key role in the film. How the internet will play a key role in a prison film about football and self-esteem is something to be left to the filmmakers who are obviously wiser than all of us put together.
The last thing the world needs is more Martin Laurence comedies but it looks like we’re going to get more. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Laurence has signed on to star in RAGE CONTROL, a family comedy about as a legendary college basketball coach who, after a public meltdown, gets fired and is forced to coach a losing junior varsity team. Oh, no! It’s a black Bobby Knight comedy spliced with a MIGHTY DUCKS-style children’s sports flick. The only thing that sounds funny about this is the fact that a guy who once had a public meltdown himself that involved standing on a street corner, yelling, and waving a gun at passing motorists is about to star in a movie called RAGE CONTROL about a guy who experiences a public meltdown.
Those waiting to see the Ben Affleck/Jennifer Lopez disaster GIGLI (All reports so far indicate this one may be the year’s worst film yet!) will have to wait at least 2 more days as the film has been bumped from July 30th to August 1st. Why? I don’t know. 48 hours won’t make a difference with this one.
The Hollywood Reporter reveals that boy bander Joey McIntyre and AMERICAN PSYCHO 2 star Mila Kunis will star in a big screen adaptation of the long-running interactive theater production TONY ‘N’ TINA’S WEDDING. Ick! Hell, most people on the planet would have never even heard of this play if not for the Howard Stern show. If this thing gets a theatrical release as opposed to going straight-to-video then I’ll be shocked!
Finally today, James Brolin will play former President Ronald Reagan in an upcoming CBS miniseries called THE REAGANS. No word yet on whether or not Brolin’s real-life spouse and militant liberal Barbera Streisand will cameo as would-be Reagan assassin John Hinckley.
–Scott Foy
posted by Christopher 5:13 AM | Comments
Hammer to rise again... again?
Both Fangoria and Variety report that the long dormant Hammer Studios is attempting to come to life yet again. New movies and remakes are planned as well as numerous multi-media projects. But will it happen, really? Only time will tell.
–Chad H. "Chadzilla" Saxelid
posted by Christopher 4:58 AM | Comments
Tuesday, July 22, 2003
Obituary - Matt Jeffries
Matt Jeffries, art director for the original Star Trek TV series and designer of the now-classic "saucer" design of the starship Enterprise, passed away on Monday. He was 82. His name will live on in the countless Trek episodes that refer to "Jeffries Tubes," the interconnecting tunnels that allow engineers to access the guts of the fictional spaceships.
Read about Jeffries' life and work at StarTrek.com.
posted by Christopher 4:37 AM | Comments
DUDE, WHERE'S MY "FIREWALKER" REMAKE?
The first trailer for THE RUNDOWN (previously known as both WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE and HELLDORADO) went online this morning and boy does it look lame. THE RUNDOWN stars The Rock, who, from the looks of this movie, is about as close to becoming the next Schwarzenegger as I am, and Seann William Scott, fresh off his Oscar-caliber performance in BULLETPROOF MONK. This “action buddy comedy” (3 words I have come to fear when used in that order) involves a jungle, a stolen treasure, a slumming Christopher Walken, and tons of allegedly witty banter. If it’s half as lame as it looks, not to mention the mediocre response it got from early test screenings, then it should prove a real treat for hardcore bad movie fans. Seriously, did I actually see The Rock doing some wire fu for a second there? Yikes! You’ll have to wait until September 26th to experience the magic that is The People’s Champion and Stifler together at last when THE RUNDOWN runs into theaters, and most likely right out of them just as fast, but for now you can see the trailer for yourself by clicking right here.
–Scott Foy
posted by Christopher 4:37 AM | Comments
Monday, July 21, 2003
News bytes for July 21, 2003
Reader Joe Littrell passes on a couple of tidbits:
July 19 was the thirtieth anniversary of Bruce Lee's death in 1973. CNN has a rather interesting article which includes the whereabouts and eventual fate of Lee's former home in Hong Kong.
Also, the News-Press' Mark Krzos has a short primer on cult film, which helps to promote Liquid Cafe's Cult Movie Night in Fort Myers, FL.
posted by Christopher 7:04 AM | Comments
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