Silent Bob

Oh god yes, I've been praying for the return of Veronica Mars for a long time. I miss her. We used to be friends... :(

Some more Iron Man II casting tidbits, Tim Robbins is being tapped to play Tony's father, Howard Stark, in flashbacks for the film. And British actress Emily Blunt is the frontrunner to play the role of Black Widow. Also, due to "economic issues" (read: he's asking for too much money) Marvel has been unable to negotiate a deal with Samuel L. Jackson to reprise his cameo role as Nick Fury in any more films. Whether this will be resolved later, and the effect it might have on casting for Iron Man II, The Avengers and the proposed Nick Fury film, is yet to be seen.

I still see Drinky Duck. Thank god.

Ditto. It's nice to have a logo that fits the page, though.

Some Iron Man 2 casting news. Mickey Rourke has joined the cast playing The Crimson Dynamo. Rumor is that the storyline involving his character will also introduce the Black Window in the Marvel film universe. Word is that Sam Rockwell has also signed on to play Justin Hammer. Now it's been a while since I read an Iron Man comic, but I always thought Hammer was older, but it'd be cool if they turn him into kinda the anti-Stark, which is what casting Rockwell would seem to indicate. Justin Theroux is still working on the script so all characters and casting rumors are subject to change if the story does.

Eh. I can see it on the surface, but Early (the assassin from the series) was all about getting into people's heads and pushing their buttons and playing power games (I always thought it was implied that he was a mild Reader, like River). The Operative was simply cold efficiency all the way through. There were similarities but their personalities were very different. I think the Operative of the film was actually meant to remind you of Shepherd Book more than anyone else.

Yeah, I guess you could say it was an amalgam of the sensibilities of del Toro and Mignola (with Mignola's complete input and blessing) but Hellboy himself was still Hellboy. I dunno, I don't care much when a movie differs from the book it was based on as long as it makes sense for the movie. The other thing I can see. But it felt like Part 2 of a trilogy to me, so I was ok with that too.

Ok, seriously, what do you all have against Hellboy II? I loved the thing.

I nominate Gerard Butler.

I'm really not too up in arms about the fact that it's Buck Rogers, just the fact that Frank Miller is being allowed to force his own unique (read: shitty and self-indulgent) on another project that isn't his. It was ok with Sin City because Sin City was his and that's what Sin City is about.

I assume you're asking if I'm joking about Buck Rogers, because I certainly feel no shock about The Spirit being a bad film. But if it's about Buck Rogers, no, sorry, not joking.

Well reviews are starting to pop up for The Spirit. For once, I hate being right. Variety - Frank Miller's solo writing-directing debut plunges into a watery grave early on and spends roughly the next 100 minutes gasping for air. Pushing well past the point of self-parody, Miller has done Will Eisner's pioneering comicstrip no favors by drenching it in the same self-consciously neo-noir monochrome put to much more compelling use in "Sin City." And The Hollywood Reporter - If we didn't realize this before, it's now clear: Movies must obey the immutable laws of cinema and cannot unfold like so many moving panels. For all its bold digital drawings, a comic-book movie must observe the narrative rhythms, scene construction, character development and dialogue delivery that cinema has honed for more than a century. "Spirit" does none of this, and it is truly a mess. Goddammit, Frank Miller, you fuckhead! Remarkably, Miller already has his next directing project lined up. We got any Buck Rogers fans here? I hope not, because he's preparing to Sin City that one up too.

You mean the same Chow Yun Fat who starred in Anna and the King, Bulletproof Monk, and Pirates 3? Wow, yeah, how'd they manage that coup? Man, this looks truly terrible. And it has what looks like some of the slowest martial arts fight scenes I've seen in a long time.

Also known as The Bourne Redundancy. Sad part is, there's a fairly decent Bond flick buried in the few minutes when the director set the camera down and actually let the actors talk. But the rest of it - bleh.

So for everyone who was saddened by the death of the HBO Preacher project, there's a ray of light. Preacher still won't be coming to HBO, but the Preacher film is back on the table. And this time it has a director we can be excited about - American Beauty/Road to Perdition/Jarhead's Sam Mendes. From IMDb:

Well I imagine they'd just take the basic premise and run with it, ala Wanted.

I'd heard about it but I'd say it's a longshot right now. Maybe if Watchmen proves to be crazy successful next year and the studios decide there's a market for R-rated superhero flicks, it might have a chance, but until then...

Yeah I've heard the same. It was just a disagreement over the final cut. Norton and Leterrier wanted a little bit more character development, while Marvel wanted it a little leaner and more action-oriented to differentiate it from the previous Hulk flick. But it wasn't a huge blow up, there weren't any shouting matches, no one got fucked over or had their feelings hurt and it doesn't seem like there's any bad blood between Norton and Marvel. That said, I'm not sure if the film was successful enough for Marvel to be clamoring for a sequel like they are with Iron Man. That may change if the dvd ends up selling well in the next couple months, but it doesn't seem to be on the books right now. And even if they don't have a Hulk 2 and hire Norton again, they can still use the Hulk in the Avengers film. And in the end, remember that the whole reason Marvel started their own film producing studio was so that they could maintain tight control over how their characters are portrayed and used. I wouldn't blame them for sticking to their guns to get what they want. And to be fair, so far they've done a bang-up job.

Actually, considering the most recent director attached to Doctor Strange is Guillermo del Toro, and considering del Toro's current project is The Hobbit, having that news come from New Zealand kinda makes sense. I think it would be pretty good casting, but at some point people are gonna get tired if Christian Bale getting every cool role (did you guys know he was originally supposed to be the lead in W?). At least he's already played a magician. I think that other Prestige-er, Hugh Jackman, would make a better Strange but he's too busy snikting around.

Welcome aboard!

I'm not sure who Mike Watts of filmthreat.com is, but he basically echoes everything I feel about the new Spirit film in this lengthy but impassioned rant.

I expressed disappointment about the first Half-Blood Prince trailer. This one, however, looks great.

I like the music in the Spirit trailer. I actually even like the trailer itself and I think the visuals are great on their own. I just don't like that it's supposed to be "Will Eisner's The Spirit".