Kevin's Korner 9.20.2011

Welcome to another week in Kevin’s Korner. I’m starting to get a feel for this whole news thing, finally. I’m hitting my stride, and I like it! There is tons of news this week, with so many good things going on. I’m still a little hungover from the weekend. I stayed up way too late watching the Emmy’s, and playing with my new Ipad 2, and I am finding it way too hard getting going.

I finally saw Rise of the Planet of the Apes this past week. I really liked it actually. The emotions of Caesar was incredible, and the CGI in the beginning of the movie was great, along with John Lithgow’s performance. I also really liked the little hints and references to the original Planet of the Apes movie. There were a few things that threw me off of the film, towards the end, mainly one of the characters speaking, and James Franco’s lack of emotion, but for the most part, I found it to be a very good movie. I also think the underlying themes of animal abuse weren’t so underlying in this movie, bringing the similar points of the original film to light in a different way (my fiancée was crying through the first two thirds of the film). So, if you haven’t seen it, and you liked the original Planet of the Apes, not that really bad Tim Burton remake, then you’ll probably enjoy it.

Alright, that’s enough of that, now off to the news…

J.J. is back, baby – J.J. Abrams, the director of the updated Star Trek movie has made it official, he will be back in the directors chair for the sequel, originally set for release in June, 2012, but will be pushed back to Christmas, 2012. Abrams, the master of the mystery box helmed the highest grossing Star Trek film in franchise history, and with him, the script writers and actors are all back, which makes for a promising film if you are a fan of the original. Sure, there were lens flares, but I think, scaled back, it's a fine directors signature.

Harlan Ellison trying to block 'In Time' - Sci Fi author Harlan Ellison is fighting to not only block, but destroy all copies of In Time, a movie starring Cillian Murphy, Amanda Seyfriend and Justin Timberlake. Ellison is claiming copyright infringement for a story of his. I am totally against the idea of destroying a film, but who really thinks this is anything but a way to make some cash?

Who you gonna call? - If you are a fan of '80s comedy Ghostbusters, than you have good taste. If you don't, well, you're just wrong. As a result of the crazy fandom, Ghostbusters is returning to theaters for the first time in over 25 years. The film will hit theaters in October for a limited run. It sounds like a way for studios to gauge enthusiasm for the franchise, in hopes of a third film.

Ever want to know how the rating system works? - If you ever wanted to know how the Nielsen rating system works, take from these, uhh... these... well, these puppets. This video explains the basics of the rating system for TV's, DVR's, and such. It's pretty interesting, and creatively done. Check it out:

JESS3 X ESPN - TV Ratings 101 from JESS3 on Vimeo.

Netflix apologizes for bad communication, and then splits - In the category of mind-boggeling decisions, Netflix issues a letter apologizing to its customers after stories were everywhere earlier in the week that Netflix has lost nearly a million customers after its massive price increase, which is considerably more than predicted (the number they figured was closer to 30,000). So, after apologizing, and not really doing anything about the issue, Netflix unleashed something big, called 'Qwikster.' Qwikster is what Netflix used to be, essentially the direct-mail service that ships DVDs to your house. The pricing package for that is still the same it got adjusted to, but now, you will be going to "www.qwikster.com" for your DVD queue. The streaming side, however, will be something seperate, and if you have that, then you will go to Netflix.com. The downside is the two websites will have nothing to do with each other, so credit card numbers, account information, and movie reviews will be completely independent.

The good news is that Netflix, err, Qwikster, or whatever, which, by the way, is a dumb ass name, will offer video game rentals. Soon, you will be able to rent Wii, PS3 or XBox 360 games, similar to the Blu-Ray rentals now. Despite that small bit of good news, it's just another reason for me to walk away from the company for a bit. Yes, I was one of those million customers. It's not the price, mind you, it's the fact they just jacked up the price by 60% in a recession because they figured they were untouchable. Well, the stock price shows that Netflix is not as untouchable as it thought it was. Will they get the customers back? Possibly, but it could take some clever marketing....maybe they should try flowers, I heard that works.

No Ash? Blasphemy! - According to /Film, the Evil Dead remake will not contain the character of Ash, made famous by Bruce Campbell. While Campbell will most likely have a cameo, the character will not make an appearance. So, it's a remake, but with a different character? It seems kinda silly to me. The more I hear about this remake, the more it seems like a completely different movie. It isn't to say that is a bad thing, but at the moment, I haven't heard anything good.

Batman video explodes - There hasn't been too many Batman videos lately, after weeks of crazy amounts of leaks, but this week, we have something explosive. The video may contain mild spoilers, but it looks like the batwing, or whatever Nolan's latest vehicle is will be going head to head against something else, and shit is going to blow.

John Barrowman thinks the next Doctor should be a female - John Barrowman, famous for playing Who character Captain Jack Harkness, which later spun off to Torchwood thinks the next regeneration of the Doctor should have him regenerate into the female persuasion. It would make things extremely different, given the fact the show has never had a female Doctor before.

So, would you like the see a female Doctor? Do you think Sci Fi is ready for a female Doctor? Sure, you have plenty of other shows that have a female lead, that seems to work just fine, but can she handle the weight of a character nearly 50 years in the making? If so, can you think of anyone who could handle it? I don't think it would hurt the show in viewership, and it could reinvent the show, but I have no problem with the show the way it is now, and I really hope current Doctor Matt Smith doesn't go anywhere anytime soon.

Emmy's was the Mad Men show - I liked the Emmy's last night. I am always excited for the awards shows, but feel let down by how incredibly boring they become. It's always the same formula; actors come out, attempt to make a witty joke, announce the winner, the winner comes up, thanks, God, their cast mates and director and babble a bit, rinse and repeat. This show wasn't much different. There does seem to be a bit of talk about how Mad Men won mostly everything, and whether or not they deserved it. I think it's a fine show, with great actors, but there were some other talents I felt deserved it more. You can check out the full list of winners HERE.

Box Office Breakdown - Audiences feel nostalgic, and rock the circle of life.

The 3D version of Disney's Lion King won the weekend with nearly $30 million total. The film benefited from more expensive tickets, sure, but it's pretty amazing for an older film. For the record, I'm pretty sure The Lion King is one of my favorite Disney films ever. Contagion did really good, and dropped a small amount to take second place. Drive didn't seem to do very well, the action movie came in third with $11 million.

1. The Lion King 3D - $29.3 million ($357.8 million total)

2. Contagion - $14.5 million ($44.2 million total)

3. Drive - $11.0 million ($11.0 million total)

4. The Help - $6.4 million ($147.4 million total)

5. Straw Dogs - $5.0 million ($5.0 million total)

6. I Don't Know How She Does It - $4.5 million ($4.5 million total)

7. The Debt - $2.9 million ($26.5 million total)

8. Warrior - $2.8 million ($9.9 million total)

9. Rise of the Planet of the Apes - $2.6 million ($171.6 million total)

10. Colombiana - $2.3 million ($33.3 million total)

DVD's on Shelves this week

Castle: Season 3

Dead Heat

Invisible Sign of My Own

Bride Flight

Bridesmaids

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

We are the Night

Trailer of the week - The Muppets - A Parody Trailer

This trailer really says it all, they haven't had a parody trailer in awhile, and, well, now that we have one, all is right with the world. If you haven't seen this yet, you are welcome, and if you have, you want to see it again. One thing is for sure, this film is doing some really good marketing. Do you think the film will live up to they hype? I honestly do.

Inception blows my mind
http://blastr.com/2011/09/image-of-the-day-inceptio.php

WHO catbox
http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/80s/content/just-what-doctor-ordered-tardis-kitty-condo

Trailer – Twilight: Breaking Dawn
http://www.411mania.com/movies/news/201651

Massive Lego Imperial cruiser
http://blastr.com/2011/09/omg-43000-piece-8-long-18.php

Film Tech – The Russian Arm
http://gizmodo.com/5839932/how-michael-bay-captures-his-most-insane-and-incredible-chase-scenes-kerblooommm

Amanda Seyfried liked Sex scene with Megan Fox
http://www.imdb.com/news/ni15364316/

Amazing new muppet parody trailer
http://www.slashfilm.com/muppets-parody-trailer-the-pig-froggy-tattoo/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+slashfilm+%28%2FFilm%29&utm_content=FaceBook

Superman photos
http://themovieblog.com/2011/09/michael-shannons-zod-costume-clark-on-a-bike

Emmy Award winners
http://www.411mania.com/movies/news/202326

Blair Witch 3
http://www.411mania.com/movies/news/202272

Sigourney Weaver will return for Avatar 2: Secret of the Ooze
http://www.imdb.com/news/ni15568828/

Weaver likes Prometheus..
http://blastr.com/2011/09/sigourney-weaver-confirms.php

Batman Batwing video
http://screenrant.com/dark-knight-rises-batwing-video-tom-hardy-interview-benm-132366/

Box office
http://www.411mania.com/movies/news/202255

Korner 21

Welcome to Kevin’s Korner, your one stop for all that is geeky.

I am your host, Kevin Hopp. It’s been a busy few weeks as I get ready for the wedding. We have gotten a lot done, and I spent the weekend with the future in-laws, which was awesome. When everyone is warm and welcoming, it makes everything way easier. My future bride also had her bridal shower, which means we got all kinds of gifts and I got to spend the afternoon eating wings and drinking beer, far away from a crazy amount of women. So, all is right with the universe.

Before we get started, we had two losses in the Hollywood community, Cliff Robertson, probably most famous for ‘Charley,’ in which he received an Oscar (yes, he also played Uncle Ben in Spiderman) passed, along with Spartacus: Blood and Sand actor Andy Whitfield, who was only 36. My sympathies go out to the two guys families and friends.

I’m in the news business and business is a boomin…

3 Stooges could be a joke – Some of my fondest memories of my childhood include getting up at 6 am, and enjoying some early morning TV with my father. It was good times that included Three Stooges and then Doctor Paul Barrer’s Creature Feature. So, you would think I would be excited at the news of a movie bringing back Larry, Mo and Curley. You would think wrong, however. I simply don’t think the style of comedy will work now, and the chemistry of the original characters would be tough to match. The film stars Sean Hayes as Larry, Chris Diamantopoulos as Moe, and Will Sasso as Curly. The Farrelly brothers directed the film and it’s coming out April of 2012. It’s not the Stooges movie I was expecting with rumors of another film being filmed starring Jim Carrey and Sean Penn. Apparently, that film is completely dead now.

Danger Zone goes 3D – Tom Cruise’s hit Top Gun is going to be launched in 3D. A four minute preview of the Tony Scott film was made available earlier this week at a film festival. The film is scheduled to premiere early in 2012. Legend 3D has said the film is perfect for 3D due to the aeriel aspects and hopes to have the dog-fighting scenes jump off the screen. Personally, I have no desire to see the film in 3D. I can’t imagine it will make the film any better.

“Noooo” makes so many films better, right? – Check out this video that takes some very famous moments and adds the Darth Vader “nooo” that was recently added to Return of the Jedi as a comedic way of showing adding shit doesn’t always make things better. Check it out, and let me know your favorite. Mine has to be Casablanca.

Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice – There is talks of the famous Tim Burton film creating a sequel. If you read this past week’s 411 Fact or Fiction, you already know my opinion, but it seems like opinions are extremely varied on the purposed sequel. There is still no word on whether Michael Keaton would come back, and there is still no script, but it’s fun to dream.

Netflix continues to make its customers oh so happy – After the already extremely popular 60% price increase from last month, customers are already removing Netflix from their Christmas card list. Now, they are having issues with their streaming service. First off, it started as unlimited amounts of streaming at the same time. Then, a few weeks ago, Netflix had said they are limiting it to one, unless you upgrade your streaming service, doubling the streaming price. Now, after there was crazy amounts of outcry, they are claiming they are merely cracking down on people abusing the privledge, and that they aren’t saying you must pay for more than one stream. It seems like Netflix may have tried something and bailed out, in an attempt to avoid more bad publicity.

How it should have ended – Captain America – The group over at Howitshouldhaveneded.com have done it again with their latest video with Captain America. If you haven’t seen the film yet, you shouldn’t watch the video, but if you have, you need to see this.

28 Weeks Later director to helm Highlander remake – There can be only one…again. Apparently, Juan Carlos Fresnadillo is in talks to direct a remake of the Christopher Lambert hit. There is no word on who will be cast as Quentin McCloud, but I just better not hear anyone from Twilight picking up the sword. Anyone have a fantasy pick? My pick is Nathan Fillion…ok, just kidding, it’s just that he is usually my pick for everything. I’m going to have to go with Ewan McGregor. I know it could be weird, but he could do the accent, and he has plenty of sword-fighting experience. Honestly, it’s not easy coming up with a good pick.

Empire Strikes Back leaks unseen footage – If you haven’t seen the quick clip from Empire Strikes Back that just leaked online, you need to go HERE. There was talk about why this scene wasn’t used, and some said it made Han Solo sound sexist. Do you think it makes good ol’ Han sound sexist? I think, besides the silly dialogue, it just makes him sound like a scoundrel, maybe a bit of a nerf herder.

Power Laces still 4 years away – It was an up and down week for Back to the Future fans, or for that matter, fans of amazing sneakers. It was leaked that sneakers from Back to the Future 2 would be released. I was all kinds of excited over the possibility of power laces, but when it was announced the shoes were coming out, two problems came up; first off, no power laces, and second off, only 1500 are being made, and they are being auctioned off, with proceeds going to Parkinson’s research. Now, I’m all for donations to Parkinson’s research, but with an estimated average going price of $4,500, I’m pretty sure 411mania’s paycheck won’t cover it. Maybe a sneakers zone for the site? Free samples?

It’s time to meet the Muppets – If you are as excited as I am for the upcoming Muppet movie, then I have some links for you. The first is 20 facts about the Muppets you didn’t know HERE. My favorite talks about how difficult it was to shoot the scene with Kermit playing the banjo in the swamp. It’s pretty amazing! The other link HERE. goes over all the characters and plot in the film. I can’t wait for this film. The link also has some great bits of trivia, like how Miss Piggy has 12 costume changes, more than any other character. It’s good to know that wacky pig is up to her old shenanigans.

2011 Box Office sets a record – The summer box office showed a 1% increase, bringing in $4.4 billion from May through Labor Day. Considering the downturn in the economy, the box office increase is pretty special. I’m sure it’s about the increase of 3D films that include higher ticket prices, but it’s still a pretty good sign for Hollywood.

Box Office Breakdown – Contagion takes out The Help.

Contagion takes the top spot, opening with $23 million, bumping the Help to second with $8.7 million. Colombiana dropped big time, dropping to sixth, and Bucky Larson: Born to be a star coming in a bomb-tastic 15th, with $1.5 million, averaging only $967 a theater. On top of the terrible reviews, this news will hopefully mean less terrible movies like this.

1. Contagion - $23.1 million ($23.1 million total)
2. The Help - $8.7 million ($137.1 million total)
3. Warrior - $5.6 million ($5.6 million total)
4. The Debt - $4.9 million ($22.0 million total)
5. Colombiana - $4.0 million ($29.8 million total)
6. Rise of the Planet of the Apes - $3.9 million ($167.8 million total)
7. Shark Night 3D - $3.5 million ($14.8 million total)
8. Apollo 18 - $2.9 million ($15.0 million total)
9. Our Idiot Brother - $2.8 million ($21.4 million total)
10. Spy Kids: All the Time in the World - $2.5 million ($34.2 million total)

DVDs out this week

Doctor Who: Day of the Daleks
Glee: Season 2
Goose Bumps: Attack of the Mutants
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia: Season 6
Me and Orson Wells
Rescue Me: Season 6

Trailer of the Week: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

Even if you don’t see the trailer, the cast alone will make you want to see it, with Gary Oldman, Tom Hardy and Colin Firth starring in this film, it looks like a must see. Fortunetly, the trailer looks pretty amazing. What do you think?

Korner 20

Welcome to Kevin's Korner! Everything geeky, all the time.

As we finish the holiday weekend, we nurse hangovers and bruises and we look forward to the fall season. Before the fall season, there is plenty to talk about. There are Oscar rumors, there is some serious talk about Star Wars, and there are plenty of Avengers rumors. It sure does seem 2012 will be an amazing year for movies, between the third Batman film and what I think is the most anticipated movie for me, Avengers, on top of Spiderman and quite a few others.

It makes me wonder what is your most anticipated movie?

I'm in the news business, and business is a boomin' ...

Darth Vader gets more lines - The most annoying news of last week is the latest edition of Star Wars being released. Last week, I had mentioned they fixed some technical issues, along with making some sound and graphic tweaks. I was pretty happy with those adjustments. Now, however, we hear about one of the new surprises Lucas had mentioned. Apparently, George Lucas thought it would add to the continuity by having Darth Vader scream "noooooo" twice before throwing the Emperor into the neverending pit conveniently in the Death Star. It will match the horrifically cheesy line at the end of Star Wars Ep. III: Revenge of the Sith, where we first meet Darth Vader and he screams the now famous line.

So, in recap, we get this incredibly dramatic moment now tainted with a stupidly cheesy line that ruins the moment. My friends have talked about this all week, and while the movie is technically the property of George Lucas (saying otherwise will create an instant lawsuit, magically from Lucas Entertainment). That being said, after a certain time, a movie gets so ingrained into popculture that the movie becomes property of the audience. In this case, several generations have bonded and talked about this movie and they have gained ownership of these films.

It wouldn't be an issue if the original films that I grew up with were still available to buy (legally). They aren't, in fact Lucas wants the originals destroyed in place of the new ones, leaving us with versions that are quite different from the original. I'm not one of those angry fanboys that likes to scream to the intewebs that Lucas should die, but for the love of God, make him stop messing with my movie.

Captain America 2 villain to be MODOK? - There is talk over the next villain the first Avenger, Captain America could face, and that would be MODOK. Anyone familiar with the comic would be happy over the idea, but you have to wonder how it would be done. It seems to me like it would have to be CGI, similar to Green Lantern. I still have to wonder how these characters will walk away from the Avengers movie and just deal on their own. Do the Avengers go on a break, all Ross and Rachael like or do they just go their seperate ways similar to the end of Oceans 11.

Captain Planet Mother F*ckers - Check out this Funny Or Die video starring Don Cheadle as Captain Planet. I thought this was hilarious, turning everyone into trees. I always felt sorry for the poor loser that got stuck with the "heart" ring. Short end of the stick, indeed.

Don Cheadle is Captain Planet from Don Cheadle

Pluto Nash to host the Oscars - There has been talk about the Oscar host for this years Oscars, and there have been plenty of rumors after this past years less than succesful attempt by James Franco and Ann Hathaway. For the record, I liked Hathaway, she showed a genuine enthusiasm, and pride for being there, among Hollywood's elite, while Franco played the straight man way too straight, and came off stoned and boring. I consider it one of the few bad performances by Franco.

New rumors include people talking to Billy Crystal to return, and Eddie Murphy. The reason people want Murphy is that he is a "movie geek, and would bring that experience to the Oscars." I am all for a movie geek hosting the Oscars, I always find it annoying when someone hosts an awards show and has nothing to do with the awards. That being said, I would take Billy Crystal as Oscar host any day of the week. Sure, he hasn't done the amount of movies Murphy has, but there is something about Crystal's ability to manage a show that few can equal.

Moviepass is back - After a shutdown, Moviepass, the all you can watch movie service that allows you to watch as many movies as you want a month for $50 is making its return. It's sounding a little iffey so far, because the service has not built a good relationship with major theaters. While the service pays the ticket fee directly to the movie theater, if it gets too popular, the theater can deny those tickets. It's a great deal, though, for movie buffs, since in my area, at least, it's $10 for a ticket.

Every teaser trailer EVER - Over at Cracked.com, they have a teaser trailer that talks about every teaser trailer ever. It's kind of sad, actually, because teasers have become so cookie-cutter. There are plenty of good teaser trailers out there, but way too many have gone this route, lately.

Every Teaser Trailer Ever -- powered by Cracked.com

Avengers are assembling - There are so many shots of the Avengers filming, it's making my inner geeks head spin. There are plenty of pictures that are pointing to a confirmation of Skrulls being the main badguy, and there are some great interviews with Loki, talking about how he has way more screentime than in Thor. There are also some casting rumors that show casting of a Skrull princess. You can't really deny anything anymore. Now, it's all about seeing what the Skrulls will look like. I can't wait for this film, and I think the actors look pretty amazing.

Check out the latest poster for the film. It's pretty underwhelming:

Also, check out the video, in case you were wondering why you should be excited...

Box Office Breakdown - The Help...again?

For a third week in a row, The Help takes the third spot. Sure, there hasn't been too many great movies, but who would've thought The Help would dominate for so long? Shark Night 3D and Apollo 18 seemed to bomb pretty hard. Apollo 18 seems to break the streak of the "found footage" films destroying the box office. What did you see this week?

1. The Help - $14.2 million ($118.6 million total)
2. The Debt - $9.7 million ($11.6 million total)
3. Apollo 18 - $8.7 million ($8.7 million total)
4. Shark Night 3D - $8.6 million ($8.6 million total)
5. Rise of the Planet of the Apes - $7.8 million ($160.0 million total)
6. Colombiana - $7.4 million ($22.0 million total)
7. Our Idiot Brother - $5.2 million ($15.4 million total)
8. Don't Be Afraid of the Dark - $4.9 million ($16.4 million total)
9. Spy Kids: All the Time in the World - $4.6 million ($29.0 million total)
10. The Smurfs - $4.0 million ($132.0 million total)

DVD's hitting shelves

Community: Season 2

The Office: Season 7

Return to Horror High

Trailer of the Week - Killer Elite

Check out this pretty sweet trailer with Jason Statham, Robert DeNiro and Clive Owen. Honestly, the cast pretty much had me, that and Owen's porn mustache, but this film could be pretty good. What do you think?

Dushku writes letter regarding Hayden Panetierri charging for autographs at a con
http://blastr.com/2011/08/eliza-dushku-slams-newspa.php

http://themovieblog.com/2011/09/road-to-avengers

Romancing the Stone remake a tv show?
http://www.slashfilm.com/romancing-stone-remake-tv-series/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+slashfilm+%28%2FFilm%29&utm_content=FaceBook

Korner 19

Welcome to another edition of Kevin's Korner, your one stop for all that is geeky. We've got the usual this week, movie news, trailers and a ton more. I want to take a moment to thank everyone reading. I really appreciate all the support and comments from this incredible 411mania online community. This column, besides being a ton of fun is a great way to share my love and excitement with movies with like-minded others.

For those who read me weekly, you may know that I'm getting ready to get married. We're down to 46 days, and I can't wait. I thank my fiancee everyday for all she is and all she does for me.

I'm in the news business, and business is a boomin...

Last Exorcism 2 gets a sequel? Wha? - So, I'm confused by how or why this would happen. I mean, I know why it would happen; money, the movie only cost a bit over a million to make, but made over $60 million, but how could the story work? If you aren't familiar with the original, it's a documentary style film about an exorcist who lost faith, and when he goes to prove exorcisms are fake, he is confronted with a true test of faith. I really enjoyed the film, and the performances by both Patrick Fabian and Ashley Bell were fantastic. I hope they don't ruin it by making the second a Blair Witch 2.

Wendell Pierce calls ‘The Help’ Racist – The actor from The Wire and Treme has tweeted up a storm regarding the Emma Stone hit The Help, saying the movie waters down the misery of black people in the ‘60s, and that he took his mother to see the film and said she was insulted by what she saw. Pierce says the film is just another example of a “great white person saving they day,” and that the ending was very naïve. Now, at first, I considered this a non-news item, but as I sat and thought about it, I got more and more annoyed. First off, you are allowed your opinion on a movie, no matter what, and I would never say you aren’t allowed yours. That being said, I really hate it when people watch a movie that is supposed to be a feel good film and find something bad in it. In this case, he saw racisim in a movie that talks about racism, but instead of seeing the film for what it is, he claims racism by the film, not the topic. I personally hate it when anyone cries racism, I find the idea ridiculous and disgusting, and for someone to say this film is racist just seems filly to me.

Doctor Who will have a full season – Steven “The Moff” Moffat, head writer for Doctor Who has said that rumors of a shortened season in 2012 were incorrect. He said that BBC wouldn’t allow it, and the fans wouldn’t allow it, especially since the ratings were very good both in the U.K. and in the U.S. The show just came back from a mid-season break with the episode “Lets Kill Hitler.” The rumor was that the show would back off to save money for an explosive season in 2013, it’s 50th anniversary year. Matt Smith and Karen Gillian are confirmed back next year.

OK Go does amazing Muppet themed video – If you haven’t seen OK Go’s video for the Muppet Show introduction, then you are about to be pleasantly surprised. The band is known for their fantastic videos, and this one is my favorite. Check it out!


Sequels, sequels everywhere…

Tron 3 is a go per … Tron – Apparently, Tron himself, Bruce Boxleitner had said that Tron 3 would be the talk of the town come 2013. Disney had been fairly tight-lipped about the film after the second movie, especially after they rejected the directors plans for a different movie, but if anyone knows, it’s Tron. It seems to me, he may have let the cat out of the bag a bit early. Check out the video HERE.

Romancing the Stone – Fox is searching for a director to bring an exciting new take to the classic Robert Zemeckis film Romancing the Stone. Sequel plans have been rumored for awhile, but with the studio looking for a director, it looks like the studio could finally be getting serious. I really liked the first film, and if done right, the remake could be good.

Troll remake gets curious title - John Carl Buechler is getting ready to remake the classic film “Troll,” but with an interesting title: “Troll: The Rise of Harry Potter.” The film had a character in the first with the name of Harry Potter, several years before J.K. Rowling wrote the books (I doubt she drew inspiration from the film) so I don’t know if Rowling or Warner Bros. has any legal grounds here, but it seems like the title is just a way to get people who don’t pay attention to come see the film. I’m calling it cheap, what’s your take?

Worst movie ever – Speaking of the Troll series, you may remember the horrible sequel, called Troll 2, which really had nothing to do with the first, or anything else for that matter. The film is one of the worst movies ever, and I would agree, and that’s saying something. That being said, there is another film that looks to claim that spot; “The Worst Movie Ever.” I think it’s cheating when you put your goal in the title, but whatever. The film has the lowest box office totals ever, with $11. That’s right, I got the number correct, $11. It’s hard to believe, until you see the trailer:

Star Wars gets ‘fixed’ again – For the release of the Star Wars saga on Blu-Ray, it was announced certain changes would be made to the film. Once that happened, most Star Wars geeks were like me, and wondered if this change would have Jar Jar Binks be the one shooting first. In a pleasant surprise, it looks like most of the changes were fixing some of the technical aspects, like bad sound, or special effects hiccups with light sabers, and removing the puppeteers arm from one shot, things like that. They also added a digital Yoda for the first film, A Phantom Menace, so the prequels would all be consistent with a digital Yoda, as opposed to having a weird puppet in the first, which looks quite different from any of the other films. There are rumors that George Lucas has said there are “a few more surprises in there,” which makes me nervous, but fixing the technical aspects is understandable, I guess. I would love the original, theatrical editions, though. No digital Jabba, no Greedo shooting first, no goofy CGI Tattooine shots, just the classic stuff, but that’s just me.

A new Star Trek TV Show? – My inner geek gets excited every time I hear the rumor, and apparently David Foster’s does, too. The pitch, which looks to be well thought-out will be separate from the J.J. Abrams films, and will be post-Voyager, setting up the Ferengi to be a new adversary to a Federation dealing with issues from the Klingons. Foster is hoping to get back to Gene Roddenberry’s vision, which is good news, and sites inspiration from Joss Whedon, which is also good. I do love Star Trek, but I think the execution has to be solid for any hope. But, right now, there aren’t too many solid Sci-fi shows on TV with Battlestar Galactica gone, no Star Trek for a few years now, and pretty much nothing coming up, I think this is a good time. What do you think, would you watch a new Star Trek show?

Portal: No Escape – If you haven’t played Portal yet, I would recommend you do. It’s a very inventive puzzle game like no other. After the sequel came out, we get this fan video which puts most other fan videos to shame. Check it out, it’s worth your time.


Avengers roundup – Another week of leaked Avengers info. The more we see, the more it points to aliens attacking, which means Skrulls. 411mania had pictures of what looks like it could be an alien craft HERE. It shows some promise, especially since those are raw props, without any camera trickery or CGI. Also, today, there is some leaked footage of Captain America and Loki dueling it out (see the video HERE). With all these videos and photos leaking, it seems to me that we are in for one heck of a big battle that should be pretty amazing. I get more and more excited with everything I see.

Finally, we have a new poster for the film. I’m not super excited, but I guess it’ll do the trick. Thoughts?




Dark Knight Rises fan poster – Check out this incredibly well made fan poster for the third Batman film. I would think it would raise the standards on what the studio will make now.



How it Should’ve Ended – Harry Potter – Howitshouldveended came up with another video, showing what should have happened at the end of the 8th film. As usual, I laughed really hard, and it made me think the guys who wrote this stuff are pretty good! Make sure to stay through the credits.



Movies hitting the shelves today …

90210: Season 3
Cougar Town: Season 2
Death of a Cheerleader
Desperate Housewives: Season 7
Madea’s Big Happy Family
Nikita: Season 1
Parenthood: Season 2

Box Office Breakdown – The Help wins again!

The Emma Stone film remains number one, beating out newcomers Colombiana, which got $10 million, and the Benecio Del Toro produced horror film Don’t be Afraid of the Dark, which got $8.7 million. Conan took a hard drop, down to $3 million, and Rise of the Planet of the Apes did pretty good with $8 million. Overall, it looks like a light weekend for movies.

1. The Help - $14.3 million ($96.6 million total)
2. Colombiana - $10.3 million ($10.3 million total)
3. Don't Be Afraid of the Dark - $8.7 million ($8.7 million total)
4. Rise of the Planet of the Apes - $8.7 million ($148.5 million total)
5. Our Idiot Brother - $6.6 million ($6.6 million total)
6. Spy Kids: All the Time in the World - $5.7 million ($21.7 million total)
7. The Smurfs - $4.8 million ($126.0 million total)
8. Conan the Barbarian - $3.1 million ($16.6 million total)
9. Fright Night - $3.0 million ($14.2 million total)
10. Crazy, Stupid, Love. - $2.9 million ($69.5 million total)

Trailer of the Week –
I was hoping to get a good trailer for the Hunger Games, which was promised during the VMA’s, but sadly, all we got was this:

Get More: 2011 VMA, Music

Pretty much nothing, right? A waste of 30 seconds, isn’t it? I may want to see it, simply to see the Battle Royal adaptation (don’t correct me and say it was based on a book).
So, let me make it up to you. I present the trailer for Tucker and Dale vs. Evil. Yeah, you’re welcome.

Korner 18

Hello Guys and Ghouls, and welcome to another Kevin’s Korner, your one stop for all that is geeky, right here on 411mania’s movie zone.
Alright, I admit it; that was the worst intro ever. I figured that “sup bitches,” “hidey ho,” and “ladies and gentleman of the jury” were all right up there with “go eff yourself, San Diego,” so, what can I say? Ready to get to some news? So am I.

I’m in the news business, and business is a boomin’ …

Avengers assemble – Now that Batman footage has stopped leaking to the web, temporarily, at least, we are getting the same treatment for The Avengers. We got our first pictures and even some video of Captain America fighting some motion capture crew (the video is HERE). We also get some video of Thor and Captain America fighting what will be some CG characters, and eventually some motion capture people. This all points to the skrulls theory, but all this footage cleverly leaves out the villain, or what it will look like. This is way better than all the video of Bane walking around Gotham, although, I’m sure some are just trying to avoid spoiling the biggest movie event I can think of since Star Wars Episode 1.





Batman vs. Superman? – A juicy rumor being whispered around the world wide water cooler is that WB is quietly working on a Batman and Superman team up movie. The rumor states that the studio is hoping to get Christian Bale and Henry Cavill to reprise their roles for the crossover movie. Would you want to see this? It seems to me that Bale’s Batman is in a different world from the previous Superman movies; that’s to say if the newest Superman will change that. It seems to me like WB is a bit jealous of Marvels work towards the Avengers movie. If you can get this to work (and the rumor should be taken with a barrel of salt), it would be extremely big, but given WB’s past attempts at the Justice League, I don’t know that I would hold my breath. Would you even want to see these two together in a film? I think it would be more than a bit challenging to see these two characters share a film without one looking like a chump.

Story vs. Spectacle, which is more important? - /Film had an article last week about Walt Disney Animation Studios chief technical officer Andy Hendrickson saying that people come to see a visual spectacle, not a great story, and that visual spectacle movies are at the top of the highest grossing films chart because people don’t care about the story, they want the eye-popping special effects. Before you threaten to murder a mouse, his side of the story isn’t completely unfounded. If you look at the top grossing films of all time, movies like Avatar, Titanic, Dark Knight, Star Wars, Shrek 2, and others seems to back Hendrickson’s point of view. All the films were truly a spectacle. I just don’t understand how someone in the business of making movies can infer that story doesn’t matter. In all of the films in the top 25, nearly all of them do have amazing special effects, but what almost all of them share (the only exception I see is Transformers 3) is a fantastic story. I don’t think movies like Star Wars or Lord of the Rings would’ve made near the money they did without the story being able to stand up to multiple viewings. I understand being passionate about special effects, and they do play a part in films, but any good director will tell you it all starts with story.

Lone Ranger may be off, werewolves blamed – Disney’s Lone Ranger movie, starring Johnny Depp looks to possibly be scrapped. The reason is that the studio didn’t want to spend the purposed $250 million on what Gore Verbinski wanted to pay. Apparently, the huge budget is due to the fact that there would be werewolves in the film. Now, Disney is saying that they will consider moving forward with the film, but at a reduced cost, which Verbinski isn’t too happy with. The film is supposed to have Depp’s Tonto be the hero of the film, but with budget concerns, this film may not get off the ground at all now.

Man of Steele gets synopsis – Thanks to a casting call, we get a sort-of synopsis of the film: “In the pantheon of superheroes, Superman is the most recognized and revered character of all time. Clark Kent/Kal-El (Cavill) is a young twenty something journalist who feels alienated by powers beyond anyone’s imagination. Transported to Earth years ago from Krypton, an advanced alien planet, Clark struggles with the ultimate question – Why am I here? Shaped by the values of his adoptive parents Martha (Lane) and Jonathan Kent (Costner), Clark soon discovers that having super abilities means making very difficult decisions. But when the world needs stability the most, it comes under attack. Will his abilities be used to maintain peace or ultimately used to divide and conquer? Clark must become the hero known as “Superman,” not only to shine as the world’s last beacon of hope but to protect the ones he loves.”
While I was excited with the image we saw a few weeks ago, I feel let down by this. This just feels like such a cookie-cutter synopsis, it doesn’t get me excited at all. I’ve not been a fan of the origin story for this film, as everyone knows Superman’s origins, and it’s been done to death, but I figured that would be a small part of the film. Now, I’m not so sure. Thoughts?

Watching TV will KILL you, more at 11… - Over on Blastr.com, they talk about a scientist from Australia who released a study that “for people over 25, every hour of television watched takes 22 minutes off their life.” So, that means, we’re all dead. Except for the fact that the study assumes people who watch TV don’t go out and exercise. So, I would assume if you exercise, then maybe it’s every hour and a half. All I know is, with that formula, Doctor Who should’ve killed me by now, and USA will receive a bill for my funeral arrangements.

Sequels, sequels everywhere and not a drop to drink…

G.I. Joe 2 – This sequel has trouble all over it. Previously, I had reported that Bruce Willis was approached to play the original G.I. Joe in the sequel, and now, we have Walton Goggins (Justified, The Shield) joining the cast. While both are great actors, and I think Goggins was robbed of an Emmy win, I just don’t know how the director of Step Up 3D should make a sequel from a pretty awful first movie.

Resident Evil 5 has a name, and we still don’t care – The newest film with Milla Jovovich reprising her role will be called Resident Evil: Retribution 3D with a September, 2012 release. There are rumors now, that Sienna Guillory will reprise her role as Jill Valentine. Paul W.S. Anderson will return as director. While I thought the first two films weren’t bad, despite being quite unfaithful to the video games, I think the series has just turned stupid, and silly, and I’m kind of done with it. I shouldn’t judge a movie before I at least see a trailer, but I don’t think I could be too much more disinterested.

Blade Runner-er – It was announced this week that Ridley Scott would return to the Blade Runner universe as director of another movie in the universe. More than likely, the film will be a sequel, although it hasn’t been confirmed yet. The rights to the film negate the premise of a remake, so at least we don’t have to worry about that. At the moment, Harrison Ford is not being considered for the film.

'The Chin' gives blessing to Evil Dead Remake – Bruce Campbell has assured fans of the original Evil Dead, that the remake would be worth their time, and he even gave it his blessing. He jokingly called it a gift to the investors, and said ‘bottom line, the original was made by first time directors on a shoe string budget. The fact it stood the test of time is a testament to the film, but maybe more can be done with it.’ The remake is being penned by Juno scribe Diablo Cody. I personally loved the cheese factor, and look at that as one of my favorite parts of the film. I think a serious attempt could miss the point of the film.

Underworld: Awakening gets a trailer – I would love to tell you what it’s about, but I stopped paying attention when a naked Kate Beckinsale did a Terminator impression and got all naked. Other than that, it looks to be a pretty good, if not standard action flick, but with a leather clad vampire. What do you think?


Wolverine 2 starts principle photography in November – The sequel to X-Men Origins: Wolverine looks to start shooting in November in Vancouver, at the Canadian Motion Picture Park. It’s a big difference from last year’s reports of Darren Ornofsky filming in Japan. Apparently, 20th Century Fox cited family concerns of filming in Japan after the earthquake and tsunami crippled areas of the country.

Something I thought was cool - /Film had this image up the other day with the caption “where’s Wall-E?” It’s a picture of nearly every robot on film. It has some pretty obscure ones, my favorite being Evolver. Check it out, and let me know which one was your favorite:



25 greatest unscripted scenes in film – I thought this video was really entertaining. It shows some of the more famous unscripted scenes in movies, and describes what was on the script. Most of you movie geeks won’t see many surprises on there, but whether you’ve seen it all before or not, it’s still entertaining.


That’s how Marty and Doc got together? – Bob Gale, who helped create the Back to the Future franchise, one of my favorites of all time, was talking about how Doc and Marty got together. While I never really thought about it, I guess I would’ve imagined that Marty came to Doc about fixing an amp, and Marty would continue to blow these bigger and bigger amps, and as Doc kept rebuilding them, they formed a friendship, which would lead to the events of the intro, with Doc building what he thought would be the ultimate amp that even Marty couldn’t blow up, and spoilers, he would be wrong. Sadly, I was way off. Check it out:
“We never explained it in the movie. But the history of the characters that Bob Zemeckis and I created is this... For years, Marty was told that Doc Brown was dangerous, a crackpot, a lunatic. So, being a red-blooded American teenage boy, age 13 or 14, he decided to find out just why this guy was so dangerous. Marty snuck into Doc's lab, and was fascinated by all the cool stuff that was there. when Doc found him there, he was delighted to find that Marty thought he was cool and accepted him for what he was. Both of them were the black sheep in their respective environments. Doc gave Marty a part-time job to help with experiments, tend to the lab, tend to the dog, etc. And that's the origin of their relationship. -- Bob Gale"

Box Office Breakdown – The Help takes number 1
It’s not often you see a film rise from second place to first in its second week, but The Help, starring Emma Stone did just that, beating out Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Final Destination, and decimating the new Conan movie. Sadly, Fright Night did even worse. It wasn’t a good week for new films.

1. The Help - $20.5 million ($71.8 million total)
2. Rise of the Planet of the Apes - $16.3 million ($133.8 million total)
3. Spy Kids: All the Time in the World - $12.0 million ($12.0 million total)
4. Conan the Barbarian - $10.0 million ($10.0 million total)
5. The Smurfs - $8.0 million ($117.7 million total)
6. Fright Night - $7.9 million ($7.9 million total)
7. Final Destination 5 - $7.7 million ($32.3 million total)
8. 30 Minutes or Less - $6.3 million ($25.8 million total)
9. One Day - $5.1 million ($5.1 million total)
10. Crazy, Stupid, Love. - $5.0 million ($64.4 million total)

DVD’s on Store shelves today

The Beaver
Gossip Girl: Season 4
The Greatest Movie Ever Sold
NCIS: Season 8
NCIS LA: Season 2
Phineas and Ferb: The movie

Trailer of the Week – Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance
This week’s trailer of the week is pretty interesting. In one minute and 47 seconds, I’ve had more joy than the entire hour and half of the first film. This trailer shows very little of the plot, but it shows the action got stepped up… a lot. What do you think, movie geeks?

Korner 17

Welcome to this weeks Kevin's Korner, your one stop for all that is geeky, right here on 411mania. This week has more sequel info, even more Batman scoop and a whole bunch more. So, enough screwing around, let's get to the good stuff.

I'm in the news business, and business is a boomin' ...

Spoilers are good - The first story of the week is about spoilers. In a new study from USCD, they tested to see if spoiling a story had an impact on the enjoyment of the study. The results were slightly surprising. The study finds that knowing the end ahead of time, actually made the story more enjoyable. The story says that it's because knowing the end allows you to focus on the writing more, meaning your less worried about the end game. I suppose it makes sense, in any movie where it's "based on a true story" and you know the person makes it out, since they helped write it, it allows you to enjoy the journey that much more. The biggest example I just recently experienced is 127 Hours. In the film, you knew before the story ever started that the guy was about to go all Luke Skywalker and lose a hand, but the journey was the rewarding part.

So, do you agree? Do spoilers make it better? Sound off below.

Haven't we done this before? It's sequel time...

Smurfs 2 - Yes, you heard it right, it's planned already, after the success of the first Smurfs movie. The sequel is set for Aug. 2nd, 2013. It's really not much of a surprise, considering the first film made more than it's budget back, by a significant amount, and it's still in theaters. No word on whether Neil Patrick Harris will return for the sequel, which I hope will be entitled "Smurfs 2: Secret of the Ooze."

Austin Powers 4 - The rumor persisting for awhile was made official, Mike Myers has signed on for a fourth Austin Powers film. There's no word on the plot yet, but there were plenty of rumors. All we know right now is that a script has a draft, and that Myers will reprise his roles as both Austin Powers, and Dr. Evil. While I liked the first film, it's one of those movies that quickly dropped out of favor with me. The other two films seemed to be just more of the same, which probably just added to my eventual distaste for the film. Maybe a new, fresh movie will reinvigorate me.

Resident Evil 5 - The latest Resident Evil movie confirmed writer Paul W.S. Anderson will return, along with star Milla Jovovich. While Jill Valentine will be back, the actress who played her two previous times, Sienna Guillory has not been signed to play her. Ali Larter has also been reported to return for the fifth film scheduled out next year.

Riddick 3 - While the film was already confirmed, after actor Vin Diesel made a big deal about the film, the plot details have finally been leaked. It seems the film will go 'full circle,' coming back to the events of Pitch Black as the basis for the film. Apparently, the person hunting Riddick will be a relative of one of the characters from the first film, but the film will not pretend the sequel didn't exist, making at least a mention of Riddick's events after the second film.

Harold and Kumar 3 - This Christmas themed third film has been talked about for awhile, but we finally got a trailer this week, for better or worse. I personally liked the series so far, but it's hard to tell if this will be good, or be another Scary Movie 23. The film seems to break the fourth wall a bit, which I find entertaining, and it mocks the fact it's in 3D, which could result in some good 3D usage, or some really bad usage, depending on your sense of humor. Either way, at least this won't be your traditional Christmas movie. Besides, NPH is back, that has to provide for a few laughs.

Harry Potter makes some dough - The final Harry Potter film passed the billion dollar mark, currently at $1.14 billion to pass Lord of the Rings as the third highest grossing film of all time, behind Titanic and Avatar. The film also moved past Transformers: Dark of the Moon to be the biggest grossing film of 2011. It's a worthy mark for the finale of such a big franchise.

Prepare to roll your eyes in 3...2...1...

In some slightly odd news bits this week, Keanu Reeves is directing a film called the Man of Tai Chi, in which he will play the villain. Finally, he can show he really does known Kung Fu.

The Situation wants to get into movies, apparently. He said he would like to make great movies like Leonardo DiCaprio and idolizes Robert DeNiro, but sees himself more like the Rock. Yep, I can see him making movies as soon as Jersey Shore is over, can't you?

Hong Kong Phooey gets the big screen treatment, and a voice. The voice is that of Eddie Murphy. I loved the original cartoon, but Eddie Murphy? I'm assuming they thought that the character of Donkey from Shrek was a success, so naturally Murphy is a good choice here. If that's the kind of decisions we are dealing with, than this movie could be rough. Get the beer.

Snakes, why does it have to be Snakes? - Blastr has a story about Elstree Studios, which originally was used to film Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, and apparently, some of the snakes used from that movie escaped and are still around. Is this true? Maybe, but I thought it was cool to share.

Del Toro praises studio for not being cowards and staying R - Director Benecio Del Toro was a big fan of the original Don't Be Afraid of the Dark and has been trying to get a remake for over ten years. Finally, he got his wish, and produced the remake with first time director Troy Nixey. When the film was rated R, not for gore or nudity, but simply because it was too intense, Del Toro considered it a praise, and was happy the studio stuck by the original material instead of watering it down for a possibly more profitable PG-13 rating.
"I actually like that. Thankfully we have Bob Berney at FilmDistrict saying 'Let's do it as an R.' Most other distributors would say 'Let's cut it, let's go back to the PG-13' but [they didn't.] Everybody praises always how brave filmmakers are but what's great is when distributors are brave...I think this movie mutilated into a PG-13 would be a shame. It's not overt, it's not gory, it has every right to be scary. And I think we need to make like, the scary pride parade and say 'We want to be super scary and we don't have to be ashamed of it.' PG-13 is the refuge of many cowards."

I really agree with Del Toro here. I think the guy has some serious talent, and it seems like so often, his or other talent is watered down for a better rating. I get that it's all about business, but there's a fine line between someone trying to make a great movie and someone trying to make money. You can have both, and ideally, if the movie is good, it will make money. I'm not one of those that say a horror movie has to be R to be good, but if the story requires it, make it R.

Doctor Who goodies - We got a new teaser trailer this week for the Doctors return in two weeks. On BBC America this week, we also got a special with the best of the Doctor, just basically summing up some of the better parts of the season. We also had rumor that Amy and Rory would be leaving the TARDIS by the end of the season. While they are supposed to make appearances throughout the next season, they won't be full time companions. I am not sure if I believe the rumors, and I don't know if I like it, but I can understand, with next season being the big, epic, anniversary season, that a standard companion format could be tricky.

Man of Steele starts filming! - That's really the extent of the news on this one. They are finally starting the filming of Man of Steele. Last week, we got a pretty dramatic photo, and I hope more are to come.

Batman news of the week-

Anne Hathaway defends the costume - After the photos of the Catwoman costume came out last week, a lot of people were apparently not impressed. I actually liked it for it's real-world features, meeting the sexy, leathery, Michelle Pfeifer-ey look of the previous comics and movies. Hathaway said that we haven't seen a tenth of what it can do, so we should reserve judgement. She also talks in a video about how much work she did to look like a sexy cat burglar for the film. You can check out the video HERE.

Over at Screenrant.com, they had some speculation about a bit of misdirection regarding Joseph Gordon-Levitt's character. They are just geekily wondering at this point if maybe his character, thought to be a cop could actually be Edward Nigma, AKA The Riddler. I say it's a possibility, but I hope it's not true. I think, with that many villains, the third Batman film would look too much like the third Spiderman film, but it's fun to speculate, and Gordon-Levitt could make an amazing Riddler.

We also get a nice close shot of Bane, played by Tom Hardy. This costume seems to be going for more of a real-world thug look. While this is before any camera or CGI trickery, I can say, I'm a little bit disappointed so far. I have no doubt that Nolan has a few tricks up his sleeves, though.

Finally, the big news regarding what is now, the worst kept secret ever is an appearance by the Batwing. You can see the videos HERE, that show them filming a scene with what is rumored to be the Batwing flying through the streets. It makes sense, considering the appearance of multiple tumblers throughout the city, that Batman upgrade his gear from the Batpod seen in the previous film. Besides, we see Catwoman riding it, which means Batman probably left the keys in it by mistake.


Box Office Breakdown - Monkeys are still winning.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes was once again on top this week, with an average drop of around 50%, pulling in $27 million, with The Help bringing in pretty good numbers to finish second, and Final Destination 5 coming in a dismal third.

1. Rise of the Planet of the Apes - $27.5 million ($104.9 million total)
2. The Help - $25.5 million ($35.4 million total)
3. Final Destination 5 - $18.4 million ($18.4 million total)
4. The Smurfs - $13.5 million ($101.5 million total)
5. 30 Minutes or Less - $13.0 million ($13.0 million total)
6. Cowboys and Aliens - $7.6 million ($81.5 million total)
7. Captain America: The First Avenger - $7.1 million ($156.9 million total)
8. Crazy, Stupid, Love. - $6.9 million ($55.4 million total)
9. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 - $6.9 million ($357.0 million total)
10. The Change-Up - $6.2 million ($25.8 million total)

DVD's hitting the shelves this week -

Amy Winehouse in Concert 2007

Dexter: Season 5

The Conspirator

Paranormal State: Season 5

Jane Eyre

Trailer of the Week - Footloose - The Remake

Anytime a studio decides to remake a movie, there are devoted fans of the original that cry fowl. This trailer, however, has me crying fowl, too, and I am no fan of the original. So, if you want, check out the all new, teen-angst filled remake of Footloose, with all the moping teens, and none of the Bacon.

Kevin's Korner 8.09.2011

Welcome to another edition of Kevin’s Korner, your weekly source for all that is geeky. This week’s column is brought to you by the letter “H” as in Holy leaking photos, Batman. On top of Batman stuff, we have some casting news, some rumors, a great trailer, the box office info an so much more.

Before we get into the news, I want you to ponder this question: After this week’s impressive showing of Rise of the Planet of the Apes, are you more worried about the uprising of monkeys, the rise of machines, or the zombie apocalypse? Answer in the comments section…Now, off to the news…

I’m in the news business, and business is a boomin’ …

First off, some casting news -
Expendables 2 gets things started with its director, Simon West (Con Air, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider), along with some rumors of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Chuck Norris and John Travolta joining Bruce Willis and Jean-Claude VanDamme. I can understand everyone except for Travolta. While I like Travolta when he plays a bad guy, it’s one of those ‘which one is not like the others’ moments. If you liked the first man-tastic film, this one is shaping up to have even more testosterone. Bring a towel.

Superman gets his boss – It was announced Perry White, editor-in-chief of the Daily Planet would be played by Morpheus himself, Lawrence Fishburne. It’s an interesting change, and I can’t wait to see Fishburne in the role.

Speaking of Superman – Here’s the first look at Superman. Clearly they are aiming for a bit darker than Brandon Routh’s turn in the role. I don’t know what those sparks did to him, but he won’t be taking it anymore. I’m a little stoked about this photo, despite the scales on his costume. What do you think?




John McClane is back – Die Hard 5 is getting going, despite the director bailing out. 20th Century Fox is looking at Attack the Block director Joe Cornish, Fast Five director Justin Lin, Drive director Nicolas Winding Refn and Max Payne director John Moore as their short list for a movie that apparently takes Bruce Willis’s New York cop to Russia. Now, do we need another Die Hard movie? Well, not really, but do we want one? Hell yeah! I love those Die Hard movies. So, bring on some more of McClane. I figure, eventually we'll see Hans return as a zombie.

Green Lantern 2 to be more edgy – Warner Bros. admits the first Green Lantern, still in theaters, by the way, was a bit of a failure, and that the second film will be a success because they look to have a better balance of outer world and Earthly scenes. They also plan to make the film darker and ‘edgier,’ and they think that will make the film a success.

*steps on to the soap box* I hate the idea that making a film ‘darker and edgier’ means the film will be a success. Yes, it worked with Batman Begins. Christopher Nolan did a great job of going from George Clooney bat nipples to a dark knight very well. Was it because he went darker and grittier? Not really. He set the proper tone of the film, as a dark and gritty film, which is what the character needed. He then cast some great actors and Katie Holmes in the film and gave them a heck of a script to go off of, giving us a real-world Batman. It worked incredibly well, but it wasn’t because of the dark and gritty, it was because it was well executed and directed. If you had put Clooney in a dark and gritty Batman with the same script as Batman and Robin, it would have bombed horribly. Just because a film is dark and gritty doesn’t make it a success. Look at Iron Man, Favreau intentionally kept it lighter, and I think the film is better for it. Look at Spiderman, and Spiderman 2, they were intentionally lighter, and they rank among the best superhero films out there. So, just saying “we’re going to make it darker and grittier” doesn’t mean anything, other than they really have no idea what they’re talking about. Get some good actors, a good script and a good director and keep it light, and you’ll have a smash hit. It’s the coming together of these pieces, not the dark and gritty.
*gets off the soap box*

Marvel making short films to bridge Avengers gap – To fill in all the little gaps between Thor, Iron Man one and two, Captain America and the Incredible Hulk, Marvel is making short, two-ish minute films to help bridge the gap between all those post-credit cut scenes and 2012’s blockbuster film. The first is “the consultant” you can see over at Screenrant. It’s pretty short, but I think it’s a cool idea. It’s not necessary viewing, but it adds to the universe, which is never a bad thing.

Red Tails looks pretty – The latest project from Lucasfilm has a trailer, and it’s called Red Tails. It’s the story of the Tuskegee Airmen, and their important part of World War II. It’s hard to say whether the film will focus on being historically accurate or a popcorn flick based on the original members, my guess would be the second, but the incredibly talented cast and the really well done special effects definitely got my attention.

Hitchcock films rediscovered – In true Hitchcock fashion, a film believed to be the earliest he has credit in has been discovered in New Zealand. The film is entitled "The White Shadow," and Hitchcock was credited as writer, assistant director, editor and production designer in a movie about a good twin and bad twin, and starred Betty Compson. The film will re-premiere September 22, at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences theater. After, the film will be added to their Hitchcock collection. It’s pretty amazing to discover film that was believed lost after all this time.

A possible Boba Fett film? – There is talk of making a full length Boba Fett film, and currently, the project is seeking funding. What are we supposed to think of this? I say ‘rediculous.’ I am not a fan of the Fett. The alleged bad ass was killed by a blind Han Solo, and screamed like a girl at the end of Jedi. The only reason he was made such an integral part of the prequels, was that Lucas was trying to suck up to the fanboys. Now, we’re trying to pretend that he didn’t turn into a mild case of heartburn for the Sarlac pit? I call shenanigans. I say, let the lame bounty hunter remain dead. There are plenty of cool characters that don’t have to be pulled out of the bottom of a pit in the Star Wars universe, use one of them.

Planet of the Apes Timeline – With Rise of the Planet of the Apes out, someone took the time to give us a timeline of the Apes taking over for your viewing pleasure.


Doctor Who is back soon – Doctor Who will make its return on Aug. 13th, in the U.S. and most likely in the U.K. as well. The news comes with a new, slightly shorter trailer that has a few new scenes that get me all kinds of excited. BBC America has marathons running before the return, one focusing on the best of the Monsters, and the other focusing on the best of the companions. Both will have some celebrity commentary on the show. Bring on Aug. 13th! And, to wet your appetites, here’s the trailer:


Anime Conventions to check sex offender list? – Blastr had an article about how Katsucon was responding to news that a sex offender had sex with an underage girl at the convention by saying they are trying to check every guest’s name against the sex offender list. The article talked about the impracticality of it, and whether conventions are really as bad as that news pieces makes them sound.

So, do you think it’s a good idea? Do you think young girls running around in sparsely dressed cosplay costumes attracts a high rate of perverts and sexual deviants, or is it like anything else? For me, I see no reason why they couldn’t try to run the names and compare them through the database, but I don’t think it’s exactly a hot spot of sexual crime. While I may sound old in saying that some young girls wear way too little, I don’t think it breeds any great issue. But, what’s the harm in checking names?

Batman news EVERYWHERE – The Dark Knight Rises started off as the most rumored movie in recent memory with people firing off casting rumors like crazy, talking Angelina Jolie, and Eddie Murphy at one point. Now, the best kept secret seems to be turning into the worst. There is photos and video everywhere from filming of the film. Some of it is spoilery, and some, not. If you get upset by me posting this stuff, please tell me in the comments. Maybe I’ll stop. I don’t see too much spoilers, it’s more newsy, but some people…

First up, we have Catwoman. Up until now, we haven’t seen anything, and then over the weekend, we have three photos, two of which show Catwoman on the Batpod, and the third shows the full view of her suit. I think it looks pretty hot. Thoughts?




The next bit of info comes from several videos. The first shows three tumblers, all in brown camo driving down the street, prepping for a scene. It makes me wonder if there is a scene with at least three tumbler’s or are they assuming they are going to wreck two or three of them. The youtube video is HERE.

The second is a scene being filmed on a football field. It looks like Bane and his forces attack during a game. The players that were used for the football game are actual Pittsburgh Steelers football players. This scene is a bit spoilery. The video is HERE.

Finally, the last video shows Batman (Christian Bale) and Bane (Tom Hardy) fighting through a crowd of people. It’s pretty cool stuff, and I love seeing some behind the scenes work. The video is HERE.


DVD’s hitting shelves this week –
Evil Things
Camp Hell
Frat House Massacre
Mars Needs Moms
Your Highness

Box Office Breakdown – Apes kick some blue butt
Rise of the Planet of the Apes did way better than expected, bringing in $54 million. Cowboys and Aliens dropped around 50% to come in third, with $15.7 million. The big surprise is The Smurfs. The movie looks all kinds of rough, but it surprisingly dropped very little from last weeks premiere to bring in $21 million.

1. Rise of the Planet of the Apes - $54 million ($54 million total)
2. The Smurfs - $21 million ($76.2 million total)
3. Cowboys and Aliens - $15.7 million ($67.4 million total)
4. The Change-Up - $13.5 million ($13.5 million total)
5. Captain America: The First Avenger - $13.0 million ($143.2 million total)
6. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 - $12.2 million ($342.8 million total)
7. Crazy, Stupid, Love. - $12.1 million ($42.2 million total)
8. Friends With Benefits - $4.7 million ($48.5 million total)
9. Horrible Bosses - $4.6 million ($96.2 million total)
10. Transformers: Dark of the Moon - $3.0 million ($337.9 million total)

Trailer of the Week – In Time
This week’s trailer looks like a cross between Repo Man and The Island, starring Justin Timberlake, Amanda Seyfriend and Cilian Murphy. The cast is enough to peak interest. While the story is pretty interesting, I just hope they can overcome the sort of generic action thriller this film could easily fall into.

Korner 13

Welcome to another Kevin’s Korner; your one stop for all that is geeky and good (mainly geeky). It’s been a crazy busy week, with weird and bizarre news, price hikes and teaser trailers (oh my). So, take a look at what’s going on, and give me your wonderfully geeky feedback in the comments. You all know I love the comments!

I’m in the news business, and business is a boomin’ …

Netflix wants more mulah – The top story for the week that was is regarding Netflix, and their incredibly large price hike. The cost of their monthly subscription is now broken up between their online streaming service and their mail DVD’s. The online community is upset over the 60% price hike with news of the online blog having their 5,000 comment thread being maxed out on the first day, and “Dear Netflix” being a trending topic on Twitter, with people venting that the new price hike is outrageous.

I read a blog over at Gizmodo, talking about how people need to get over it, because it’s only $6 and that if you go to Blockbuster, you will still pay much more, and that the streaming service is still under priced at the new pricepoint, and to a point, I agree. That being said, I think a 60% increase is just plain greedy, and inconsiderate to customers who have been with Netflix for a decade or more. I would also argue that the streaming library, while receiving recent gems like Star Trek and tons of new TV shows, is severly lacking in new movies. As a result, I politely canceled my Netflix account. While I may wander back their way, for now, I think I’ll look into other methods, like Hulu +, or Redbox.

What do you think? Is Netflix screwing its customers, or is it a standard business move?

Evil Dead gets a remake, director and shitty..uhh, a writer – For years, there has been hope, but no action on another Evil Dead movie. Last week, the flood gates opened, and we got all kinds of news, but only some is good. First off, the new Evil Dead movie will be a remake of sorts, something probably similar to the second movie. It was also announced Panic Attack! director Federico Alvarez would helm the movie. Alvarez became something of a hit after his short became an instant hit online. It was also announced Diablo Cody would be writing the script. I keep hoping for there to be some sort of “gotcha” at the end of these reports, but I haven’t seen one yet. Cody garnered all kinds of attention after her script for Juno won an Academy Award. Her next script for Jennifer’s Body didn’t fair as well. There isn’t any mention of Bruce Campbell’s involvement, although, there were allegedly some tweets from the star giving the impression he had seen a script, so we can only hope the Chin will be back.

So, I’m a little worried about Cody writing this script (in case you couldn’t tell). Her “stylish,” pop-culture induced scripts wear thin extremely quickly, and seems like a huge change in style from the previous masterpieces. I can only hope Sam Raimi and company can reign her in a bit.

Point Break turned 20 – One of those guilty pleasures of mine, the Keanu Reeves and Patrick Sawyze movie Point Break turned 20 last week. The film, originally directed by Kathryn Bigelow was one of those over the top action movies that was just fun. Swayze was known for the terrible haircut, and Reeves was known for the flat Johnny Utah, but it was good fun. As a side note, the word “fuck” was used 105 times, and Johnny Depp, Matthew Broderick and Charlie Sheen all had been rumored to have tried out for the role of Johnny Utah. /Film also posted the ‘making of’ featurette here, if you haven’t seen it yet.

Captain Kirk could become Robocop – Another one of those vicious rumors hit the web this week, and this time, it’s over the remake of Robocop. The remake has been green-lit and shelved so many times, I don’t know what to believe anymore, but studios have said they are interested in a younger actor to replace Peter Weller, and that younger actor is Captain Kirk himself, Chris Pine. While I would love to see a good remake of Robocop, and I really liked Pine’s turn in the captains chair in Star Trek, I have some serious reservations for any remake. It seems like they don’t necessarily have a new story to tell, just cashing in for nostalgia money. But this one could be different. Maybe.

George C. Scott watches Jack and Jill – I can’t really say much more than what George C. Scott himself says in this really well edited video. I mean, they have Al Pacino flirting with a female Adam Sandler. Comedy Gold, right?





Batman news! – The most anticipated movie of 2012, and maybe ever had some big announcements this week. We got an amazing picture of the batmobile, sitting next to what looks like the bat-pod. It looks like they brought back the tumbler, or something pretty close.

We also got the teaser poster for the movie, hitting theaters next year. There was some talk of people seeing Superman’s shield in the falling debris, but I don’t really see it.

Finally, we have the teaser trailer itself. We see some shots from Batman Begins, a shot from The Dark Knight, and a quick shot of Bane from the new movie. The teaser definetly got my interest peaked. I'm really excited about Bane. This teaser has almost completely erased my Batman and Robin experience. Thank God.





Finally, some Spiderman photos - Check out the latest Spiderman photos. You can see the whole bunch here, but this looks pretty good! The suit doesn't look much different than the Toby Maguire suit, but the differences are there, and it makes it look slightly less cartooney. I like the idea of web shooters, too.

Fans take on Doctor Who - One of the cooler videos I've seen lately involves Doctor Who fans get together to play music from the famous show. They submitted videos of themselves playing thier insturments, and the different insturments were combined together to form a beautiful piece. That is some pretty sweet geekiness. If you're a Doctor Who fan, this will make you smile! Check out the video HERE

Jon Favreau interviews Olivia Wilde - I'm not sure if you have seen the previous interview, where Favreau interviewed Harrison Ford, buy it was by far the best interview I've ever seen Ford give. Normally, the Star Wars actor looks pissed to be there and growls through the interviews, but under Favreau's perfectly geeky enthusiasm, he was excited and shared some great stories. Now, he turns his interviewing to actress Olivia Wilde. Ms. Wilde looked enthusiastic and excited and she had some great stories. My favorite line is "wait, Jeff Bridges thought I was cool? The Dude abides? Nice." That's why I think Favreau does such a good job, because he's a total geek, and as such, has passion and enthusiasm in the subject matter and the actors. Check out the interview HERE.

The Thing trailer - I was a huge fan of the ... well, technically, the remake starring Kurt Russell. That being said, this trailer makes this movie look like the most generic Sci-Fi movie of all time. I mean, this trailer uses a cookie cutter and never breaks for the tired Sci-Fi trailer formula. What does that mean for the movie? Maybe nothing, but it does nothing to get me excited for the film.






Box Office Breakdown – Harry Potter dominates
It what was no surprise at all, Harry Potter took the number one spot with the final movie in the series, the Deathly Hallows Part 2. The surprise to some, however, was that it blew away the previous record, held by the Dark Knight of $150 million. The film also set Friday records with $92.1 million in one day. Transformers: Dark of the Moon had a pretty good third week with $21.3 million and poor Winnie the Pooh, opening at $8 million.
What did you donate your hard-earned George Washingtons’ to this weekend?

1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 - $168.3 million ($168.3 million total)
2. Transformers: Dark of the Moon - $21.3 million ($302.8 million total)
3. Horrible Bosses - $17.6 million ($60 million total)
4. The Zookeeper - $12.3 million ($42.4 million total)
5. Cars 2 - $8.3 million ($165.3 million total)
6. Winnie the Pooh - $8 million ($8 million total)
7. Bad Teacher - $5.2 million ($88.5 million total)
8. Larry Crowne - $2.6 million ($31.6 million total)
9. Super 8 - $1.9 million ($122.2 million total)
10. Midnight in Paris - $1.9 million ($41.8 million total)

DVD’s new to the shelves –
Hey Dude
The Girls Next Door: Season 6
Limitless
Top Gear US: Season 1
Torchwood: Complete UK Series

Alright, I’m excited about Hey Dude. I used to watch that when I was a little geek, way, way back in the day. It’s one of those shows few people know about, but it was one of the first live action Nickelodeon produced shows. I’m sure, when I watch it now, my inner child will be horribly let down, but I don’t care, I’m buying it anyway.

Trailer of the week - Sherlock Holmes 2
This looks quite similar to the first film, but I did enjoy the first film, so count me in for the second. I’m kinda shocked they show Professor Moriarty, though. I figured he would be a shadowy figure, not seen until the climax, but I guess I was wrong.

A Wedding to Remember Part XI: Lord of the Rings

With three months, nearly to the day, this whole wedding thing is really happening. Flowers are being grown, beer and wine are being brewed, food is being planned, and tables are being cleaned. The event I’ve been thinking about since I met my future fiancée is right around the corner now, and that realization picks odd times to hit me.

It hit me last night, when we picked up my wedding band. We had gotten my future wife’s band a few weeks ago, since hers is the important one, and it had to match her engagement ring. So, mine was easy, compared to hers. On top of that, I could’ve had a gasket from an engine, for all I cared, it wasn’t the metal on my hand, but the fact that it symbolized my soulmate and would be a constant reminder that I hit the jackpot. However, a gasket would not simply be enough for my fiancée, as we hit several stores and scoured the web to find something I liked. So, once I had it in my hand, the realization that our rings would be worn in 90 short days, for the rest of our lives hit, and hit hard. I can say, I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy.

After getting nearly everything done, the rings were a big, very symbolistic step that showed that this thing was almost here. I had the ring in my hand, and she had hers; no more planning, or thinking about centerpieces (although she's still working that part out), it's ring time. The thought was exciting, and was as much adrenaline as I could take. Here I am, going over wedding plans that are done, and tuxes that are ready, and tables that are about to get organized, and it's a big difference from six months ago, when this whole thing started, and I asked her to marry me.

Toward the end of the planning, you start to think about the beginning; how my fiancee started to get stuff done from the words "I do." I remember talks on money, and centerpieces, and colors and dresses, it seemed like so much to handle. I remember thinking there was no way my little brain could handle any more. Look at us now, we've got this stuff done, and we did it together, which makes it a million times better.

I have figured out planning a wedding is a lot of work. I will say this, though, the wedding planning can have a huge impact on your wedding. Fortunately for us, looking back, it has made us so much stronger, as a couple. There were times where I thought centerpieces would kill me, but she was always worth it. There were other times where getting something setup was the most exciting thing in the world, and we were there with each other, ready to do this. Through all of this, I love my future wife more than I ever thought I could, and she continues to amaze me daily.

Now, can I wear my ring, yet? And, do I sleep on the couch if I call it 'my precious?'