This is shaping up to be the CANNONBALL RUN of superhero movies.  According to Mike Fleming at Deadline Hollywood, Joss Whedon, creator of the TV shows BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, FIREFLY and DOLLHOUSE, and director of SERENITY, is in final negotiations to direct THE AVENGERS; Marvel Studios’ ambitious cinematic crossover project scheduled for a 2012 release.  This news has got the fanboy ‘verse whipped up in all manners of hi-larious frenzy. Read more

For higher quality versions, including HD, go to this link.  Enjoy.

http://www.program-glitch-esc.net/ Read more

Good news for FRINGE fans.  Entertainment Weekly is reporting that the Fox television  sci-fi procedural has been renewed for a third season.  This show had been on the bubble and nobody could say for certain whether or not the show would be back.  Now it appears that those questions have been answered.

Season 3 is a good threshold for a network sci-fi show.  Not many make it this far.  I suppose the next question is for the freelance TV writers:  Is it safe to spec FRINGE now?  Heck, I just might take a shot at it.

So what do you all think about this show?  Love it?  Hate it?

What would you change or like to see more of?  Sound off.

New episodes begin April 1.  In the meantime, enjoy the gag reel after the break. Read more

Actually, I had thought this movie was long dead.   But when researching the Stephen Chow WAY OF THE DRAGON article, I came across this little morsel of news involving Tony Leung, Mr. Wong and the guy who was Bruce Lee’s teacher. Read more

AICN and many others are pointing to a Channel News Asia piece confirming that Stephen Chow (Shaolin Soccer, Kung Fu Hustle, CJ7) is writing, will direct and will presumably star in a film called TAI CHI, a remake of the Bruce Lee film THE WAY OF THE DRAGON.

There are only a handful of people who could pull off a Bruce Lee remake and  Stephen Chow is one of them.  As a filmmaker, he has great sense in action, comedy, wonder and emotion.  His films take place in worlds that are absolutely nonsensical, yet they remain anchored to reality by the characters.  He’s got this way of making characters believable, identifiable and utterly demanding of our interest, if not our out right sympathy.  And if your characters are solid, you can get away with just about anything you want.  Stephen Chow pushes this concept to the limits.  We accept the crazy settings of his films because we are in love with the people who live inside them.  Imagine if Charlie Chaplin had starred in The Matrix trilogy, directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet.  That is pretty much what a Stephen Chow film is like.  Oh, and Chow is also a a highly capable actor in his own right.

The film is budgeted for $60 million and is scheduled to begin shooting in June.  Anne Hathaway and Jack Black are set to star.

You read that right.  Anne Hathaway and Jack Black.

While this is very cool news, the trades have yet to confirm it.  Normally, any film with Anne Hathaway and Jack Black is going to get coverage from the trades, but neither Variety nor The Hollywood Reporter has said anything yet.  I would treat this as just a rumor for now.  You know how the fanboys can be (wink).

In the meantime, enjoy some Stephen Chow clippy and trailery goodness below the fold. Read more

Angry with NBC and their piss poor Olympics coverage? Come on in and vent.

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Jeff Zucker has HEROES hoisted from the ceiling, bound with chains, dangling over a buzzsaw carefully balanced over a pool of hungry piranhas…

“Hahaha!  Fools!  This will be the end of you!  But before I feed you to my pets, let me tell you my nefarious plan, in full detail…  First, I will clone Jay Leno…”

Last night, NBC aired the season finale of HEROES.  There is a lot of talk that this might be the end of the show.  If this is the case, then I would have to say that it went out with somewhat of a whimper.

Sorry, but it’s true.

The once mighty show has seen a sharp drop in viewership since it’s auspicious beginnings.  Their once loyal fans appear to have grown ambivalent over the show’s direction.  It seems many just want the show to go away before it taints their enjoyment of the season one DVD set any further.

Will NBC oblige them and take this show out to the shed?  Or will they make us sit and watch them whine for another year about how they are different and don’t fit in?

Is there a third option?  How about they let this show go out with the dignity of a real ending?

If you haven’t yet seen the episode and would like to, you can watch it here after the jump and get some of my thoughts on the future of the show, if there is one. Read more

As part of their continued effort to rebrand themselves, Syfy (formerly known as The Sci-Fi Channel) has expanded their Saturday night movie lineup to include at least 5 more updated fairy tales in the coming months.

If you have seen the previous productions of TINMAN and ALICE, then you generally know what to expect.

Coming soon will be an update to Hansel and Gretel in which Hansel comes back to the haunted forest for revenge… No, I’m not kidding. It’s on the page. Also planned is an update to Little Red Riding Hood, focusing on her wolf hunting descendants. And are you ready for THE 8TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD?

Syfy is one of the few remaining networks still airing made-for-TV movies on a regular basis. If you’ve seen some of these movies, then you know most of them are delightfully awful. Sometimes consciously so. Sometimes not. Syfy has effectively preserved the “B movie,” and I applaud them for this.

The first of the new updated fairy tales to air will be BEAUTY AND THE BEAST on Feb. 27.

Read James Hibbard’s original THP story here, and don’t forget to set your DVR’s for some of the most hilariously bad, modern-day, grindhouse movies you will ever see.

Thanks Syfy. And please change your name back to Sci-Fi.

As for me, I would love to see an update to Pinocchio where he becomes real boy and has to go out and get a job. He tries acting, has a tough go, then ends up a prostitute on the strip. Or perhaps a hit man. Who knows? How about Rumplestiltskin II: The Lawsuit? Or Twenty MORE Thousand Leagues Under The Sea?

Read Syfy’s press release after the bump.

And while you’re at it, let me know. What kinds of updated fairy tales would you like to see? Read more

The British Film Institute | Sight and Sound Magazine’s January online issue comes with their choices for Best of 2009 in the categories of Film, DVD and Online Video (which is a delight to see).  Also, interviews with Jim Jarmusch, Richard Linklater, and Sally Potter are available in both the print and online editions.

January 2010 Online Issue of Sight and Sound.

Sight and Sound’s Best Films of 2009

Sight and Sound’s Best DVD Releases of 2009

Sight and Sound’s Best Online Videos of 2009

Great little tidbit from The Hollywood Reporter.

They have put together a pilot blog that tracks all the developments leading up to television’s “Pilot Season.”  Tracking which pilots are greenlit, which are picked up and which ones might actually go to series.  They’ve been doing this for a couple of years now.  Used to be that you had to read the trades and pick out all this info yourself.  But now it’s all bunched together in a fragrant bouquet of future television goodness.

This is how your favorite (even your not so favorite) TV shows are born, folks.

The producers pitch their show ideas to a network, and a network can order a “pilot,” or first episode of a series as a way to see how it will all play out and whether or not the show works.  Some pilots actually make it on the air where you get to see them.  But that practice is not as common as it once was.  Most pilots are evaluated in house or through linited screenings.  Sadly, some pilots get shot, edited and then dropped by the network to never be seen again.  But pilot season is where these shows see their first life.

If you are a fan of TV shows, this is a chance to take an inside look at how they get on to the air, and just how competitive that process is.

If you work in production and are looking for a job, this blog will give you hints on who to call and where you can send your resume (and if the show gets picked up, you have a shot at some steady work).

If you are a writer, you can get a heads up as to what shows may be coming, and what you may be able to write for.  You can target these shows early, and know what specs to have ready for when any of these shows get picked up for writer’s “staffing season.”

not to be outdone, Variety has a pilot watch section too.

You can find it here. No flash.  Just links to their own articles, indexed for your convenience.