Michael Bay is a Terrible Liar

Michael Bay denied Twitch's Mark Wahlberg Transformers 4 scoop. He was blowing smoke. Why I never updated the news-item. He reacted too swift. Bogus reports are generally ignored. Why bother wasting your time on something you know is crap? Unless you know it isn't.

Bay's official site confirms the casting (no mention of his original rebuttal, of course) along with the Transformers 4 and Pain & Gain logos.

Not much to add to what I said on the initial news. Wahlberg is a good fit to a machine (no pun intended) the masses enjoy. And he's an upgrade from the douchey/ungrateful LaBeouf.

There's No More Room in Hell - World War Z Trailer

I am the easiest lays for zombie cinema. Throw out decent makeup effects, amp up the apocalyptic vibe and I'm a happy camper.  I even love Hell of the Living Dead, the Italian import that ripped off Dawn of the Dead right down to reusing the Goblin score.

World War Z should be easy for me to like. Alas. The trailer does everything to make me hate it. They don't acknowledge its zombies, they're barely showcased and what we see are, record-scratch, CG zombies. George Romero must be rolling in his grave...

Until Proven Otherwise: Michael Arndt Likely Penning Star Wars Episode VII

Disney was so quiet keeping the Lucasfilm acquisition under wraps. That "For Few Eyes Only" status applied to assigning writers for their planned Star Wars sequel trilogy too.

Vulture originated the info so they win linkage. Michael Arndt (Strong ties to the Mouse, penning Toy Story 3 and Pete Docter's Untitled Pixar Movie That Takes You Inside the Mind) is the favorite. The Force is strong enough with the Oscar-winning scribe he's reportedly penned treatments for the new trilogy and assigned full-on scripting duties on Star Wars: Episode VII. If "TOLDJA" is to be believed on the latter.

The studio is keen for the return of principle leads Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher. Their terminology ("high ambitions to sign up Mark Hamill") suggests Luke Skywalker is the priority. Han Solo and Princess Leia, we’d love to have you back, but if push comes to shove, we're going with the Jedi-in-training protagonist of the original trilogy.

There's also stuff about how Arndt's treatment is "crossing the desks" of J.J. Abrams, Brad Bird and Steven Spielberg. Nope (Exclusive to Paramount and already doing his own "A Long Time Ago..." thing on Star Trek), maybe and Hell no (Lots of reasons but we’ll go with “Too expensive”). Zack Snyder also told the LA Times he's not interested... but then again he wasn't interested in Superman either.

Welcome to Five Months Ago: The Man of Steel Going 3D

In July, the official IMAX site let slip The Man of Steel was going 3D. Until the page was yanked and Warner Brothers cried foul. Retractions were made on most sites. Not here. I knew it was bogus (Too much at stake and this was before Time Warner won crucial court-cases keeping their big slice of the Superman pie) and the initial leak was real.

How else do you explain it appearing on the official IMAX site, people?!

As expected, the studio announced this afternoon, what do you know, The Man of Steel will be post-converted. There's a press release (per Coming Soon) and even a "They made me do this!" read-between-the-lines quote from Zack Snyder.

Now everyone can pretend to be surprised a studio lied to them. Idiots.

David Yates Has Settled on Tarzan; Meeting with Potential King of the Apes

From the Boy Who Lived to the Lord of the Apes.

I suppose that's why David Yates settled on Tarzan. After leading Harry Potter to its glorious cinematic exit, the British director took his sweet-ass time mulling over how to follow that up. Wisely, I'd add. He can do anything he wants (within reason); especially at Warner Brothers. Why not stick to another hero of literature?

Yates, who only committed to Tarzan Monday, has gone straight ahead meeting with leading men to rock that loin-cloth and grow out a ratty beard. Henry Cavill, Charlie Hunnam, Alexander Skarsgård and the studio is nudging him towards Tom Hardy. All up-and-comers on the verge of stardom in the coming months (Cavill the new Superman, Hunnam headlining Pacific Rim, Skarsgård and Hardy while appearing in big releases already have yet to live up to their hype).

Tarzan feels less likely to go for an unknown and more for a name. Any of those guys makes sense. Even it proves to be a bad career move. Visions of John Carter come to mind.

Source: Vulture

Our First Realistic Star Wars Episode VII Candidate - Colin Trevorrow

Ask yourself, "Who is a realistic director for Star Wars: Episode VII?"

"Name" filmmakers dropped by the dozens since the news of Disney's purchase of Lucasfilm last week; the Christopher Nolans, Matthew Vaughs, Sam Raimis, Joss Whedons, etc. Employing any of those afore-mentioned directors mean their style and ideology come with. It's a part of the package. You know you're watching a Nolan movie a minute in. Star Wars has a style all its own. Going with an established director means they become the focus when the drawing power of Star Wars has, and will always be, Star Wars itself.

When Celebuzz throws Colin Trevorrow to the rumor-mill, I get that. It makes all the sense in the world. He's young, one feature to his name (Safety Not Guaranteed), the kind of quirky choice bringing back memories of how unorthodox Irvin Kershner and Richard Marquand were. Most important of all, he's controllable. He's not going to overshadow the fact that a sequel to Return of the Jedi is a reality.

Realistic as Trevorrow is, best not get carried away. This is far from a done deal. Chats were made and nothing more. Other names will leak; fantasy-casting or reality based their chances may be. If Disney is serious about meeting their 2015 date (Too tight for the standard May release...unless it's Christmas) a choice will have to be made soon.

Jamie Foxx Cast as Electro in Amazing Spider-Man Sequel

Nobody cares about a sequel to The Amazing Spider-Man, Andrew Garfield was great but he was playing a hipster douchebag version of Peter Parker, all they're doing is further repeating Sam Raimi by including a new Mary Jane Watson, blah, blah blaaaaaaah!

But what's this? PLOT TWIST! Jamie Foxx is playing the baddie and as Variety originally scooped its Electro. "HE CAN'T PLAY ELECTRO! HE'S BLACK!" some of you more stupid readers might say. Two words: piss off. Guy's a solid, charismatic actor (See: The Kingdom). A non-issue.

Initial rumors coming outta the trades said Electro was one of several villains intended to give Spidey concern past dating Gwen Stacy, keeping his grades in check and getting Aunt May's milk-obsession at bay. Have those plans changed and Norman Osborn is merely Movie #3 set-up? We'll see.

Do us a favor, Marc Webb/Avi Arab (Bypassing through Kurtzman and Orci because, why bother?), don't spend time on Electro's origin. It's The Amazing SPIDER-MAN. Keep it on Pete and, let's face it, we're tired of "Science gone horribly wrong!"

Source: Variety

The Odds are Ever in His Favor - Francis Lawrence Directing The Hunger Games: Mockingjay

Once the machine starts up, you can't stop it.

Lionsgate has no intentions of doing so with their machine The Hunger Games. Its sequel Catching Fire is hard at work under the direction of Francis Lawrence (due out November 2013). The concluding book in Suzanne Collins' trilogy Mockingjay got split into two flicks, as you know, for November 2014 and 2015.

Collider reports the studio has retained the services of the I Am Legend director for those remaining installments. Such a move allows little down-time searching for replacements and keeping their eye on the ball. Twilight never stuck with a director between films and Harry Potter stopped searching after David Yates worked out so well. I can see the appeal of going the latter route for Hunger Games.

Flying the Middle Earth Skies - Hobbit Themed Instruction Video

Here's an interesting piece of cross-promotion: Air New Zealand and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. A safety video produced by WETA and the Kiwi airline showcases the standard, "What to do..." procedures. Just with Elf Flight-Attendants, Gandalf as the Captain, a Gollum-like passenger and Peter Jackson.

The joke gets old pretty quick. But it's a unique and harmless item.

Retro-Video: Living Dolls Horror Short Film

Those in their late-twenties and up are old enough to remember USA Saturday Nightmares, a weekly programming block consisting of horror films and analogy shows (including The Ray Bradbury Theater, my introduction to the legendary author) on the USA Network.

Every so often the feature wasn't long enough and to fill vacant air-time, horror shorts aired including Living Dolls. The spooker centers on a kid (emasculated at his janitorial job at a bridal shop) locked upstairs on the third floor. A room full of mannequins. In the middle of the night.

As the slasher genre ruled the roost, writer/director Todd Coleman showed you don't need mask-wearing psychos, accompanied by Tom Savini-caliber makeup effects, to scare. Mood and atmosphere (Thanks to good old-fashioned editing, cinematography and sound) work wonders. This scared the crap outta me as a little kid and to prove it isn't nostalgia talking, I showed this to Phil Gee. It freaked him out too.

Almost as a means to calm you down, the video is immediately followed by the opening seconds of frothy 80s sitcom My Sister Sam.