Skyfall to Feature the Cutest Q Since Desmond Llewelyn

It's that special time for the 007 series.

When the Broccolis, after making a big public stink about making the British Gentleman Agent different, getting away from the tried-and-true formula (One that's kept silver spoons in their mouths since 1962) with proclamations of "Going back to Fleming" and always name-dropping From Russia With Love, go right back to the well.

Per THR, come reports Brit actor Ben Whishaw is our new Q in Skyfall, currently lensing in the UK. Whishaw, said to be quite the heart-throb in his neck-of-the-woods, will be the first actor to take the reign on Bond's eccentric gadget-maker since the late Desmond Llewelyn, last seen in 1999's The World Is Not Enough. If you don't count the two turns from John Cleese as Q's replacement R.

With that, Q is younger than James Bond, Ralph Fiennes may be Blofeld (My guess is he's Blofeld in all but the name, assuming Kevin McClory's estate still fully owns the character) and Miss Moneypenny may start out as a field-agent. You know, I have nothing against updating the characters per say. Just stop making a ruckus over making changes if you know you're going to wind up back where you started, Eon.

Star Trek Sequel Beaming into Cinemas May 17, 2013

Still don't have a title and don't know the status of any newbies boarding the iPhone-store Enterprise (outside of Benicio del Toro, upgraded to "In discussions" phase per MTV Movies Blog) but damn it if we finally have a release date for J.J. Abrams' Star Trek sequel.

May 17, 2013, "TOLDJA" reports and hey, kids, it's going to be in 3D too! Looks like that What's Playing report on Abrams trying to play ball with Paramount's demands for lens flares in three dimensions was legit, not that any of us doubted it.

And Michael Giacchino is back on scoring duties, says Coming Soon. Go run along, children and eat your turkey while fanboys on the Internet masturbate to thoughts of del Toro as Khan.

New Prometheus Pictures Want to Have Their Cake & Eat It Too

For some reason, 20^th Century Fox is adamant with keeping the "Is it or isn't it an Alien prequel?" charade going on Ridley Scott's Prometheus.

These scans taken from the forthcoming issue of Entertainment Weekly (courtesy of Shock Till You Drop) is keeping up with that approach. Stylistically similar to Scott's '79 sci-fi/horror classic but different enough to not be a carbon copy and still keeping with the mystery. A "mystery" from the looks of things Fox won't let up until next June.

My bitching aside, this does look cool though

See Andrew Garfield Swing for Whole Seconds on Amazing Spider-Man Set!

Another round of shooting is underway on The Amazing Spider-Man.

Splash News has footage of Andrew Garfield (still in that pre-Spidey/head-warmer & shades look) swinging around New York to accompany those set pictures from this weekend.

New Dark Knight Rises Details - Why It Sucks To Be Batman

Latest issue of Empire (dragging their ass to send my copy of last month's issue) is all about The Dark Knight Rises, Christopher Nolan's cherry-on-top capper to his Batman trilogy next July. Since the trailer will be in front of Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows prints and the prologue glued to IMAX screenings of M:I 4, it's time for everyone to begin talking specifics while remaining vague.

Two big revelations come out of this. One, the big prologue will be all about Bane, baby, and two, its set eight years ahead of The Dark Knight. Guess that would explain those set pictures of Christian Bale rocking the grey in this hair.

Straight from the mouth of the One They Call Nolan:

"It's really all about finishing Batman and Bruce Wayne's story. We left him in a very precarious place. Perhaps surprisingly for some people, our story picks up quite a bit later, eight years after The Dark Knight. So he's an older Bruce Wayne; he's not in a great state."

What we've heard, they're really pushing how being Batman is physically killing Bruce. As in those scars on his back ("Know your limits, Master Wayne…") aren't healing and just making it worse on our hero. To the point where he has to wear a more armor-heavy suit this time.

Coming Soon also got some meaty scans taken directly from the World's Biggest Movie Magazine including the exclusive subscriber only "Bane Titty-Twister" cover (see above) and him going all "You want a piece of me, Batman?" in what looks like the new Batcave.

The Expendables 2 One-Sheet - Cannon Lives!

The whole appeal of first Expendables was seeing all the old bad-asses from the mid-to-late 80s together in one movie. And then people got royally screwed. One scene, just one with Sly, Arnie and Bruce bullshitting in a New Orleans church, and at no point did they punch anything!? Bastards!

Thankfully, the one-sheet for The Expendables 2, as supplied by JoBlo, promises Schwarzenegger and Willis will stab something this time, and with Chuck Norris and Jean-Claude Van Damme for added Cannon measure.

From Immortals to Killing Tinkerbell

In the course of a week, Tarsem Singh went earning goodwill off Immortals to pissing it all away with the trailer to Mirror Mirror.

He suffers from the same dilemma as his old film-school pal Zack Snyder - ironic given how both are betting the farm on Henry Cavill as their leading man. Visually, he delivers aces in spades. But you'd better hand the guy a good story else the product is fucked no matter how fabulous it looks.

Fortunately with the success of his Greek epic, his stock is high and position has shifted to him being the one pitched ideas to. "TOLDJA" says in his first post-Immortals success project (Relativity Media hired him for Mirror Mirror before the first footage from Immortals publicly screened) Tarsem has chosen the noir-fantasy Killing On Carnival Row.

The script, set in a futuristic yet 18th century looking London, is described by those who've read it (read: TMT's own Peter Georgiou) as "Peter Pan meets Sherlock Holmes." In another case of small-world syndrome, it was penned by Travis Beacham, the chap we reported is on Warner Brothers' short-list to write the sequel to the as-yet-released The Man of Steel.

Bryan Singer Hasn't Wasted Enough Time on 70s Nostalgia – Attached to Six Billion Dollar Man

Adding to the slate of revival fare clouting his directorial judgment as of late, Latino Review reports Bryan Singer is attached to helm The Six Billion Dollar Man, the cost-adjusted movie take on The Six Million Dollar Man, the popular sci-fi action series from the 1970s.

The 1970s, the same decade that gave us Battlestar Galactica on television, an expensive and glossy, camp-tastic Logan's Run (both on the big and small screens) and Superman: the Movie. All properties Singer got his hands on, spent a lot of studio dollars developing, and frankly wasting his talent and time, with Superman Returns as the only one to actually get made.

Seriously, Bryan, stop! The general public isn't warming up to your child nostalgia repackaged for today. Your Superman turned out great (Fuck the haters!) and holds up incredibly well, but even that wasn't met with universal acclaim.

Alas he's not giving that up anytime soon, and as Kristina did to Johnny Depp on Movie Moan, my interest following his filmmaking career as a fan is gone. Good buddy of mine put it best couple of weeks back. Bryan needs to go back to 20^th Century Fox full-time and just make X-Men movies.

Ricky Gervais Returns to Spit in HFPA's Faces!

Does anyone truly care about who wins the two "Best Picture" awards, seeing celebrities getting served liquor (The logic going them getting more boozed up results in more "off the cuff" acceptance speeches) or who is deemed the best & worst dressed by a panel of fashion-obsessed douchebags?

Of course not, the Golden Globes is all about the celebrity butt-kissing and that idology came in stark contrast to the hosting duties of British comedian Ricky Geravis last year (See video below).

But in a surprise move, considering how thin-skinned Hollywood is about themselves, Variety has the scoop Gervais will return for host duties after all. In a case of honesty, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association acknowledged not everyone is file and rank behind this call:

"While many welcome Gervais's return, not everyone is happy with the decision because  last year his blunt one-liners targeting big-name celebrities caused anger and resentment in some quarters. After the show Gervais dismissed the possibility of coming back for a third time, but he gradually warmed to the idea and last month met with HFPA President Dr. Aida Takla-O'Reilly in Paris to discuss it. He  said recently that the idea of going back behind the podium 'is very tempting.'"

Guess that's what happens when your ceremony is airing on a network so down the toilet, they had to talk you into letting Gervais back. Let's just hope he doesn't pussy out and play nice on air.

Star Trek Sequel: Welcome to the Jungle

It's about time we got details on the sequel to J.J. Abrams' Star Trek, or "Star Trek: The Star Trek" as Red Letter Media put it, beyond the standard "Oh we're still working on the story" non-answer we've heard for years.

Unlike Christopher Nolan's camp, who intentionally send out fake spoilers to throw people off such as that bullshit about Joseph Gordon-Levitt's Dark Knight Rises role you may have read last week, such tactics aren't employed by Team J.J. Probably because they’re more afraid of him shoving any leakers into that damn "mystery box" of his and throwing away the keys.

Trek Movie has good tidbits on where things are at. January 15^th is the start-date on as the as-yet-titled follow-up, sets from the 2009 reboot are being re-used (Cost effective!), ILM is already underway on effects shots and writers Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman and Damon Lindelof are on draft #3. Hawaii is being looked at for a possible filming location subbing for a "jungle planet" and a local Los Angeles museum will, most definitely, be used for a "famous Star Trek location."

From what we've heard the Klingons play a prominent role in Star Trek 2. The angle, according to our sources, plays up them up as a Nomadic sect of warrior aliens causing trouble for the Federation - think an intergalactic Taliban with their home-planet overrun by Tribbles. Yes, those Tribbles, here in the newly rebooted continuity viewed as "furry carnivorous creatures."

Oh, and no Khan. Thank God.