Mon, August 15, 2011 I put Batwing in brackets because as of right now this new aerial monster of a vehicle hasn't actually got a confirmed name, but this is a fantastic shot captured by splashnewsonline.com and really shows off the size of this thing when compared to the tank-like Tumbler, even taking perspective into account.
Sun, August 14, 2011 
Coming Soon had the chance to talk shop with one Sam Worthington during press day for "The Debt". I have nothing against Worthington, I think he's been fine in anything I've seen him in; "Terminator Salvation", "Avatar", and "Clash Of The Titans". That being said, he's been in such high profile movies and I don't even think the general public has any idea who this guy is.
I'm hoping that changes and this guy makes it big, because he seems entirely likable and every time I hear him talk about flicks he is really interested in the entire process. Check out the interview below and you'll see what I mean.
Q:How tough is it to balance smaller, independent films with blockbusters?
Worthington: I think I'm pretty lucky to start with. If you get something like "Avatar," it opens up a lot of big blockbuster doors. But there was a thing my mate told me years ago, when I said, "Oh, there's a great independent script and a great blockbuster script, and the independent thing will show me off more as a character." He said, "But which movie would you go and see?" He said, "You go see blockbusters." And that's how I pick. I pick which movie by "would I want to go see something like 'The Debt'?" Or, "Do I want to see something like 'Terminator'?" And within that, you kind of by chance end up with a career that balances. You're not just sitting there going, "I'm going to do one big one for them, and one small one for me." That's kind of the ideal, at least that's what people think. But when you talk with Christian Bale, he's not thinking, "one for you, one for them", he’s thinking "one for me – what story do I want to tell?" And whether it's "Terminator" or "The Fighter," that's how he picks.
Q: After doing something like "Texas Killing Fields," how difficult is it to go from material that is so weighty to something like "Clash of the Titans 2"?
Worthington: You make "Clash 2" weighty. "Clash 1" is a video game. You make "Clash 2" weighty. You take everything you've learned, and go, I'm not doing this f--ing sh*t! I'm going to do a weighty script in a blockbuster. That's the bigness of a blockbuster. They're very hard because they're done by such a machine, so you try to get that weight that an independent can allow you, that freedom that they have on an independent script, and then you try to fit it into a blockbuster where there's a whole set of people who have a say. With something like "Clash 2," that's definitely what we've aimed for. And that's all I really want to say on that.
Q: Do you have to do that at the script stage or in the individual development of your character?
Worthington: You do it all of the way through. You sit down with the studio, you sit down with the character, you sit down with everybody and have a whole different look at how we're going to handle it. But that's the hard thing about making blockbusters, because they're just churning them out; they give you five months and the date's already pre-planned for the next year. There's a speed on it. But if you can get that weight and gravity into a blockbuster, even into the character – I've let slip myself a couple of times – but that's going to be changing. You've got to work a bit harder, I find. Blockbusters aren't necessarily as easy as you think.
Q: I guess I'm thinking of the seriousness or weight of material like "Texas Killing Fields."
Worthington: You've got to bring that weight. You've got to bring that weight into "TRON," know what I mean? You've got to try. And sometimes it's harder because it's a bigger juggernaut.
Q: It seems like it takes extra effort on your part to do protect yourself.
Worthington: Yeah. I decide what I want to bring, to come in there and go, look, I've just done this thing, and we mapped it out this way. How do we get that same kind of reality and gravity and grit on a green screen, with fantasy creatures? What are we actually really trying to say? "The Debt" – what is it trying to say? What is "Killing Fields" really trying to say? What do we really want audiences to walk away from "Clash 2" with in their heart more than, whoa – that's a great spectacle? When you look at "Avatar," you find the balance is perfect. He knows what he wants to say, and he gives you the spectacle. It's very rare; it's a hard thing. But that's why I like doing blockbusters, to try and get that.
Sun, August 14, 2011 
With the coming end to the highly lucrative Twilight Saga, Summit Entertainment has prepared the launch of a new franchise, also based on books targeted at young adults. So, who is to inherit the sway over box office after vampaires and werewolves leave the scene?
Charlie West, the protagonist of Andrew Klavan's Homelanders series, was an ordinary teenager with good grades and interest in karate until he suddenly wakes up to find himself strapped in a chair in a torture room. After successful escape, West comes to know that he was a captive for a year already and the "good guys" behind his mysterious imprisonment are now planning to assassinate one of government officials.
Sounds quite familar, doesn't it? The series are described as "The Bourne Identity crossed with Disturbia", thus expect another action-packed thriller about teens and conspiracy plots, full of promise to be the next big hit.
The screen adaptation of the first book titled The Last Thing I Remember will be a directorial debut for Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, the showrunners of the endless TV show Smallville. Gough and Millar are going to develop the film series along with Lorenzo di Bonaventura, the man behind the Transformers trilogy, as the producer and Miles Chapman, who penned The Tomb for Antoine Fuqua and Bruce Willis (also being produced by Summit), as the screenwriter.
Homelanders is considered as one of the most acknowledged works in the bibliography of Andrew Klavan, famous for his mysterious and psychological thrillers about "tough men". He won the Edgar Award two times and is also known as the writer of two other books made into films - True Crime with Clint Eastwood and Don't Say A Word with Michael Douglas.
Aside from The Last Thing I Remember, the series also include The Long Way Home, The Truth of the Matter and The Final Hour, all of which are option by Summit in the case of the first adaptation's success.
Sun, August 14, 2011 
We are coming to the conclusion of our prolonged opinion piece about the upcoming re-launch of Spider-Man film series.
The director of The Amazing Spider-Man, Marc Webb, believes that there is a room for vast improvement and better understanding of why Peter Parker is who he is and why and how he becomes Spider-Man. Sam Raimi undoubtly did expose the transformation of Peter Parker to Spider-Man, yet, his decision to accomplish the progression in one act restricted him from further exploring the entire complex transitioning phase from a puerile teenager with superpowers to a professional crime fighter.
As evident in Raimi's Spider-Man, Peter was ready to jump from the dull life of an outsider in Queens to an already established superhero in well-made tights in one moment of a brief montage, involving Elfman's heroic music score and comics creators cameoing as enthusiastic respondents.
As from the beginning Marc Webb intended to stay true to the spirit of Spider-man's story in comics and tell the story of maturity with all its authenticity and allegories, in the new film Peter is no more an infallible idealist who reads poems and serves as an inspiration for a parade, but rather a real person that is prone to err and making mistakes, to be morally challenged and emotionally disturbed, while still learning and gaining experience to become an expert in his new routine.
Peter is a tragic hero of the modern society that strives to serve good intentions and virtues, but always remembers that, despite all his powers, there are thing he cannot have control over. When depressed and downbeat, he uses his humor and wit to add some sense of optimism in his outlook at future. His sudden transformation marks every teenager’s puberty and changes in formation, while his growth as a superhero connects with every kid’s maturity to a man with priorities and responsibilities.
Another hindrance for The Amazing Spider-Man to overcome lies in Marc Webb’s decision to recreate the origin of Peter Parker again. The tale of an ordinary teenager that, as a result of the radioactive spider’s bite, gains superpowers and starts to fight crime after the death of his beloved Uncle Ben, was already told back in 2002 and now almost every other person knows it by rote.
However, even centuries ago, one of the greatest philosophers named Aristotle opened eyes to many prospective writers and creators that the real story is built upon answering questions of not what events take place in it, but how and why they take place and also how they affect our characters and their development. As it was noted before, Webb is aiming to show a new portrayal of Spider-Man, different from Sam Raimi’s trilogy, in which Spider-Man never really had the chance to shine and demonstrate his own personality, having to keep quiet all the time and opening the mouth to throw no more than couple of unfunny one-liners here and there.
Nevertheless, with Webb desiring to present the new, more faithful, interpretation of Spider-Man, the Spider-Man we all know from comics (i.e. the one who often throws wisecracks, makes mistakes from time to time and is an actual alter-ego of Peter Parker by all means), how rational is it to implement this vision of the character without really giving us the chance to understand and examine why Spider-Man acts differently this time, why we see this Spider-Man instead of that? This question sheds the light on Webb’s risky decision to not just re-introduce the character, but also his origin, his fundamentals, and to discover in the character what was never done in the previous films.
To show what we see as established on screen, each and every part of it should have its cause and effect or consequence in order to make sense the second or third time we will watch the film and actually turn on our brains. One of Raimi’s most critical mistakes was to skip the whole process of Peter’s struggle to become Spider-Man by inserting a series of quickly edited shots in the first film and further exposing all the feelings from Maguire's never-reacting face expression. And, this turned out to be the advantage taken by Webb, no matter how much risk it involved in the realization.
To go back to the original source of Spider-Man’s stories, what was really so special about particularly this superhero in comics that brought so much attention to him? Yes, it was the fact that readers could relate to his daily problems. Yes, the fact that we were engaged in his life as it reflected ours. These two are already included in Webb’s check list. And, yes we could actually sympathize with Peter Parker and his problems in becoming a superhero. Why? Because, despite all his superpowers and intelligence, he wasn’t ready to be a superhero, unlike stable Superman or mature Batman.
It took Peter a long time to gain enough experience and understanding of how things work, while having to overcome challenges above his level of competence. It took him a long time to get used to his new life, no matter how much he was frustrated about the way things turned for him. The whole process of Peter making continuous attempts at perfecting his craft to become a professional in fighting crime is what the earlier comics were about for the first few years of its run and this is what greatly contributed to Spider-Man’s success and his distinction from other superheroes. And, this is also what was never included in Raimi’s movies, but is now being amended by Webb.
Moreover, the new director sets a goal to fully understand his character and explain him to us by also elaborating on Peter’s parents and their past, which was always an obscure mystery in comics. The unknown past of Peter’s parents both connects to the primary father’s theme of the film and plays a key role in the later establishment of Peter as an outsider because of the feeling of abundance and the new driving motivation for the character to grow and change.
It also gives a better picture of the way story may take shape with Peter trying to unveil the truth about his parents with the inner hope of finding his father, but ending with the death of the person, who actually was his real father figure all that time – Uncle Ben.
These two events lead Peter to become a hero and savior of not only lives of others, but parents of children, which smartly related to the storyline of Doctor Curt Connors, his transformation into the Lizard and consequent danger to his son’s childhood of the loss of father. One thing certain that Webb stated, Peter's parents are not going to be CIA agents, as was written in the original comics. There's still a great chance they will actually figure as former scientists, employed by Oscorp, which well established the connection between Parkers and Connors.
It’s no wonder that The Amazing Spider-Man may step aside from its source material, as what always happens when comics and, most often, books are adapted to fit the nature and pace of the cinematic medium. Even films like Sin City and 300, which didn’t take a risk to demonstrate a new approach to the material, still had changes in their content, whether visually or story-wise.
Back in 2000, Sam Raimi’s decision to use the idea of organics instead of mechanic web-shooters for Spider-Man to spin the web caused a life-lasting debate between organics and mechs advocates. Among from many other aspects that differed Raimi’s movies from comics were Peter’s crawling abilities, Green Goblin’s costume, Mary Jane’s character, a story’s focus on Peter’s love interest and foes instead of himself, and positive general opinion of people about the image of Spider-Man.
The last in the list is believed to be one of the main issues, exposed by the story in the new film, as this time Spider-Man will be having problems, being seen in the eyes of both authorities and public as an outlaw and serious threat to the city. The Amazing Spider-Man also brings its own changes to the story, the first example of which is Spider-Man’s costume, now equipped with practical stuff and modified to look more like a teenager’s piece work. Nonetheless, Spider-Man has gone through many different incarnations and interpretations in all kinds of mediums, such as comics, cartoons, video games and, finally, movies.
It’s no more about how faithful a movie can be in terms of technical and secondary aspects, but how faithful it is to the character’s arc. As previously stated, Sam Raimi succeeded to present Spider-Man’s story on the surface only by switching from weak and powerless Peter Parker to brave and confident Spider-Man in one act.
Marc Webb, with his new vision, decided to undergo certain changes and take high risks for the purpose of unmasking the protagonist’s inner being and thoroughly explore the complex development of both Peter Parker and his alter ego, Spider-Man, in our contemporary world. In the end, the unique story of Peter Parker/Spider-Man has always been about a common guy, living in the real world, who just happens to possess superpowers as a result of being bitten by a radioactive spider.
As it was already mentioned earlier, numerous web sites and blogs shared their reactions regarding the footage, recently presented during the movie's panel at Comic-Con (July 22) and now also Empire (August 14). Examples of these include:
The Washington Post: Interest levels will remain high as we head toward the release date next July. The footage was certainly strong enough to convince the average moviegoer to want to reconnect with one of the most recognizable and beloved superheroes.
Hollywood Reporter: Spider-Man leaves Hall H not only vindicating the reboot, but also taking the title as the Con’s must-see footage and should-have-been-there panel.
The New York Times: By the time it all ended, most of the thousands who remained out seemed more than happy with what they saw of Mr. Garfield, his co-star Emma Stone, their villain Rhys Ifans and the director Marc Webb.
IndieWire.com: For all the strengths of the Sam Raimi series, there were certain aspects of the character that the director never quite got right, and Marc Webb‘s reboot seems to be shaping up nicely. The footage shied away from the origin, and even much action, to mostly focus on character beats, with a relationship with Uncle Ben (Martin Sheen) that seems far more three-dimensional and developed than that in the first picture, while Andrew Garfield‘s chemistry with Emma Stone is palpable.
Total Film: The Amazing Spider-Man’s first trailer had us scratching our heads and attempting to figure out how director Marc Webb’s re-spin would distinguish itself from Sam Raimi’s Spidey trilogy. Happily, exclusive new footage unveiled at the Con meant we could all let out a massive sigh of relief. With two extended clips shown – one focusing on Peter Parker, the other on antagonist The Lizard – Webb proved that his reboot isn’t a pointless cash-grab. Darker and moodier than Raimi’s films, but with flashes of web-light humour, the footage well and truly converted us.
Collider.com: ... it certainly has the potential to take the franchise in an interesting new direction.
Thus, the question of whether the new film about Spider-Man deserved to be given a chance or not is of a more concern than whether it will be successful or not, as one may lead to the answer of the other.
Sun, August 14, 2011 Today has seen more extensive chase footage being shot in Pittsburgh for TDKR, the vehicles included are the three Camo Tumblers, a converted Patriot nicknamed the bomb-truck, Catwoman on the Batpod and Batman in his new flying/hovering vehicle.
In the video below captured by subaruwrxfan you'll see the above mentioned vehicles (bar the Batpod) hurtling along at 60 mph, all in close proximity. It looks like Nolan is cooking up the mother of all chases for his Batman trilogy swansong!
Sat, August 13, 2011 Just received an email telling me I should check out the short "Guillotine Guys" via Youtube. I get a lot of emails telling me to check out this and check out that, and I always do it. It's because I am a man of the people I guess. I advise you to take seven or so minutes out of your life and view the short in HD below, great darkness to it. There is a guillotine and guys involved, so it's not false advertising.
Sat, August 13, 2011 
TMT favorite Joe Manganiello did some big time pimping of himself for the role of Superman in the "Man Of Steel", which is shooting as I write this. TMT was one of the first sites to latch on to the idea of Joe in the tights and were routing for him, although Cavill is a solid choice and damn does he look the part. We found out later that Joe was indeed a finalist along with Armie Hammer and Matthew Bomer.
Digital Spy had a chance to talk to the True Blood star about what could have been and what is reaction was to not becoming Superman.
"[Warner Bros] wanted me to screen test and part of the screen test process is that they actually have to settle your deal, as if you were cast going into a screen before you get the screen test, and so that involved settling of shooting schedule and the dates for shooting Superman would have conflicted with 11 weeks of season five [of True Blood]. And as it turns out they had big plans for my character in season five and they were not willing to share me with Superman."
"So regrettably I never got to screen test and I never got to compete for the role. I never got to put on the suit. This was back in January. I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't... I was really, severely depressed for a few months. For a few months afterwards."
"Because I really thought the direction they were taking the movie and the character, I really thought I had a great idea where to take that and I was very excited and I just wanted to try out my ideas and things. But, you know, it just wasn't meant to be."
While we most likely won't see Joe donning a Superman suit, you never know what can happen. Look at the Cavil situation. First he was Superman, than he wasn't, and now he isn't again. We just recently heard from some of our friends in Burbank that Mr. Robinov was really interested in Manganiello and would have been just as happy as he is with Cavill if Joe ended up with the flowing red cape.
Sat, August 13, 2011 
Mike Myers hasn't headlined a live-action comedy since the colossal failure of 2008's The Love Guru. But it's tanking wasn't from a lack of effort. The comedy was heavily promoted including Myers hosting the MTV Movie Awards that served as nothing but an extended commercial thanks to good old-fashioned corporate synergy. Both Paramount and MTV are owned by Viacom. As been the case time and time again, movie-goers just got tired of Myers' routine and decided to spend their money on other comedies that summer like Get Smart, Tropic Thunder, Step Brothers and Pineapple Express.
In an effort it appears to get back into relevancy, Myers is dusting off the thick rims and bad British teeth. That's right, he's closed a deal for Austin Powers 4, reports HitFix.
As fate would have it a few months back, I caught Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me on FX. As opposed to the fifteen year-old me who (like many) couldn't stop laughing and spent the remainder of the summer quoting that sequel, my twenty-seven year-old self kept thinking, "So this was the defintion of comedy for us back in 1999!"
You would think that the box-office failures of the afore-mentioned Love Guru but also Scream 4 would tell Warner Brothers/New Line this is a bad idea. In the case of Scream 4, Dimension thought taking a once-vibrant franchise and one sympatico with the 1990s and bringing it back would result in modern audiences hungering for a return. It didn't. They had moved on to something else.
If this is going to be more of Myers typical schtick we've seen before, except for making fun of Jason Bourne and Daniel Craig's James Bond, I can't think of anything positive to say. The 90's are over people!
Sat, August 13, 2011 
Ren MacCormack (played by newcomer Kenny Wormald) is transplanted from Boston to the small southern town of Bomont where he experiences a heavy dose of culture shock. A few years prior, the community was rocked by a tragic accident that killed five teenagers after a night out and Bomont’s local councilmen and the beloved Reverend Shaw Moore (Dennis Quaid) responded by implementing ordinances that prohibit loud music and dancing. Not one to bow to the status quo, Ren challenges the ban, revitalizing the town and falling in love with the minister’s troubled daughter Ariel (Julianne Hough) in the process.
Sat, August 13, 2011 
Dexter is an American television drama series that centers on Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall), a bloodstain pattern analyst for the Miami Metro Police Department who moonlights as a serial killer. Dexter structures his killing around "the Code of Harry", a body of ethics and procedures devised by his adoptive father Harry Morgan (who was a Miami cop) to make sure Dexter never gets caught and to ensure that Dexter kills only other killers. Harry also trained Dexter in how to interact convincingly with other people despite his dissociative mental illness, which Harry believed to be sociopathy, arising from Dexter witnessing the brutal murder of his biological mother, Laura Moser.
As an adult, Dexter has largely escaped suspicion (with some exceptions) by being genial and generous and maintaining generally superficial relationships. However, his attachment to his foster (and ultimately adoptive) sister, Debra, his girlfriend (later wife), Rita, his stepchildren, Astor and Cody, and later his biological son, Harrison, have all complicated his double life and made him question his need to kill. Ever since the series' first season, events are set in motion to show the slow but steady humanization of Dexter, progressing further with each season, as Dexter begins to experience a variety of emotions for the first time in years.