In an interview with ‘Home Media Magazine’, Todd McFarlane, co-founder of Image Comics and creator of ‘Spawn’, revealed that he’s hard at work on a new ‘Spawn’ movie. If you were unfortunate enough to have seen the 1997 adaptation with Michael Jai White then you’ll no doubt welcome this news. The dark, edginess of ‘Spawn’, which really ushered in a whole new period of realism and grittiness in the world of comics, seems tailor made for film. Yet the first movie was abysmal by any standards – poor casting, poor directing, poor script, and horrible, disjointed special effects. Fans everywhere would love to see McFarlane get a ‘re-do’ on this one. I do have one qualm though. I don’t fear a repeat of the horrendous production quality seen in the first film, but I do hope McFarlane is open to a co-writer to help the script’s pacing and plot. McFarlane’s artwork is brilliant, but as a writer he’s often sub-par. Since he’s financing this ‘Spawn’ redux himself it’s unlikely he’ll take much guidance from others.

Fan’s of ‘Spawn’ will also be interested to know that HBO plans to release a 10th anniversary DVD box set of ‘Todd McFarlane’s Spawn’. The set includes all 18 episodes of the three season animated show that ran between 1997 and 1999. As well as the show, the four DVD’s feature storyboards, commentaries, and interviews. The box set goes on sale July 24.

Among the general film-going public, the response to Jet Li is either luke-warm or “Jet who?”. But among martial art fans, he’s universally worshiped – almost to Bruce Lee standards. Even though I haven’t always agreed with his movie choices, I count myself among the fans who think Li is among the top action stars of all time. Like Bruce, Jet is the real deal. He’s a bona fide martial arts champion. Even his stoic acting lends itself to the on-screen mystic that permeates his film work. Li’s next project is ‘War’ for Lions Gate scheduled for release this September. The film stars Li and Jason Statham of ‘Transporter’ fame as an FBI Agent (Statham) on the hunt for his partner’s killer (Li). The action takes place while a crime war between rival Asian gangs rages in the streets. The plot seems pretty standard fare but the teaming of Li and Statham could be a good match. To get a better feel for the film check out the ‘War’ official site.

On a barely related note, Lions Gate is also behind Eli Roth’s ‘Hostel: Part II’ which is scheduled for a June 8^th release. Eli Roth is apparently pushing the gore-o-meter to the limit in this film and some aren’t taking it lightly. Nikki Finke, who writes the brilliant ‘Deadline Hollywood’ blog, posted a highly critical article about Roth and the ‘torture porn’ genre of horror films coming out of Hollywood. These films aren’t my thing and I don’t give them much thought, however reading Finke’s post and Roths own words didn’t leave me with a good taste in my mouth. Is the success of these films a reflection of some post-modern apathy that’s rampant in our culture – or are critics just taking these films too seriously? Read Finke’s post about Eli Roth.

I’ve been excitedly waiting for 2005’s ‘Sin City’ sequel. The first Robert Rodriguez film that I really liked and the best Frank Miller screen adaptation to date, ‘Sin City’ blew me away with it’s brilliant mixture of noir-ish black and white cinematophy, CGI backdrops, and great performances from Mickey Rourke and Clive Owen. After seeing ‘Planet Terror’, the better of the two ‘Grindhouse’ films, I become a confirmed Rodriguez fan. I can’t wait to see Rodriguez and Miller team up again for ‘Sin City 2’. However some disappointing news is making the rounds on the net. Origninally scheduled for a 2008 release, the sequel is now looking questionable. Doubts first cropped up when Michael Madsen said in an interview that he hadn’t seen a script and principle photography, scheduled to begin this June, wasn’t going to happen. Some feared the film was canceled but Frank Miller has said ‘Sin City 2’ is still on track for production, just not right now. Both Miller and Rodriguez have moved on to different projects – Miller is working on ‘The Spirit’ and Rodriguez is remaking ‘Barbarella’. No word yet on exactly why both director’s have postponed production of ‘Sin City 2’. Even though Miller seems optimistic the movie will still see the light of day, if history is any indicator, it would be unlikely Miller and Rodriguez’s schedules will line up again for both to shoot the film together. If it’s made, I would expect either Miller to work with a different director or Rodriguez to shoot the film without Millers active input. Either way, don’t expect to see ‘Sin City 2’ in theaters for a couple of years – at least.

As many of my faithful readers are aware, I absolutely loath the ‘Pirates’ franchise (see my earlier post ‘Did you Like Pirates of the Caribbean? Then you’re an Idiot’). And I’m not just referring to the widely panned second film ‘Dead Man’s Chest’. I hated the first one equally – including Johnny Depp’s shallow and pedantic acting. The plot was painfully predictable, the script was horrid, and the directing was mediocre. ‘Dead Man’s Chest’ only confirmed what I already knew, while surprising former friends and acquaintances who had previously praised the first film. From filmdom exile, I returned upon the word’s of critics who had the slag stricken from they eyes and finally saw what a debased mockery this franchise is – but unlike the prodigal son, I returned triumphant – the all seeing sage.

One of my favorite reviewers, Stephanie Zacharek, who writes for salon.com, has just published her review of ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End’. Though she was fooled by the first release, she clearly saw the failings of the second and predictably rips the third. I’ve included some choice quotes from here review:

“The third and (please God) final entry in this screamingly successful Disney franchise is, like its predecessors, big on spectacle: There’s so much to look at that you never know where to look.”

“This is a glazed, inhuman, cluttered piece of work, a storytelling mishmash that buries the considerable charms of its actors under heavy drifts of silt.”

“There’s no reason we shouldn’t expect more … Disney will earn back every single piece of eight it spent on “At World’s End,” multiplied exponentially. But maybe moviegoers need to be more like swashbuckling privateers, out for our own pleasure and gain instead of that of the big studios. What if Disney made a “Pirates” movie and nobody came? What if we moviegoers just said, en masse, Talk to the hook, because this peg leg is taking its moviegoing booty elsewhere?”

Ah … if only moviegoers where that enlightened. Instead, the movie industry has slowly numbed us over the past half-industry, convincing the average American that a films budget is directly proportional to its quality and entertainment value. Like sheep, we continue to let Hollywood studios herd us towards they’re crap -which we willingly purchase. They’ve conditioned us to open our wallets whenever they dangle a shiny pretty object in front of our faces. Please – don’t be a sheep. Save your money. Take your family to picnic in the park this weekend. Don’t subject them or yourself to this abomination.

Read Stephanie Zacharek’s ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End’ Review.

The third installment of the animation juggernaut ‘Shrek’ pulled in an amazing $122 million this past weekend. That far out paces past animated flicks and puts the film third on the all time list behind ‘Spiderman 3’ and last summers ‘Pirates of the Caribbean 2’. What makes ‘Shrek The Third’ different than ‘Spiderman 3’ and ‘Pirates’ is that reviews so far have panned the movie. Also unlike the other three-quels showing this summer, the first two Shrek films were well regarded by fans and critics alike. But with a built-in family audience, ‘Shrek’ is proving cirtic-proof.

Hollywood is having one heck of a summer. Coming this Memorial day weekend, ‘Pirates of the Caribbean 3: Dead Man’s Chest’ is projected to have a $180 million opening. One thing to watch for during this craptacular release is whether the nearly 3 hour running time hurts ‘Pirates’ box office take – especially after the initial rush of die hard fans. The failure of ‘Grindhouse’ is popularly blamed on it’s 3 hour plus edit. Hasn’t Hollywood learned yet that Americans can’t sit still for longer than 90 minutes? With the outstanding success of these films – all of which are mediocre at best – we can expect more of the same from studios. God help us all.

First off, yes, that is Tim Allen (then, Timothy Alan Dick) posing for the Sheriff’s Department in Kalamazoo, Michigan. I’ll get back to that story in a second, though. The Tim Allen News-of-the-Day is that he has signed on to be in David Mamet’s upcoming martial arts drama. I never thought I would put Tim Allen, David Mamet, and martial arts drama all together in the same sentence. It is a crazy world indeed.

Variety is reporting that David Mamet will be directing Tim Allen, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Joe Mantegna, and a bunch of professional martial artists and fighters in his next film, Redbelt. The story, written by Mamet, follows a Jiu-jitsu master (Ejiofor) who jeopardizes his integrity after being seduced by the movie business and influenced to compete in ultimate fighting matches. Ejiofor, an exellent actor, is currently training with members of the Gracie family who are known worldwide for their Brazilian-style Jiu-jitsu. Tim Allen plays a troubled action star who meets the master after getting his ass kicked in a street fight.

Don’t be put off by Tim Allen starring in a drama. The last time Mamet cast a comic actor in a dramatic role it turned out pretty good. Remember Steve Martin in The Spanish Prisoner? Everything about this film sounds pretty cool. The key to it all will be if Mamet can direct fighting scenes. Apparently, he has some of the best martial artists and fighters in the world in the film, so it can’t be that hard. Sony Pictures Classic is putting the money up for Redbelt which starts production next month in Los Angeles.

Now, back to that mugshot. In 1978, Tim Allen was arrested in a drug bust and spent three years in jail because of it. It was in jail that Allen developed his comedy routines for protection because as he put it, “Humor was the best defense I had.” After he got out of jail, Allen started doing the comedy stand-up circuit which led to the career he has today. When I read about all of this, I developed a new respect for Tim Allen that I never had. I’m looking forward to see what he can do in a more serious role. Guess we’ll find out next year when Redbelt is released.

Read the Variety article here.
Learn more about David Mamet here.
Learn more about Tim Allen here.

I am not one to promote anything that MTV does. I think MTV and their crap programming are definitely one of the worst influences on youth society and culture. It isn’t just the youth of this country they negatively impact, but youth around the world because there is a separate MTV for Europe, one for Asia, and one for Latin America. I’m not sure if the Arab world has a MTV affiliate, but if they do it would easily explain one of the reasons they dislike our culture so much.

However, MTV.com did submit a neat question to several respected film directors asking what they would do if they took over the Harry Potter film franchise. Directors like Zack Snyder (300) and Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth) gave some interesting responses. The Potter films have made billions at the global box office, and still have three more to release. I admit that I am a big fan of the Harry Potter books. They are well-written by author/creator J.K. Rowling with great characters and storylines. The first two movie adaptations really sucked, but the last two were pretty entertaining. The trailer for the latest film, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, shows some potential for being a good film. However, we’ll have to wait until it’s released on July 13th before we know for sure. The final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, hits bookstores at one second past midnight on July 21st.

Click on the link below to read the MTV.com article, but as soon as you are finished turn off your computer, take a hot shower, then pray, do some meditation, and go sit in the middle of a forest for a week in order to cleanse yourself of the taint that being near anything MTV can leave.

Click here to read the MTV.com article.
Click here to visit the official site for Harry Potter.
Watch the Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix trailer here.
Read about the history of Harry Potter here.

Joblo.com alerted us that Warner Bros. has launched the teaser site for The Dark Knight which is the sequel to Batman Begins. Critics and audiences alike fully embraced this re-imagining of Batman, and anticipation of the sequel is growing. As Joblo pointed out, one thing that is really cool about The Dark Knight is that Warner Bros. is keeping to the script’s title and not throwing Batman anywhere in there.

The only thing known about the story is that The Joker will be the main villain and Harvey Dent is being introduced. Harvey Dent is the Gotham City District Attorney who had half of his face horribly disfigured when a crime boss he was prosecuting, Sal Maroni, threw acid on him. The mental anguish of his disfiguring created the split personality of Two-Face who became one of Batman’s greatest enemies. At this point, it is all speculation whether Dent will become Two-Face in The Dark Knight. He could be set up for the next film.

With Christian Bale returning as Batman/Bruce Wayne, Heath Ledger as The Joker, Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent, and all of the other minor characters/actors (except Katie Holmes who was replaced by Maggie Gyllenhaal) from Batman Begins also returning it is pretty much a guarantee that the acting in this film will be top notch. Batman Begins director Christopher Nolan and writer David S. Goyer also return, so my expectations of this sequel are pretty high. July 18th of next summer is the release date. I’ll keep you posted on any new info as it comes out.

Read Joblo.com’s take on the Dark Knight logo here.
Read the history of Batman here.
Read the history of The Joker here.
Read the history of Two-Face here.