”Whenever I’m with my mom in a public place and there is a 20 year old around she will pimp me out as Cleveland.”
– Mike Henry
Mike Henry has one of the best jobs on Earth. He is a voice actor, writer and producer on my favorite primetime cartoon ever, Family Guy. In addition to doing the voice for Peter Griffins neighbor Cleveland, he does a myriad of other voices including Herbert the aging pedophile, and the Greased up deaf guy.
What is Warner Bros. and DC Comics next big movie? New reports suggest Barry Sonnenfeld is working on DC Comics’ title The Metal Men, which was first introduced in 1962 and has been played with sporadically by DC since then. The Mental Men group consists of six artificially intelligent robots created by Dr. William Magus. Each was made out of a specific metal with powers to match. Gold, the leader can stretch; Iron possesses super strength; Lead can make shields; Mercury could melt to pass through small spaces; and Platinum, who believed she was human and would flirt with her creator, could stretch and flatten. There was also the insecure Tin whose powers are unknown. They popped up throughout Infinite Crisis and had a twelve issue run in Wednesday Comics in 2009. The Metal Men have also made appearances in Batman Brave and the Bold and Justice League: New Frontier. The Metal Men wasn’t on anyone’s radar for DC’s next movie, but it could have potential.
Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel will involve a lot more than Superman just saving Metropolis. New information has leaked onto the internet, and it looks like a good portion of the movie will take place during the war on Krypton. This help makes sense of the elaborate costumes we saw last month that included suits for Jor-El and other Kryptonians. Not much else is known about the film, but the producers will have a presence at San Diego Comic Con where they’ll be debuting footage.
Kick-Ass 2 has signed Chloe Mortez back as Hit-Girl. The film hasn’t begun production but we now have confirmation that three of the core cast members are returning: Aaron Johnson and Christopher Mintz-Plasse being the others. Kick-Ass 2 will involve the heroes’ identities being learned. Hit-Girl will be identified, causing her a whole new set of problems.
Disney and Marvel has already announced the animated Avengers Assemble series hoping to play off The Avengers success. The animated projects don’t stop there. Marvel is also developing an Iron Man animated series. A Hulk series is in talks as well. All of the animated series will appear as part of the Marvel Universe on Disney XD.
Graphic novel and comic guru Alan Moore is best known for his work on titles such as: V for Vendetta, Batman: The Killing Joke, and Watchmen. Now it looks like Moore is moving onto film as he announced he is working on a short film series currently titled Show Pieces. The project started as a single ten-minute movie, but has since evolved into a ‘multi-layered, multi-episode narrative,’ though little more is known about it.
Seth Grahame-Smith has been tasked with scribing the sequel to Beetlejuice. Beetlejuice 2 wants to just make a sequel for money; they want to make sure it is done right. To do this, Grahame-Smith says he plans on using the character Beetlejuice sparingly, and not overdue him, pointing out Beetlejuice was only in about half an hour of the first movie. The one other thing he noted is it is a real sequel. The amount of time that has passed since the first movie is how much has passed in the story.
A new Mortal Kombat movie is in the making. Little is known about the project except for a short synopsis:
“The live-action reboot will follow a lowly unlucky supermarket employee who discovers that he has out of this world powers and must decide between good and evil, even though the evil side has helped him discover his true potential and who he really is.” – via Nerdbastards
Kevin Tancharoen is signed on to direct the film written by Oren Uziel. The story sounds a bit vague, but this reboot can’t be any worse than the first two movies.
Critics across the UK have taken a swing at the web swinger. Amazing Spider-Man is meeting mixed reviews across the pond. While some are calling it good, but not up to the standards of The Avengers, others are saying it was boring and underwhelming. The first review out of Belgium raved about how great Andrew Garfield was as Peter Parker. The others don’t quite agree, many saying he’s lost the classic Peter Parker sarcasm and wit.
A new television spot for The Dark Knight Rises has been released. There are some new clips in the trailer, but the high point is definitely the footage featuring the BatJet. The Dark Knight Rises is the last big superhero movie release of the summer. It hits theaters on July 20, but presale tickets are available now.
Early last week, gossip about Josh Hartnet being cast as Matt Murdock in the Daredevil reboot swarmed the internet. Director David Slade quickly squashed these rumors. He tweeted that not only was Hartnet not taking the part, but that they aren’t at the casting phase for the movie. During his tweets, he also announced that there are no intentions for the movie to be in 3D.
Nerds everywhere can relax. Paramount Pictures has pulled the plug on Michael Bay’s Ninja Turtles. It looks like there will be no alien turtles from space, nor worries that the turtles won’t be teenagers. Although, another source says the movie has only been pushed back ten weeks.
Can the Time Lord live forever? Matt Smith hopes so. In a recent interview, he said he’d be interested in playing the part of the Eleventh Doctor forever, or as long as possible. No one knows when the Doctor number twelve’s time will come, but Smith hopes to stay in the TARDIS until the end of time.
During recent interviews, Chris Pine and Alex Kurtzman talked more about the upcoming Star Trek 2. Kurtzman spoke about the villain in the film, assuring fans that he was a scary badass that threatens to steal the show. Where the first Star Trek was about the crew’s relationships, Star Trek 2 will focus on the villain and how the crew has to work together to defeat him. It was also confirmed the film is being shot in IMAX.
If you can’t wait for Star Trek 2 for your fix of Enterprise-bourne action, you can look forward to the new Star Trek: The Next Generation comic. Entitled Hive, it will debut in September 2012 and will feature Picard and his crew fighting against the Borg who have assimilated the entire galaxy.
“I’m not too into getting killed.”
– Robert Kirkman
The Robert Kirkman-penned comic The Walking Dead first hit the stands in 2003. It was subsequently picked up by AMC, where the TV series based on Kirkman’s story has broken cable viewing records.
The Walking Dead is a real take on what would happen if Romero zombies walked the planet. The plot follows a small group of people including their leader Rick, his wife and son as they desperately try to find a safe haven.
As the TV series goes from strength to strength, so does the comic, which will hit a major milestone next month: It’s 100th issue. The much anticipated July 11th release will feature multiple covers, something that will no doublt please and frustrate collectors in equal measure.
For more info on the 100th Issue, visit the dedicated site at: walkingdead100.com/
The Avengers has steadily been slipping in the box office, but Marvel has one last trick up their sleeves to try and capture the box office crown from James Cameron. It intends to rerelease The Avengers Director’s Cut at the end of the summer with over 30 minutes of new footage. Avengers is currently $200 million short of Avatar’s record, and the release of the director’s cut might be enough to help The Avengers close the gap.
With three weeks until the Amazing Spider-Man swings into theaters, Sony has released three new television spot trailers. There isn’t much new footage to be seen. In fact, these trailers are more like teaser trailers compared to the most recent previews. The Amazing Spider-Man premiers on July 3rd on IMAX 3D, 3D, and 2D.
Avi Arad and Mathew Tolmach, the producers of the upcoming Venom movie, intend to tie Venom into the Amazing Spider-Man. Aspiring to go even further, they hope to take steps to crossover the Spider-Man properties owned by Sony and the movie properties owned by Disney, such as The Avengers. Despite the movie rights being owned by different companies, Tolmach said he hopes all of the movie worlds can live together in peace one day. Chronicle director, Josh Trank, is currently rumored to be directing the Venom project.
The leaks from the Iron Man 3 set of pictures of the Iron Patriot suit are causing even more rumors online this week. The newest theory is that we are not seeing Iron Patriot, but a patriotic painted version of the War Machine suit. For everyone already getting in a huff about the Caucasian actor in the pictures that was clearly not Don Cheadle who plays the War Machine pilot Rhodey, the claim is that he was the stunt double. For now this is just further speculation on what the red, white, and blue Iron Man suit was.
There may be a new addition to the cast of Thor 2. Josh Dallas, who played Fandral in Thor, can’t return for the sequel due to commitments on Once Upon a Time. Marvel Studios is now looking to fill the part with Chuck actor, Zachary Levi. Thor 2 is currently scheduled for release in 2013.
Superman’s suits from Man of Steel have finally been revealed. There are multiple different suits shown, but only one that looks like the traditional Superman suit. Two of the other suits are assumed to be worn by Jor-El and Faora. Man of Steel is set to release June 14, 2013.
Another new trailer has been released for the television series Arrow. The trailer explores Arrow’s (he officially doesn’t call himself Green Arrow in the show) vendetta and the forces working against him. The most interesting thing is a shot that lasts less than a second that resembles Deathstrokes mask. Could the trailer be hinting at the series main villain?
To celebrate the success of the New 52, DC comics is releasing #0 issues for all of the New 52 still running this September. Each comic is getting a #0 issue for their one year anniversary. The comics picked up in May are also getting #0 issues, as well as a few new comics. Of the new comics, the most intriguing is Talon which starts on issue #0.
World War Z has finished shooting, but now they are talking rewrites. Damon Lindelof has been called in to try and save the movie. The new shooting is set to take place in September and October so the clock is ticking.
Speaking of Lindelof, in a recent interview with Trekmovie.com, Damon Lindelof talked about Star Trek 2 and the future of the series. He announced plans for the film to be shot in IMAX 3D. Lindelof also mentioned that the production team is already thinking about a third movie in the series.
Wreck-It Ralph is an upcoming Disney animated movie about a video game villain. While you have to wait until November 2nd to catch the film in theaters, you can play the game now. To help make everyone familiar with Ralph, the studio has released a playable 8-bit game.
Stephen King’s novel It has been picked up by Warner Bros. The studio has decided two split It into two movies to capture the entire story. Although, I doubt they are intending to bring Tim Curry back to reprise to roll of Pennywise from the ‘90s miniseries.
“I’m interested in fear and suspense and dread but I’m not interested particularly in physical violence or gore. I’m not a horror director in that way.”
– Mary Harron
Before 2000, Mary Harron was best known as the director of I Shot Andy Warhol. But after taking the reins of American Psycho after Oliver Stone lost interest she turned a very harsh book into a scathing look at materialism and how one perceives their personal reality. Lions Gate Home Entertainment has just released the Uncut Killer Collector’s Edition of American Psycho which has deleted scenes and a brand new commentary from Harron.
I got a chance to talk with Mary Harron from the set of the TV show Big Love about making American Psycho and her upcoming film biography of Bettie Page, The Notorious Bettie Page.
“When I saw the glamorous photos of burlesque queens of the ’30s and ’40s, there is a confidence in their sexuality that they seem to radiate.”
– Liz Goldwyn
Pretty Things is a documentary about the burlesque stars of the 1940s through 1960s, such as Zorita, Betty Rowland, Sherry Britton, Dixie Evans and Lois de Fee. It’s a very serious but still entertaining look at the golden era of the art form. We got a chance to talk to the director of Pretty Things, Liz Goldwyn who worked on this film for over eight years, and also authored a book which shares the it’s name.
