Super Paper Mario: The Movie

I'm a pretty huge Nintendo fan. Every important innovation in videogame control has come from them - and a few misfires, too, I admit; the overwhelming majority of good games bear their mark, definitely each and every one of the bona-fide triple-A gold class masters - Super Mario 64, Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario Kart on the SNES or DS, Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time, the gameboy version of Tetris, Donkey Kong... and many more in an undisputable run of greatness. And now, the Wii keeps on delivering incredible game after incredible game - and nothing as wonky, misshaped or imbalanced as Bioshock - which runs out of steam very quickly - or Halo 3 which is about as much fun in single player mode as watching somebody else play Catz (at least in multiplayer it's a bit more fun than playing Catz for yourself, but that's not enough, frankly).

A number of their Mario games form the Super Paper Mario series, a set of adventures with light role playing elements. The premise is simple and charming but gives rise to any number of smart, witty gameplay elements: in these games, Mario is flat as paper, utterly 2-dimensional, but the world he inhabits is 3D. That doesn't mean everything else in the world is 3D - nope, all of the other characters are flat too, and many of the props and items he will come in contact with. It's a brilliant idea, peculiar to videogame logic, and Nintendo have tapped into it so much, and so successfully, for gameplay gold I've been a little taken aback by their wealth of ideas.

And, with a little bit of a rejig, the idea could work very well in cinema too.

At least, that's what I think. And Seth Gordon agrees. He's the director of The King of Kong, the documentary about duelling Donkey Kong supremos. He's already set to turn that into a fiction feature - somewhere after wrapping Four Christmasses and The Only Living Boy in New York, it seems - but beyond this, it turns out he has his sights on Super Paper Mario too.

"I’d love, really love, to adapt Super Paper Mario into a movie, a movie that would constantly switch from 2D to 3D. In five years, 3D cinema is going to be really big. [The King of Kong] was screened for Nintendo, but I haven’t had the chance to speak to anyone over there about it. But I definitely want to have that conversation."

The quote comes from Ignore Magazine's new interview with Gordon, in which he discusses each of the projects mentioned above, as well as revealing a number of DVD extras set for the Kong release:

"The Kong DVD is going to be awesome. We’re going to show more of Doris [Doris Self, an 80-year-old Q*bert master], and we get into Billy’s rival on Pac-Man, Rick Fothergill. And the full version of [Missile Command anthem] Mr. Awesome is on the DVD. We have 23 extras and, like, 95-minutes of extra content. We’ll have side-by-side screens of Billy and Steve reaching the kill screen [last level] of Donkey Kong.”

Movie Minesweeper - The Nervous Exhaustion Edition

- See Scarlett and Woody, BFF.

- Spielberg's as blinded by the anti-Wii propoganda as every other fool. Why do so many developers only target their Wii games at pensioners and housewives?

- Hatchet 2 may start rolling in February. And a second Behind the Mask might be coming too.

- Mark Verheiden's Aliens comics have been repackaged, but only in a their compromised versions where the character names were changed to not clash with canon. Yet another reason to despise Alien 3.

- Masters of Horror seems to be ahead of The Dresden Files in the race to Alberta.

- A stage version of Desperately Seeking Susan is coming and it's set to feature a number of Blondie songs. Interesting.

- Britons prefer R2-D2 to C3-PO.

- The Twin Peaks Gold Box DVD set is now officially scheduled for October 30th.

- Homer Simpson is starring in a new ident for Channel 4 from this weekend.

Movie Minesweeper - The Drawing Pins Edition

- Stan Bush may not be on the Transformers soundtrack, but Transformers are on his new album.

- Codemonkeys might be a nice stopgap until Scott Pilgrim gets off of the ground.

- Principal photography on Iron Man is over. And it seems like the Hilary Swank cameo rumours are true.

- The Jordanian animation outfit Rubicon is going into production on a new Pink Panther TV series. This time, the approach is a Muppet Babies come Tiny Toons one with the Panther and his 'pals' rendered as kids. As part of the deal, Rubicon get to license MGM properties in the Middle East.

- Righteous Kill - the De Niro/Pacino team-up movie - is to be distributed by Overture Films in the North American territories. And it also seems that 50 Cent is joining the cast. Has anybody got Russell Gerwitz' script for this one? I've been told it's a real winner.

- Shia LaBoeuf is reteaming with his Disturbia director D J Caruso on Eagle Eye. From that title alone it sounds like the plot could be virtually identical, but apparently not. The original premise comes from Steven Spielberg, apparently. Here's Variety's summation: [LaBeouf will play] a young slacker whose overachieving twin brother has died mysteriously. When the young man returns home, both he and a single mother find they have been framed as terrorists. Forced to become members of a cell that has plans to carry out a political assassination, they must work together to extricate themselves. Not only does this put Caruso out of the running for the Wolverine gig, it might mean LaBeouf won't be taking the lead in Death and Me after all...

- Former porn auteur Gregory Dark has wrapped Little Fish, Strange Pond a curious-sounding serial killer comedy with Matthew Modine, Adam Baldwin, Liza Weil and Zach Galifinakas.

- Tom Cruise's links to Scientology (to put it mildly) have led to the German government prohibiting the filming of Valkyrie at any military locations. Paula Wagner has gone on the record saying "Aside from his obvious admiration of the man he is portraying, Mr. Cruise's personal beliefs have absolutely no bearing on the movie's plot, themes or content". Nice to know he admires a Nazi general so much. Ahem.
- Chimps in Spa -sorry, Space Chimps - is to be advertised via stickers on 100 million bananas, pineapples and salad packages.

- Gerard Butler, Idris Elba, Tom Wilkinson, Thandie Newton and Ludacris have all signed up to appear in Guy Ritchie's RocknRolla. Poor souls.

- Ian Shorr's Exempt spec script has a very interesting premise: a problem kid sent to a private school falls in with a bunch of 'diplobrats', foreign kids with diplomatic immunity from the law. No wonder Benderspink are putting it into production. Another year at these two colleges and I'll probably have seen everything that could possibly happen in this film, but it certainly does make for an interesting milieu.

- M.I.A fantasy film Neverwas is to crawl out straight to DVD in July.

- A YouTube clip promoting the next six months or so of Focus Features releases has popped up. All manner of interesting stuff gets plugged, not least of which is David Cronenberg's Eastern Promises but least of which is Atonement. I'd recommend you check the full clip out.

- Gary Oldman might quit acting. Perhaps. One day.

- You can see the Tumb... er, Batmobile. In action. The video is called Batman for Mancow.

- Queen Latifah and Adam Shankman seem to want Steve Martin for their All of Me remake. Will he do it again?

- I think we already knew Oliver Platt was going to be in Frost/Nixon but his role in Nip/Tuck is news. He certainly likes those /s.
- Nicole Kidman is the new spokesmodel for Nintendo.

- The US Masters of Horror season one box set is limited to 20,000 copies. More than enough?

- The Wizard of Gore is getting good notices. Good. I like Glover, I love magic and I'm okay with gore - I want this to work.

- Kreacher is somehow essential to the last Harry Potter book.

The Office: The Videogame

MumboJumbo are developing DS and PSP versions of a videogame based upon The Office. Not the UK original, but the vastly superior American do-over.

And there's plenty more Office memorabilia coming - from bobblehead figures of the cast to replica Dundie trophies. Apparently, the merchandisers are to take ideas from the dailies and then try to get products on shelves at the time the relevant episode airs.

I'd like Ricky Gervais to be in a videogame. Manhunt 2, perhaps.

Movie Minesweeper - The List Edition

- Everybody is linking to the MTV Movie Awards winners list, so I will too. I'd hate to be left out.

- Fay Weldon is scripting an Upstairs, Downstairs movie for the BBC. Variety have the list of other films in development by the BBC: Thatcher, Julian Fellowes' Emma and Nelson, The Choir and The Thirteenth Tale.

- UpgradeTravel have a kind of pictorial list (ahem) of the Star Wars theme park ads appearing in airports.

- Out today in the UK is Optimum's Boulting Brothers DVD collection. The list includes: The Magic Box, Brothers in Law, The Family Way and Twisted Nerve. You'll recognise Twisted Nerve's them from Kill Bill - Elle Driver whistled it; the music the The Family Way, however, was written by Paul McCartney. I had the pleasure of meeting Roy Boulting several times and found him very generous and interesting.

- John Adair has reviewed Killer of Sheep and also listed highlights from a Charles Burnett Q&A about the film.

- Daniel Hart completed the Wii version of Twilight Princess and recorded every last swing of his sword. Clocking in at five and a half hours or so, this is probably the most comprehensive walk-through for the game's main plot I can imagine. There's a whole list of viewing options at the SpeedDemosArchive.

- TVShowsOnDVD have gathered the full list of special features on the Ugly Betty: Season 1 DVD set.

Nintendo Running Live Ads At A Cinema Near You

If you live in the UK, you might get to see some nifty advertising for the Nintendo Wii at your local cinema this weekend. Eurogamer have the scoop:

Five pairs of actors will be appearing at nine cinemas across the country to demonstrate Wii Sports.

An advert will play on screen as usual, with one actor - playing a teenager called Steve - sitting amongst the audience. The second actor, in the role of his mother Elsa, will enter the auditorium looking for her son.

The advert will then be paused and the house lights will come up as Elsa calls out for Steve. She will challenge him to a Wii tennis rematch in front of the audience. They will play the game live on the big screen.

The campaign apparently kicked off a couple of days back, but next weekend, you can catch the 'experience' at Picturehouse cinemas in Edinburgh, York, Southampton and Brighton.

Movie Minesweeper - The New Music Edition

- There was a clip from Harry Potter 5 on Ellen t'other day and HPana are hosting it on their site. Download the WMV file directly or settle for YouTube.

- There's a big screen version of Mama, I Want to Sing! coming and so far signed to appear are Patti LaBelle, Lynn Whitfield and Ciara. Two out of three 'aint bad.

- Nuri Bilge Ceylan's next film is to be Daydreams, a crime thriller. Climates is just coming out here on DVD in the UK, so go, queue it now if you haven't seen it already.

- Richard Gere is to produce and take the lead human role in Hachiko: A Dog's Story. A remake of a 1987 Japanese film (with a title that translates to approximately the same thing) the story's origins are apparently some true events - though beyond 'man takes in a dog, they bond', I have no idea what these events are. Can anybody shed some light?

- Tim Rice is setting lyrics to Tchaikovsky for Nutcracker - The Untold Story. And it gets worse: Elle Fanning is the lead, backed up by John Turturro (as the Mouse King) and Nathan Lane, while Andrei Konchalovsky is directing. This one runs an icy finger down my spine.

- Back From Hell at last, the Hughes Brothers are lugging about an increasingly full diary. The latest addition is The Book of Eli, a post apocalyptic yarn about a man who may somehow be able to save humanity with the titular book - this could be The Postman, could be Escape From New York... let's face it, it's erring towards The Postman on current evidence. Their other projects (if you want a reminder) include a film version of Kung Fu and The Ice Man, about a serial killer who fits snugly into a new role as a mafia hitman.

- Brett Ratner is to film lots of carnival jollity in 3D. Waste.

- Lucasfilm deny any plans to issue the Star Wars trilo... er... trilogies (?) on either Blu-Ray or HD-DVD.

- CHUD have pretty much confirmed that Karen Allen will be in Indiana Jones and the Most Likely to Be City of Gods... and that - SPOILER ALERT - she's the mother of Indy's son.

- Ken Branagh has indeed joined the cast of Valkyrie. Meanwhile, that film's co-scripter Christopher McQuarrie will see his World War I script No Man's Land go before cameras couretsy of Mark Cuban and 2929.

- Aint it Cool are hosting one Transformers ad, IESB are hosting the other. Yaaaaaaaaaaawn.

- The NY Times seem to believe the Tintin trilogy will be released in 3D. I mean, I assumed as much, but this is the first real suggestion that it has been somehow announced to somebody somewhere. They also tell us that Jackson is directing the first film in the sequence, Spielberg the second and... the third? Well, will it be Frank Darabont? Only time will tell.

- Nintendo have lined up a truly amazing list of composers for their upcoming Smash Bros. Dojo game.

- Some new, some old, some spoilery, some not safe for work - more images from Hostel 2 have turned up.

- Sony are to co-produce a whole new slate of films with Stephen Chow.

- Rachel McAdams lies about her age. Why? In a few years, it's only going to make it look like she's aging prematurely. Silly girl.

- Glen Kenny quite liked Bouelverd de la Morte. Best of all, he's quite clear on how it differs from Death Proof.

- There are more No Country For Old Men clips out there. Gotta catch 'em all.

Movie Minesweeper - The I'm Half Watching The Tele Edition

- Soundtrack dot Net have some pictures from the scoring sessions for American Gangster. Looks like it's going to sound good.

- Yes, yes, there are pictures of Stallone as Rambo online, I know, I know.

- A clip from the Caveman pilot is now up for your viewing... pleasure? A thought provoking commentary on modern day race relations. Apparently.

- Mischa Barton is in the new St. Trinian's. Confirmation also comes that Russell Brand is playing Flash Harry, and that some filming has taken place in Hawaii. For some reason.

- Almodovar's El Deseo have commenced production of a documentary about El Senor de Sipan, "the ruler of ancient Peru's ruins".

- John Turturro is remaking Theo van Gogh's 1-900.

- The Playstation 3 version of Stranglehold will come with John Woo's Hard Boiled also on the disc. Of course, buying a Wii and a Blu-Ray player, something like Eledees and then also a copy of Hard Boiled on its own would be more satisfying at the end of the day. In related news, Sony are losing money - lots of money - because of the PS3.

- Today's second Rob Schmidt story: ThinkFilm are selling his film Bad Meat at Cannes. I met Schmidt at the London Film Festival years and years ago - at the time, Daniel Waters was a close friend of his. Wonder if they're still chums?

- Grant Morrison gives a very good interview to Wired. It's all Area 51, no mention of We3 - shame.

- VH1 have previewed their top 10 blockbusters of 2008. Maybe I'll try and rustle up a list for 2009 at some point, go one step beyond.

Movie Minesweeper - The Apparently, I'm A Hack Edition

Apparently, I'm a hack. I love films and I mean every word I type about them - doesn't that disqualify me from hackdom? Here's some links for you.

- Luc Besson has discussed Angel-A and sequels for The Transporter and Arthur and the Invisibles with MoviesOnline.

- Paid movie downloads have been classified as a niche only, and are predicted to never go mainstream. People still like those hard items purchased in those brick and mortar stores, I guess.

- Super Bad James Dynomite is being adapted by the Wayans. Shame.

- There are some slow-loading Strangers stills at Celebutopia, and at least two look appropriately creepy. The next great Boo! movie? Fingers in little Xs, people.

- Arrogantics have found a John Rambo still.

- Nintendo are holding a short film competition. Only US residents (Puerto Rico, as ever, aside) can enter.

- Jessica Biel and Forest Whitaker are to star in Timothy Linh Bui's Powder Blue.

- Chris Sivertson's Hippy was co-written by Lucky McKee - good - but will star Lindsay Lohan - bad.

- Maxim have published a list of, supposedly, the 100 most attractive women on the face of the earth. Many are movie stars. I think somebody should do a male equivalent - they'd get plenty of sales, hits, water cooler talk. Guy lists are normally limited to ten or so.

- You can preview Flight of the Conchords' HBO show now.

- Chow Yun Fat may return to the cast of Red Cliff, but where that leaves Tony Leung is anybody's guess. Taking the producers to court, I'd hope. [EDIT: Moises has pointed me to Monkeypeaches, where they report a Chinese newspaper's claims that Chow's role is to be a much smaller one, and Leung will keep the lead role]

- Momentum are to release Neil Burger's The Return over here in blighty. Good.

- A promo pic for Dario Argento's Mother of Tears has appeared in the Cannes edition of Variety. Tasty.

Wii Spielberg

Electronic Arts, or EA to their friends, have announced that the first of their three Spielberg-created games will debut on the Nintendo Wii later this year. They've referred to it only as Wii Spielberg so far, and there hasn't been any realistic speculation as to what it might entail. As for unrealistic speculation, that's been pretty thin on the ground too. All I know for sure is that none of the games are movie tie-ins.

Movie Minesweeper - Christopher Was A Pseudonym For Prince Edition

- 'Hip Hop artiste' Common has signed to appear in both Wanted and The Night Watchman. In the former, he's up against James McAvoy and Angelina Jolie, in the latter Keanu Reeves and Hugh Laurie.

- Pirates 3 is being moved up to a Thursday night opening as a bit of figure stretching hype mongering. It looks like the finished article is 2hrs 47mins long. Take a double espresso in with you. Or a pillow.

- FreezeDriedMovies are alleging that Carnage and The Lizard will be appearing in Spider-Man 4. We'll see. It was around this stage of the development for Spider-Man 3 (that is - before it had even really started) that I was told by a seemingly reputable source that The Chameleon would be in the third chapter. To this day they insist it was an early plan and they weren't making it up.

- Stephen Munn suspects a market research conspiracy lies behind the Nintendo Wii's Everybody Votes channel. So what?

- Urban Legend and Valentine director Jamie Blanks is to direct a remake of The Lost Weekend. [EDIT: The Long Weekend. Not Lost. Sorry - I have Wilder on the brain] Don't wait for that - pick up the original on DVD instead. And that's even though original scriptwriter Everett De Roche is attached to the do-over.

- Disturbia's writer, Christopher B. Landon has signed to write The Flock, another psychological thriller. This time, it sounds like a Craft-style spin on The Crucible with modern teen witches and Salem-style hysteria.

- Sydney Pollack is to play Patrick Dempsey's dad in Made of Honor. It's been a while since I've seen Pollack cast in a film he wasn't also directing.

- John Landis talks postcards, nationalism, religion and being dead since 1958 with The Independent.

Two Screens, Two Eyes, Two Glory Days

Apparently, even hand-held consoles are getting in on the 3D revolution. According to Computer and Videogames, the Nintendo DS shoot-'em-up Glory Days 2 is to use specs to create a 3D effect. The idea is, the top-down shooter will show objects nearer to the player (the tops of tall buildings, planes, copters) as though hovering above the screen. The old red and blue anaglyphic glasses won't be used, but neither will a polarised lens system like Real D. The sytem this time is based upon the Pufrich effect and uses one lens tinted slightly darker than another.

All good in theory, but the Pufrich effect is notoriously unreliable.

So, while 3D is becoming the future of cinema in a very real way, other entertainments are far, far behind.

Candeland Rawks

Feed have posted Pete Candeland's promo for Guitar Hero II, which has just launched for X-Box 360. An updated version for the Nintendo Wii is coming later in the summer, and that's the one I'd hold out for.

Candeland was the co-director of the Gorillaz promos. This looks unsurprisingly similar, though it suffers from lacking the Jamie Hewlett character designs. I wonder what would happen if Candeland got to make a feature film?

I'll put him in an imaginary queue, just behind Run Wrake who can go just behind Shynola.

Donkey Kong Champs From Reality To Fantasy

Variety sez: Picturehouse and New Line have snapped up the rights to King of Kong, a Slamdance-premiered documentary about rival videogamers duelling at Nintendo's Donkey Kong. A truly classic game, see. No way that Donkey Kong Country was going to generate such heated competition and ardent fanship.

Interestingly, New Line are also fast-tracking a fictional remake of the documentary and the same director, Seth Gordon, will be handling that film also. The documentary's producers approached New Line with the explicit desire to get a remake off of the ground - perhaps Gordon is like myself: happy to make documentary films but really at home with fiction. Good luck to him.

Apparently, New Line's Richard Brener is obsessed with the original and has already seen in 20 times. Is that a recommendation?

No Wii Yes Mii

Make yourself a Mii even if you don't have a Wii.

MD DS

Dr. House has a DS! Thanks to DSDoctor for the pic.

Nintendo Ennuii

From RichAndMark.