Movie Minesweeper - The Smoking Ban Edition

- Christian Bale is hyping the next Batman film, and somewhat preemptively, the following one.

- Flooding has wrecked a location being used in the shoot of Baz Luhrmann's Australia and the schedule has needed some rapid rejigging as a result.

- Richard Roundtree has been cast in Speed Racer as Ben Burns, racing legend turned commentator.
- Joe Carnahan has posted a photoshopped LA picture to his blog, suggesting the look of White Jazz as well as how easy the retrostyling is going to be. Apparently. There's a special star cameo from Gorgeous George in the picture too.

- Rob Schmidt is to direct a feature film adapted from Stephen King's novel Insomnia. I like Schmidt a lot and I hope he can do a great job, something that can stand comparison to, say, Dark City.

- This infamous Cloverfield film - or whatever it ends up being called - is reportedly being directed by Matt Reeves. We already knew Drew Goddard is writing and J J Abrams producing - which gives us a 1-out-of-3 score, by my reckoning. I bet it isn't as good as Diary of the Dead.

- George Wolfe is directing Blood on the Leaves, while Jamie Foxx is to star and co-produce. The film is an adaptation of Jeffrey Stetson's novel about a conflicyed young attorney. He faces off with a black history professor accused of murderous vengeance against white men who were accused of committing racially motivated attrocities during the civil rights conflicts.

- The SciFi Channel's Tin Man has had it's first preview, and several details have been reported.

- Semi Chellas has been recruited to adapt Michelle Redmond's novel The Year of Fog into a screenplay. I'll place an early bet on Sarah Polley directing.

- Cinematographer Phedon Papamichael is directing From Within, a horror yarn about murderous mystery in a small Christian community. Yep - another one of those.

- TV vet Kevin Dowling has signed to (apparently) direct K-Ville, a New Orleans drama about which I know (or at least recall) little else.

- Jeffrey Wells has posted an audio recording of the entire Shock and Awe: New Wave Exploitation panel discussion from the LA Film Festival. Eli Roth, Jack Hill and Craig Brewer? How can you resist.

- As you probably suspected from the Sid Haig story last week, Rob Zombie's Halloween rehash has undergone some reshoots. What surprised me, a little at least, is how extensive these reshoots are: six new kills and an entirely remodelled finale.

- Latino Review are shamelessly hawking The Losers in the guise of a script review. They certainly seem to have some incredible contacts at Latino Review, but their script reviews make me feel ill. They seem to lap up anything as long as it is puerile, juvenile or adolescent and then forego any kind fo meaningful commentary or insight heap nauseating hyperbole all over the script instead. Every crappy comic book adaptation and toy tie-in is labelled 'dope', or 'the bomb'? Shameless.

- Jaime Lee Curtis is to play a human being in South of the Border.

- There's a Star Wars themed burlesque show coming to Dallas in which the performer dresses as Princess Leia in her metal bikini thing. I saw the link at TheForceDotNet.

- Hamas have killed off their Mickey Mouse lookalike. He died 'as a martyr' while 'protecting' his land from and Israeli 'terrorist'.

- The Simpsons' Jay Kogen is in talks to direct a straight-to-TV teen comedy film for MTV. The idea is to create modern equivalents to John Hughes' output, premiere them on the box and then push them to DVD - with even a theatrical release mentioned as a possibility. An incredibly remote possibilty, I imagine.

Direct Download Links For Three Robot Chicken Star Wars Trailers

Choose from the Saga Spanning, Boba Fett or George on the Couch preview looks at Robot Chicken's Star Wars special.

Movie Minesweeper - The Hot In The City, Supposedly, Edition

- AintItCool are reporting that DVDRama are reporting that Takeshi Kaneshiro is to take the lead role in Onimusha. Reportedly. Fair enough: he's the model for the videogame character after all.

- The script review for Prince of Persia over at LatinoReview is one of their typically sycophantic plugs for what, in fact, sounds like quite a dreadfully dull film. It seems like every last ream of banal geek fodder scriptwriting ends up on the table at LatinoReview - and almost all of the time, they shower these screenplays with praise.

- Tom Shadyac has blown his top over the marketing for Evan Almighty. According to Nikki Finke's piece, his main beef seems to be that there's not enough TV advertising for the film - though this may well be as a result of him taking the film over budget. And she does explain a history that seems like a more substantial excuse for his behavior too.... but what a shame we're even discussing this story and not resting comfortably, confident that good worth of mouth will turn the film into a genuine hit and not just a big opener.

- Three short plays by Ethan Coen are to premiere at The Atlantic Theater next January.

- Reuters have a video press conference regarding Speed Racer. Most of the major players appear, as does the Mach 5 in a weird FX moment.

- A LucasArts games division spokesperson (apparently - it isn't clear who exactly) has revealed that an upcoming Wii game will feature lightsabre battles. That's right: wield your Wii wand like a lightsabre. Even more cash tills will ring out the Nintendo anthem.

- If I Know Who Killed Me doesn't tank outright, scriptwriter Jeff Hammond's plans for sequels and prequels may well come to fruition.

- Tobe Hooper's next is to be Tequila Joe, scripted by Dan Madigan and, apparently, planned for a theatrical release. Fingers crossed.

- Some of the Family Guy/Star Wars show is currently streaming on YouTube. A preview, if you will.

- A would-be moviestar who put his genitals in a mousetrap - which then, of course, snapped shut - is suing Adam Corolla and Jimmy Kimmel, claiming they owe him $10 million. Of course, there's some kind of backstory that makes sense of this...

- The organisers of the New York Asian Film Festival appear to have been a little naive. They cooked up a handshake agreement to advertise Midway Games as their sponsor for the year, but after receiving a whole load of free publicity Midway have apparently reneged on the deal (I think there's a moral to this story, don't you?). If you want to join in, TwitchFilm are calling for a boycott of the upcoming John Woo/Midway game Stranglehold, which could be an effective strike against the publisher, if word spreads far enough.

Movie Minesweeper - The Is It Shia LaBeouf Or Karen Allen Who Has A Crystal Skull? Edition

- No link for this one, but here's the news anyway: Be Kind Rewind won't be released in the US until April 4th next year. That's a long time to be waiting for a film that is, essentially, completely finished. But don't worry - Eternal Sunshine faced similar delays.

- Enter the Phoenix is to get a US remake. Producer Andrew Tennebaum is quoted as saying "This movie should be remade for a bigger, broader audience" - what, bigger than the Chinese speaking world? That's ambitious.

- Letters from Iwo Jima screenwriter Iris Yamashita has apparently pitched a project she describes as "Big Fish meets Charlie and the Chocolate Factory".

- The official site for Criss Angel's Cement Block stunt is now live and will, apparently, be premiering clips from his upcoming 3 series of Mindfreak as well as, of course, hosting live webcam coverage of his upcoming trick.

- HorrorMovies dot CA have some new Resident Evil: Extinction pictures. Dusty.

- Inspector Rebus is retiring. I find it rather odd he hasn't be turned into a big screen character yet, despite the TV series.

- John Woo is expected to collaborate on a videogame with Deus Ex creator Warren Spector, and then turn the resulting title into a movie too. The game, Ninja Gold, is apparently based around the real-life involvement of Yakuza and Russian mafia in the theft of South African Gold.

- Daily Script have posted David Webb People's Sgt. Rock script draft from 1987. It is far, far better than it had any right to be - and it still got nixed. The subsequent drafts, by a number of other writers, have been considerably worse.

- The Silver Snail comic shop in Tornoto made a Muppet Show/Lord of the Rings hybrid window display, and have now posted some images online. Ham's Deep indeed.

- More Muppet/Movie crossovers (but no link this time, I'm afraid). Visitors to Disney theme parks will soon be able to buy Muppet Star Wars action figures - Piggy as Leia, Fozzie as Chewbacca, Beaker as C3-PO, Kermit as Luke and, best of all, Gonzo as Vader.

- The Guardian reveal the cynical machinations behind the Magicians soundtrack album.

- Expectations for Ratatouille's box-office are being managed carefully behind the scenes at Disney. Who cares how much money it takes? It's going to be tens, if not hundreds, of millions more than enough, so, really, end of conversation - right?

- Freema Agyeman doesn't appear to be leaving Dr.Who - but nobody is denying the stories that David Tennent is going to opt out of the series after five or six episodes in the 2008 run. Probably because he is. I wonder who will replace him?

- What's different in the Lego Star Wars compound edition? The word is out.

- Joan Cusack, Chris O'Donnell and Julia Ormond are the newest additions to the American Girl cast. Two of three 'aint bad. The full title is now, apparently Kitt Kittredge: An American Girl Mystery.

The Real Star Wars TV Teaser Trailer

This time, it's for real. Not one half as ugly, but not exactly handsome either.

Movie Minesweeper - The Pirates 3 Was Boring Edition

Who am I kidding - of course Pirates 3 was boring. Pirates 2 - or for that matter 1 - hardly rocked the bells and this one had all of those loose ends to force into knots, and desperately too. Maybe a completely ridiculous collection of unresolved plotlines would have been better than a completely ridiculous collection of pseudo-resolutions and two hours worth of coma-threatening exposition.

Anyway. Enough about that blight on the CV of Johnny Depp. Here are some links for you...

- A trailer for the next animated Star Wars series is now on YouTube. It's pretty ugly, unfortunately.

- Trent Haaga has written the script for Poor Things, and that fact alone has me hooked. Ash Baron Cohen ('faintly' related to Sasha, I'm told) is directing and that's intriguing too. And look at the cast: Rosario Dawson, Shirley Maclaine, Olympia Dukakis... all well and good, in their own way. Oh. And Lindsay Lohan - which dulls the blade somewhat, but hey, fingers crossed... hers might be a small role. Or she might drop out. Again.

- David Lynch has taken some portraits of some actresses, for French Elle, and half of each portrait (you'll see what I mean if you click over) has been scanned and posted to a forum. Some of them are quite striking. Some of them are not so much.

- A judge has announced that he'll throw Carol Burnett's case against Family Guy out of court.

- Oh... and more Family Guy news, in case you've been living under a rock or on Mars. George Lucas has given the official thumbs up to a Family Guy reenactment of Star Wars. That's the film Star Wars, not the whole Star Wars series ('saga'). And yes, it is called Star Wars - this New Hope nonsense is just a tacked on invention and I find it quite embarrassing. But not as embarrassing as the claims Lucas had all six films plotted out in his head from day one. He didn't have any idea where he was going, and I wish he'd just admit it. He's his Dad? And she's his sister? Well, okay - but there's no way that was in mind while Star Wars was in production.

- Harry Potter 5 will be 138 minutes long.

- On-set camcorder footage of Public Enemy No.1 or, possibly, Death Instinct being filmed is now online. The two films each star Vincent Cassel as Jacques Mesrine, and each tells half of his story.

- The first Fanboys poster is online now, even though the film has been pushed back until 2008. Neither that news or the poster inspires confidence, I'm afraid. And I wish I had more to report that wasn't to do with Star Wars.

- There's another clip from Ocean's 13 online and I love this one too. If you don't like it at all, I fear you'll be a hard sell on the film overall.

Movie Minesweeper - The From The Room Across The Hall Edition

- Nicolas Cage won't be in Capone Rising after all. Perhaps there won't even be a Capone Rising. If there is, then Gerard Butler is still going to be the young Sean Connery.

- The Australian Daily Telegraph seem to think there's the possibilty of one more Star Wars film for cinemas. Nonsense. I think it will be at least ten years until Lucas announces more Star Wars feature films.

- Ubisoft have developed the videogame tie-in for Robert Zemeckis' Beowulf.

- CelebritySmack have a shot of Madonna, movie director. Apparently, Filth and Wisdom is only a short. That's merciful.

- Surprise surprise: Hope Davis will be in Charlie Kaufmann's Synecdoche, New York and once that's wrapped, she'll shoot Genova with Michael Winterbottom.

- Trent Reznor is trying to turn his album Year Zero into something more audiovisual, perhaps a film. Apparently, he's talking to 'A-list people' in order to do so. Sadly, this likely means David Fincher and not, say, Mark Romanek.

- Fox are planning a movie based on The Sims. Sim City I can see - the hurricanes and Godzilla-alikes might make for fun - but The Sims? Isn't this just every sitcom ever? Maybe they can do a cross-license and bring back Friends at the same time, as the same project.

- Tell me why. I don't like Monday Monday.

- Lodge Kerrigan is to write and direct a remake of Les Voleurs. This is a very good thing. We'll never get to see In God's Hands - stupid god and his clumsy hands - but at least we have something to look forward to again on the Kerrigan front.

- Rintaro, director of the animated Metropolis, is the latest to get going on a CG Penguin film. Apparently, the film is going to be kind of Franco-Japanese, somehow. Great name, though: Yona Yona Penguin.

- The BBC have comissioned Outcasts, a rather serious sounding new sci-fi series. Expect the American remake to follow.

- HorrorMovies have a rather exciting new clip from Hostel 2.

- And... Eli Roth is making strides with his Trailer Trash project, smaller steps with his Grind House 'sequel'. He's also pretty clear that he's done with Hostel, and won't cook up a third installment.

- There's going to be an Ocean's 14 but not a fourth Jason Bourne film? Suits me just fine. I won't lose any sleep over that outcome.

- A Lone Ranger film from the Pirates of the Caribbean team. Not for me, thankyou.

- US readers can see two clips from Sicko. [EDIT: Or download directly instead]

Star Wars Special Announcement

Before the AMPAS screening of Star Wars the other night, a special announcement played warning viewers to switch of their cellphones and to not talk, eat or drink during the film. It's quite funny - the nature of the call is the best thing about it, much funnier than Vader's actions.

But telling us to not drink during the film? They really are an Evil Empire.

The official Star Wars website are streaming the clip online now, but here's a direct download link so you can burn it to DVD and play before your Star Wars marathons at home. Or something.

Yvette Fielding To Succeed Where Justin Lee Collins Failed?

Perhaps the worst TV show on any British channel at all is Most Haunted. It's purportedly a 'documentary entertainment' show, but I'm not sure about either of those descriptors at all. Most Haunted peddles the same, tired old quasi-spiritual and pseudo-scientific guff about the afterlife and dresses it up in cheap, cheerful, blisteringly daft and rather exploitative clothes.

I read today - if only in the tabloids, but I'm sure it began as a press release from the Most Haunted lot - that the show is to feature an A-Team reunion later in the year. Apparently, Mr. T, Dirk Benedict and Dwight Schulz are to take part in a seance, to attempt to contact George Peppard. Tacky. Stupid. Possibly rather insulting to the family and friends of Peppard.

As for Justin Lee Collins, who earlier tried, and failed, to reunite the surviving members of The A-Team, his current mission is to get the key Star Wars cast back together. By which I mean just the one film Star Wars, not the whole series. And that film is called Star Wars, at least in the original edit, so you can stop all of this 'New Hope' nonsense right now.

And I don't care if you co-wrote the best British comedy film in at least ten years - it's still Star Wars to you too..

Star Wars Toy News: Sit Up!

I know people like toy news. It comes along here every now and then, and it gets linked far and wide and the hits for that story far outweigh anything I might choose to post about even a slight bit less obviously adolescent.

That said and done, I think these look gorgeous. They're R2-D2 and C3-PO as originally conceived by Ralph McQuarrie, Star Wars concept artist and production designer. The painting in which they appeared like so is a very popular one - yes, with Star Wars geeks but also with the (wider? probably not) geek community just generally into film design.

McQuarrie did some incredible work for the film, and seeing one of his classic images rendered in posable plastic is quite fun.

Disclosure notice: I was playing Lego Star Wars II for a bit yesterday.

Meet the Robinsons 3D

Last night, Rachael and I saw Meet the Robinsons 3D at the Vue West End in London. There must have been all of twenty people in the audience. Why so few? The answer was all too obvious on leaving.

Walking back to the coach to Oxford, we must have passed a dozen bus-stop ads for the film but every last one of them listed the film's opening date as March 30th, not even hinting at the week long of exclusive engagements for the film's 3D version across London. Even within thirty metres of the cinema, the ads gave no indication that the film was already open to the public. A most unexpected soft launch, I have to say.

Next week, when the public are aware that the film is out, I'm sure that business will be far better.

I hope a lot of people make the effort to see the film in 3D. Regular readers will know, I'm very excited by the Real D process and have thoroughly enjoyed the extra-dimensional versions of Chicken Little and The Nightmare Before Christmas. Robinsons, however, is quite easily the most wonderful showcase of Real D so far.

The very first shot was simply breathtaking - a street lit by sodium lamps in the heavy rain. The shot would have been striking in 2D but with the added depth, the cascading fields of rain, it was - and I'm being utterly sincere - one of the most incredible things I have ever experienced in the cinema. The sound design helped too, of course, but this was one of the most tactile moments I've ever enjoyed on the silver screen.

There were plenty of other gasp-inducing moments later in the film: a chase through an industrial dystopia features a plunging rush into a tight corrdior that trumps any Death Star assault or dog fight from Star Wars; a Gernsback-flavoured city might evoke The Jetsons and Blue Sky's Robots but is rendered with smile-inducing sense of scale beyond either; even the contemporay sequences, far from such fantastical vistas, are designed to make the most of the extra dimension without either inducing 3D fatigue or wasting the opportunity of stereoscopic rendering.

If you can, make the effort to see Meet the Robinsons in it's 3D incarnation. Thankfully, finding a Real D equipped cinema is easier than ever: indeed, you can't even see the film in 2D in New York city. But even in 2D the film would have been a lot of fun, despite the occaisonal tangle in the script and a handful of semi-redundant longeurs. The colour design is smart, there's plenty of great animation, some good gags (two of the best of which are about Tom Selleck, one easier to miss than the other) and plenty of decent voice acting - particularly the opening ramble by Matthew Josten as Goob which just cannot have been scripted. I do wish there was more organic 'imperfection' like this in the film, and in animation generally.

Stephen J. Anderson is yet another director to come out of Disney to show real promise. I hope he's nurtured and given the chance to grow, because like the rest of them, he's only a few more minor missteps from a genuine masterpiece. Already he's made one of the most enjoyable films of 2007 so far... with a little help from Real D and their magic.

Man, I just can't wait for Beowulf.

Return Of The Little Green Jedi

Here's cleaner look at the Star Wars TV Yoda image we showed you a few weeks ago. It was quite liked before, maybe it will be genuinely beloved this time.

Yoda And Friends

That's Yoda. Seen him before? The image popped up on Collecting HQ having been gathered at the New York toy fair. What you're looking at is the CG design for the wee Jedi Master as he'll appear in the upcoming animated Star Wars TV show.

Despite being animated in 3D, the show is going to be based, visually at least, on the model sheets and styles of the old 2D-animated Clone Wars series.

This is a big year for the Star Wars cash cow, and a lot of the efforts seem to be aimed at setting up a new, young audience for the films - the old audience is growing up, finally, and their loyalty to new Lucas product has been on the wane since the prequels, anyway. Not all new Star Wars items are shooting for the young ones, though: there's a special 30th Anniversary DVD on the cards for later in the year, and that's aimed squarely at the aging geek market.

Speculation has been rife that this DVD will somehow be a new part of the Star Wars fictional canon, most likely as another re-edit of one of the first film. All the evidence I can muster (don't ask - I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you) suggests that this new, 30th Anniversary DVD is nothing of the sort, and is simply a 'Special Features' type project, centring round a documentary but with plenty of bolt-on little parts. There's a number of shots and short sequences still on the shelf from the first film, even after all of the tinkering, and with a bit of spit and polish from ILM they could make a very nice set of 'Deleted and Extended Scenes'.

We'll find out soon enough as the announcement can't that be far away - though it is worth noting that the DVD release appears to be timed for a 'Just In Time For Christmas' launch, not at all marking the actual anniversary date. Interpret that how you will.