Latest Iron Man Trailer

See the new Iron Man trailer here. The movie opens May 2, 2008.

Indiana Jones trailer

Click here to see the first trailer for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, in theatres on May 22.

Strike's Over! What's back when and how many?

Nw that the writers; strike is over, the biggest question is when will new episodes air -- and how many? TV Guide has updated the chart I linked to a few weeks ago, and renamed it the "Strike Recovery Chart" -- and it answers those questions pretty thoroughly, so check it out here.

Here's a few standouts --

• Saturday Night Live is back on Feb. 23 -- and Tina Fey is hosting
• Speaking of Fey, 5 or 6 new episodes of 30 Rock will start airing on April 10
• NBC's other Thursday night comedies are also returning on April 10 -- 6 episodes of The Office and 4 remaining episodes of Scrubs (the fate of the final to-be-shot episodes of Scrubs is undetermined)
• My Name is Earl returns a week earlier with 8-10 episodes, possibly including more hour- long eps. Ugh.
• The Unit and Chuck are done for the season, but both should be back in the fall
• But not Bionic Woman or Journeyman -- both are cancelled
• 6 new episodes of CSI will begin on April 3
• 4 pre-strike episodes of Smallville have not aired; 5 new ones will be shot to air in April and May
• The air date for the final season of The Shield has yet to be announced

Star Trek movie delayed til next summer

Due to post-writers' strike shuffling, Paramount has announced that the Star Trek movie, originally scheduled for release on Christmas Day 2008 had been pushed to May 2009.

"Star Wars: The Clone Wars" to debut in theatres

Update: here's a new trailer.

Now here is some pretty cool news! The CG-animated series that takes place between Episodes 2 and 3 of the Star Wars saga, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, will debut as a feature film in theatres on August 15 before moving to television on the Cartoon Network and TNT in Fall 2008. A behind-the-scenes documentary with plenty of footage from the series can be seen here.

From the announcement:

On the front lines of an intergalactic struggle between good and evil, fans young and old will join such favorite characters as Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Padmé Amidala along with brand-new heroes like Anakin's padawan learner, Ahsoka. Sinister villains -- led by Darth Sidious, Count Dooku and General Grievous -- are poised to rule the galaxy. Stakes are high, and the fate of the Star Wars universe rests in the hands of the daring Jedi Knights. Their exploits lead to the action-packed battles and astonishing new revelations that fill Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

Thirty 30-minute episodes have already been produced, and production continues on even more.

Awww, it's Little Batman!

Here's a link to a 3-part video on youtube that recasts the 60s Batman TV show with kids. It's very cute (once you get past a 2+ minute opening credits sequence, set to one of the greatest Batman collections you'll ever see).

Definitely worth taking a look.

Iron Man Super Bowl spot

"Wanted" Super Bowl Spot

Wanted, the movie based on the Mark Millar/J.G. Jones comic mini-series, open on June 27. The moive is spotlighted in a Super Bowl ad you can see here.

New Captain America interviewed on "Good Morning America"

In Marvel Comics last week, a new gun-toting Captain America replaced the slain Steve Rogers, his former sidekick, and once-thought-dead Bucky Barnes. He answered a few questions for Good Morning America. See the interview here.

Ealier last week, Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Joe Quesada also promoted the new Cap on The Colbert Report.

Shield's final season delayed and TV show strike countdown

Even though all 13 episodes of The Shield's final season were completed before the writers' strike could affect its production, it looks like the FX cop drama is remaining undercover a while longer anyway. There's now talk that the show won't have its season premiere until after the Olympics, which end Aug. 24.

Meanwhile, with the writers’ strike still ongoing, it won’t be too much longer before there’s no new scripted (that is, not reality or game show) programming on the air at all. But just how much is left? Tv Guide has compiled a chart, updated as of January 30, that tells us how many new episodes of most TV are left to air.

You can find the whole rundown here, but here are a few relevant ones for me and the few readers of this blog.

Shows that have no remaining episodes produced for this season

• 30 Rock
• Bionic Woman
• Chuck
• CSI
• Heroes
• My Name is Earl
• The Office
• The Unit
  

Depressing, isn’t it? But don’t worry. There are still some non-reality shows left:

• Lost: 8 episodes left -- starting tomorrow
• Smallville: 6 left -- starting tomorrow
• Scrubs: 5 left
• Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: 6 left
• Reaper: 3 left

Particularly bummed about The Shield delay, but oh, well, guess i'll read a book or something.

"New Frontier "comic special to Join DVD release

As if the release of Justice League: The New Frontier as a direct-to-DVD animated movie of February 26 weren't cool enough, creator Darwyn Cooke is releasing a 48-page Justice League: New Frontier special a week later, featuring three untold tales set during the time period of the orignal story. As Cooke told Newsarama:

The special will be a special in that old school way. It will have a small connecting story and the conceit is that these are untold events that the government classified back in the early sixties. There are three stories in the special. The main story is something I call Chapter X, and it is the story behind the big Batman/Superman fight hoax referred to in New Frontier. In the book we only deal with that event as a squib in a magazine article along with on shot of them brawling. This 22 page story will tell about what leads up to the two fighting, and how they choose to resolve it. A host of our Frontier cast are in this story, from King Faraday and the Suicide Squad through to Wonder Woman and Hourman. We also get to meet the New Frontier Alfred .... J. Bone and I are tackling Wonder Woman, Black Canary and old school chauvinism in an New Frontier parody along the lines of the old Kurtzman/Wood Mad satires. The director of the NFDVD is a talented young man named David Bullock. He and I are tackling a short that features Robin and Kid Flash up against Red saboteurs.

An animated adaptation of one of the best comic stories in years, and now a comic follow-up. Comics CAN still be good! For more inforamtion on DC's New Frontier-related offerings, click here.

Justice League: New Frontier will premiere at the WonderCon in San Francisco on Feburary 22-24, and arrive in stories on Feburary 26. The New Frontier comic special hits shops on March 5.

"Dark Knight"'s Joker Heath Ledger dead at 28

Actor Heath Ledger, 28, set to appear as the Joker in this summer's The Dark Knight, was found dead in his apartment in New York City today. The death appears to be drug-related, though whether it was a suicide has not yet been determined.

From his obituary from AP:

And in what may be his final finished performance, Ledger proved that he wouldn't be intimidated by taking on a character as iconic as Jack Nicholson's Joker. Ledger's version of the Batman villain, glimpsed in early teaser trailers, made it clear that his Joker would be more depraved and dark.
Curiosity about Ledger's final performance will likely stoke further interest in the summer blockbuster. Dark Knight director Christopher Nolan said earlier this month that Ledger's Joker would be wildly different from Nicholson's.
"It was a very great challenge for Heath," Nolan said. "He's extremely original, extremely frightening, tremendously edgy. A very young character, a very anarchic presence that taps into a lot of our basic fears and panic."

Farewell to a talented young actor.

Boldly Going Where Roddenberry Has Gone Before: New Star Trek Teaser Trailer Online

Debuting in theatres in front of Cloverfield, the teaser trailer for the Star Trek prequel movie is now online.

Director J.J. Abrams talked about the teaser and a little about the movie, which features a new young cast playing Kirk, Spock and the rest of the classic Entrprise crew, in Entertainment Weekly:

The clip shows welders busy on what turns out to be the new starship Enterprise — massive and detailed, an embodiment of space-gazing idealism. Abrams wanted to underscore the fact that he's ''starting from scratch,'' he says. His movie chronicles an early adventure of the original crew, including Kirk (Smokin' Aces' Chris Pine) and Spock (Heroes' Zachary Quinto). Eric Bana plays a villain. Leonard Nimoy returns as an older version of Spock, which could corroborate spoiler reports that the movie has a time-travel twist.

Not in the movie? William Shatner -- and he's not happy about it. See an article and video interview about that here. But Abrams has an explanation for that: "The only reason Mr. Shatner is not in the movie and Mr. (Leonard) Nimoy is, is that his character died on screen."

"Daydream Believer" writer dies

John Stewart, member of the 1960s folk act, The Kingston Trio, and writer of the Monkees' "Daydream Believer," among other pop songs, has died. He was 86.

Here's a clip of the Monkees doing "Daydream Believer":

And here's the Kingston Trio in 1966 on the The Andy Williams Show, singing "Where Have All the Flowers Gone":

Will Smith spoofs superheroes in Hancock

A few weeks after The Incredible Hulk, and a few weeks before The Dark Knight comes Hancock, Will Smith's superhero spoof, opening on July 2 -- a very successful holiday weekend for Mr. Smith. See the trailer here.

See the movie? Finish the book first!

So, last week, I made a rare trip to the movie theatre to see Sweeney Tood: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, the musical directed by Tim Burton and starring Johnny Depp. The movie was enjoyable, but the experience continued to remind me why there's little point in going to the theatre anymore -- the cost, the discomfort, the noise. Anyway, the one thing I continue to enjoy about going to the movies is seeing trailers, even though they are readily available online. So, I was hoping to see The Dark Knight, or Iron Man or Cloverfield, to actually see them on the big screen. Instead, I got a bunch of trailers for movies I have no desire to see on screens big or ... not as big (my TV is pretty big) -- movies aimed at kids, and other musicals. But then, there came a trailer that seemed familiar, even though I had never seen it before. It was for a movie called The Ruins.

The reason it seemed familiar is because I have been reading the book by Scott Smith that the movie is based on for months now, but was not getting far. I am so easily distracted by my iPod and DVR, that I rarely make time for reading anymore, unless it includes pictures and word balloons. But for some reason, seeing the trailer has inspired me to finish the book, even though I know I won't go to the theatre to see it when it comes out in April.

It has gotten great reviews, and I enjoyed Smith's first book, A Simple Plan, also made into a very good movie (directed by the Spider-Man film trilogy's Sam Raimi), but I had a hard time getting into The Ruins, and struggled to get past the first 100 pages (the paperback is just over 500 pages).

But since seeing the trailer last Sunday, I have made it a priority, and have read another 200+ pages, and the book has indeed picked up. I haven't touched a TV show or movie on my iPod in several days (haven't given up the DVR though), so I'm reading on the train again. I predict I'll be finished the book within the next week, and will likely be lending it out with high recommendations. But I still won't see the movie in the theatre in April. Only Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk and The Dark Knight will do that over the next several months.

Next book for me is Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. See the same strategy worked for the first four books in the Potter series -- I read the books by the time the movies came out. But not this time. Now, it's on DVD and will soon be on cable, and I haven't touched the mammoth book yet. So soon that will be on the list over there on the right (the one that has had The Ruins on it for over six months along with Larry Kane's Lennon Revealed).

And Your Bird Can Sing

Smallville is back with new episodes starting January 31, feauring the return of Brainiac (James Marsters). Even better, the following week, Oliver Queen/Green Arrow (Justin Hartley) comes back, and he's bringing a friend:
That's right: The Black Canary, complete with sonic scream. Here's how the episode, called "Siren", is described:

While secretly working for Oliver (guest-star Justin Hartley), Chloe (Allison Mack) intercepts one of Lex's (Michael Rosenbaum) project files, but she is attacked by the Black Canary (guest-star Alaina Huffman), a mystery woman with a subsonic cry. Dinah Lance, Black Canary's alter ego, is a conservative talk show host who is working at the Daily Planet and clashes with Lois (Erica Durance). Lex convinces the Black Canary that the Green Arrow and his team are terrorists so she launches an attack on the Green Arrow and Clark (Tom Welling). Meanwhile, Lois discovers Oliver's secret.

Yay fishnets!

"Iron Man," "Hulk" movie crossovers hint at future Avengers film

This summer's movie season will see both Iron Man (May 2) and The Incredible Hulk (June 13). While both movies have different writers and directors, they are part of the same shared Marvel universe. And both movies are dropping hints about that shared universe and the eventual Avengers movie it will lead to.

Unlike Warners Bros's handling of DC characters, both individually and in a Justice League film, Marvel is looking to launch solo movies starring Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and the Hulk before teaming them up in the same movie with the same actors.

The seeds for the Avengers movie will appear in both 2008 Marvel movies. First up, Samuel L. Jackson will be appearing in Iron Man as Col. Nick Fury. In Marvel's Ultimates series, Nick Fury formed that particular version of the Avengers -- and Fury, as drawn by Bryan Hitch, looks just like Samuel L. Jackson, as you can see here.

Next, in The Incredible Hulk, Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) aka Iron Man, will share a scene with General Ross, played by William Hurt, confirmed this week at Sundance by Hurt himself:

"I don't know how it'll work," Hurt admitted, saying it was a thrill to appear as General Thaddeus Ross during Downey's scene. "I know it's weird [to work with a character from another movie], and to know it's a device. We did something; I don't know what that's going to be like [to watch]."

Hurt seems pretty psyched about the upcoming movie, and notes that it is a separate film from Ang Lee's failed attempt at the depicting the big, green, gamma guy. Iron Man director Jon Favreau is just as excited at the idea of the shared movie universe, and may even want to direct the big team-up movie:

In the case of Marvel they’re pretty clear on wanting to do it with the actors who’ve established the roles or to not do it at all. That’s what they’ve said to me. I think it’s a good idea if you use the characters established in the other franchises that then come together for an event. I don’t think they would do it like they’re doing ‘Justice League’ where it’s a whole different set of actors and a whole different take on the world.”

Sounds promising, but let's how these two movies do this year before we get too carried away. With the writer's strike putting the JLA movie on hold, it could -- and should? -- be a long while before we see a super-ghero team-up movie from any shared universe.

I've Got a Good Feeling About This

Ever want to ride the Millenium Falcon? See Darth Vader's helmet or Luke's landspeeder up close. Well, if you're in Philadelphia you can. Running from February 9 through May 4, "Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination" will be exhibited at the Franklin Institute, and man does it sound cool.

Props from the movie will be on display, including not only the life-size landspeeder, but scale models of X-wings, y-wings and TIE fighters -- not to mention an actual Yoda puppet. The coolest part is that you can simulate a ride in the Millenium Falcon:

Experience a full-size cockpit replica of Episode IV's Millennium Falcon! Visitors watch a multimedia presentation featuring imagery from the Hubble space telescope that explores what we know about our own galaxy in a breathtaking journey to the edge of the Universe. Featuring a proprietary sound system from Bose Corporation, the recreated cockpit debuts the technologies of 3Space™ audio systems, providing visitors with a realistic three-dimensional audio experience.

Of course, it's a science museum, so it's not just entertainment. Visitors can see the history of real-life robots (and meet C3PO and R2D2) and transportation, and build a moisture farm and spaceport.

Ticket prices are $20.50 for adults, $15.50 for kids up to 11, and $16.50 for seniors.

I definitely need to see this.

RIP Sam the Butcher

Allan Mellvin, character actor and and cartoon voice artist, has died at age 84.

Best known as Sam the butcher, housekeeper Alice's sometime-boyfriend on The Brady Bunch, also was the voice of Hanna Barbera cartoon character Magilla Gorilla, among many other characters for the studio.

He was also well known as Archie Bunker's friend Barney on All in the Family.

Melvin's voice appeared in other cartoons, including The Flintstones, The Smurfs and Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends . He also served as a writer on the Beetle Bailey animated series, for which he played Sgt. Snorkle.