In the interest of full disclosure, I’ll tell you right up front that I am not a fan of the Halloween franchise; never have been, never will be.  However, on some carnal, visceral, murderous, sadistic level I appreciate Rob Zombie, even if he is a one-trick pony.  I feel like every time I see one of his movies, there’s a haunting scene around a dinner table; a tense scene with someone silhouetted in moonlight/headlights; a startling scene where someone is revealed as the mirror closes; and of course there’s gratuitous everything: violence, nudity, profanity – the Zombie triple-play.

However, just because I know what’s coming doesn’t mean I won’t partake; I mean damn I saw Titanic, and no matter how much you hope and pray, that boat’s going down.

And now we all have to opportunity to see a little more of what’s coming.  Bloody-Disgusting recently released a heretofore unused trailer of Zombie’s upcoming sequel, Halloween 2, which is surprisingly superior to the previously released trailer we’ve seen.  And the masses seem to concur. 

40 years ago last Saturday, one of the greatest rock ‘n’ rollers of all time both celebrated his country and took a stand against its imposed societal restrictions, its self-proclaimed savior status in the Vietnam war, and the consumptive materialism that was running rampant through our country at the time. His interpretation of The Star Spangled banner was a non-partisan call-to-arms for all those who were looking for a new meaning in life – off the normed path of order, into disorder.  Unfortunately, Hendrix never saw the values he espoused come to fruition; along with several other greats (Morrison, Joplin, Cobain), Hendrix died at the age of 27 in 1970.

Now, almost 40 years later, Variety reports that Legendary Pictures is trying to mount a bucking bronco that many before have already been thrown from.  Once again, mainstream media is trying to capture the story of Jimi Hndrix on celluloid and plaster it all over the big screen for all to experience (pun intended). Many before have tried and failed to get this film made, thanks to the Cerberus of Experience Hendrix, the rocker’s immortal estate (a.k.a. stepsister Janie Hendrix), who continues to play Duck Hunt with all offers.

You’ve done it again, Disney (and Pixar).  All the years that I’ve spent convincing myself that I am free of the tractor beam that is the Magic of Disney™, and once again, I’m off the wagon.

I had relinquished my love/addiction to Disney.  Their magical touch had enchanted me too long with greats like Lion King, or Aladdin, and even The Little Mermaid (if you’re not singing “Part of Your World” in your head right now, you’re soulless). I even went so far as to become a theme part cast member…for six years (true story). But I broke the spell, I cast off the classic demons and villains created over so many years of animation and rid myself of the drug that is Disney Magic.

And then this happened: Toy Story 1&2 in 3D!

Let’s run the bases real quick and recap the whole Moneyball fiasco(cue the movie-montage):

Oscar winner Steve Zaillian spun a script from Michael Lewis’s book about Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane’s successful attempt to put together a baseball club on a budget. Sony picked it up, Brad Pitt and Steven Soderbergh hopped on board, Soderbergh retooled the script into something more along the lines of a documentary with “if it didn’t happen in real life, it won’t happen on the big screen” running through its veins. Sony bucked, the head of Sony, Amy Pascal pulled the plug the morning of the first day of shooting.  There.  Now we’re all on the same page (for more details, go here).

Today we have new details on Moneyball’s current status and a few words from its (almost) star, Brad Pitt.

With the unavoidable success of the raunchy, R-rated comedy The Hangover, Hollywood sees an opportunity that it’s not ashamed to exploit irrespective of the consequences, like John and Kate’s eight coattail riders. Let’s look at this from a purely business perspective: The Hangover cost a touch over $35 million to make, and so far its raked in $380 million.  That’s like a million percent return on investment, or something; any lemonade-stand-entrepreneur can see that this is the bandwagon to jump on.  And jumped on Hollywood has.

Up to bat after The Hangover comes Lionsgate’s announced project, One Night Stan, which is in the works and penned by Josh Friedlander, who previously wrote the scripts Pictures of You (which clung to the bottom of the 2007 Black List of hottest Hollywood screenplays with the requisite 2 votes), and Suicide Blondes (we’d never heard of it either).

Quick list of people that have continued to produce art, even after they’ve passed on: Elvis, Tupac, Jacko, Kurt Cobain, Bob Marely, Biggie, Heath Ledger. Each of these is famous for kicking the bucket and continuing to be productive, long after their passing.  Well, now you can add one more illustrious name to that list… maybe.

Stanley Kubrick’s research documents for his unfinished film The Aryan Papers, were recently displayed at an exhibition.  Artists Jane and Louise Wilson spent a great deal of time scouring Kubrick’s research for this film and put together a piece that not only builds on the late auteur’s efforts, but also the story of the main character, and the work of that character’s casted performer. As well, these documents were put on display at the Edinburgh Festival for attendees to see.

The wave of 80s movies remakes continues to claim victims.  As you all know, Tron is coming, Robocop is in the works, there’s an A-team flick in there somewhere, and rumors of He-Man are recirculating (not that I think anyone could top Dolph Lundgren).  And now you can tack on another classic, Gremlins.

According to Variety, Universal and Illumination Entertainment recently decided to use Dr. Seuss’ 1971 tale, The Lorax, as source material for an upcoming project.  Here’s how I think the board room conversation went:

“Given the sorry state of economic affairs, why not capitalize on ol’ Doc Seuss again? Pick another book, make it an animated movie, and let’s toss in some 3D effects while we’re at it, ‘cuz the kids seem to be really eating that up these days, and we can charge an additional $6.50 for tickets and those silly glasses!  Sounds like a recipe for success to me, boys, make it happen!”

Ok, so if you’ve been keeping abreast of our coverage of the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con, which I’m sure you have, then you know that our boys have been out there running themselves ragged, attending quorums and panels, asking the hard hitting questions.

Well during the SDCC the subject of Wanted 2 came up.  It seems that Mark Millar, the mind behind Wanted, is getting a bit ahead of himself; he told Coming Soon during a conversation about Kick-Ass that production for the sequel, set to star James MacAvoy again, will begin in eight weeks?

At a junket in Australia hosted by the native press outlet, Jabba, when asked about the word going around the water cooler (read: the internet), Steven Sommers quickly smothered the flaming rumor that he had been canned from G.I. Joe and that the film was being re-edited due to poor testing and flaccid online response.

Those of you waiting with bated breath for the return of Ol’ Shellhead (a.k.a. Iron Man) your hours of white-knuckled anticipation will soon be coming to an end. After 72 days of intensive shooting, Marvel Studios producer Kevin Feige announced the wrap of principle photography on Iron Man 2 with a statement to Marvel.com:

In a not-so-shocking breaking story, Disney has announced that it is going to continue to do what it does best: rework old classics, re-release them, and re-make a boat-load of money. Only this go-round, Disney/Pixar will be taking Toy Story and Toy Story 2 and re-releasing both films in THREE DIMENSIONS!

Come October 2nd, Disney/Pixar has scheduled a short-run release of the Toy Story films as a double feature.  For two weeks only (and then surely on Blu-Ray as a quintuple disk package with life-sized plush toys included) the films will play in theaters to teams of screaming ten-year-olds, and those who were ten when the originals were released but are now… Twenty-five… Whoa.

Daughter of famed crooner Dean Martin, Deana Martin, recently publicly revealed that she LIKE likes Johnny Depp  as a candidate to play the role of her father in a Dean Martin biopic (just ignore the whole Electra Complex thing):

“[Depp] is a tremendous actor, he has that charm, that swagger, and the resemblance of my father is there” Martin said. “I’m sure he would do the role justice!”

Its difficult to discern from her comment whether she’s expressing her desire to marry Depp and have lots and lots of babies, or whether she’s actually involved in casting.  As of right now, Martin has no confirmed role in production; she’s merely expressing her number one pick for the role.  However, though her involvement is in question, The Examiner reveals that this latest attempt at a Dean Martin biopic has already been penned by Bonnie Hunt and is currently under the control of Joe Mantegna.

Well before the advent of the blog, there was Monty Python. Before the Internet, before video games, before the Walkman, before me, there was Monty Python.

In 1969, Monty Python debuted on BBC with six members: Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin.  In the 40 years since, they have released several films, including The Life of Brian, and The Quest for the Holy Grail, to name a few, not to mention albums, stage productions, and solo endeavors.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the dawn of that new age of comedy.  To commemorate this (slightly holy) event, The Independent reports the remaining members of the troupe, sans Cleese, will reunite at the Royal Albert Hall in in the Knightsbridge area of the City of Westminster, London, on October 23rd.  Cleese will be unable to attend due to previous engagements, and Graham Chapman passed away in 1989 of spinal cancer.

[UPDATE: It now appears that Jack Ryan will get the reboot treatment see the end of the article for details.]

Let’s throw another pancake on the Jack Ryan flapjack stack, shall we? First we had a Baldwin (The Hunt for Red October), then we had Indiana Jones (Patriot Games, Clear And Present Danger), then we had Ben Affleck (The Sum of All Fears), and after that one, the trail ended, and rightfully so.

But recently, the Jack Ryan Rumor Mill has been stirring again, producing some interesting pulp about a certain man-hunk taking over the role for the rumored next Jack Ryan film.

Marc Canton, the producer of 300, had a conversation with MTV Splash Page’s Larry Carroll recently, where he confirmed speculation that a sequel to 300 is gaining momentum. Reiterating comments previously made by 300 director Zack Snyder, Canton confirmed that Frank Miller, the author behind the graphic novel upon which the movie was based, is currently working on a sequel graphic novel that will later be transposed into a screenplay.

Commenting on what must surely be a complicated process (bringing to fruition a film that has few remaining leading characters), Canton says that Snyder and Miller have already agreed upon the story’s setting. However, in previous public statements, Snyder has said that he will have no hand in the creation of the new story in novel form; that will be left entirely up to Miller.

Mallrats, Clerks, Chasing Amy, Dogma, blah, blah, blah. Yet there’s a dark little place in my heart that secretly loves Jersey Girl.  There, I said it. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that I am intrigued (and a little tickled) by the prospect of the new Kevin Smith film, A Couple of Dicks.

I hesitate to prematurely pass judgment on the film based merely on its pedigree, but given Smith’s track record, and the cast of Dicks, February of 2010 has more to look forward to than Martin Luther King, groundhogs, and chocolate hearts.

Say what they may (and they will) about the recently released Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, but I suspect they’d be singing a different tune if they were the ones laughing their way to the bank right now. In its first five days in IMAX theaters, Transformers 2 set a five-day record of $14.4 million – and that’s only 3.5% of the film’s total grosses as of June 28th: $390,240,609.

So if I were Michael Bay, it wouldn’t take too much for me to ignore the harsh criticism that Transformers 2 has garnered – but that hasn’t stopped anyone from trying to get his attention.

The perfect sequel contains new and old tricks that blend to make a new movie with characters and stories that genuinely deserved closure or extension. Zack Snyer, the man with the vision behind Watchmen and 300 understands this, and has the foresight to see when a sequel could strike gold, or when it will just strike bottom.

At a screening prior to the release of Watchmen: The Director’s Cut Blu-ray, Coming Soon reports, Snyder knew of no plans to make a sequel to Watchmen, and if a sequel were to manifest, he would not be a part of it.  However, in regards to whether his previous film, 300, would be given a second installment, Snyder had good news to share with fans.

Everyone knows the best way to sell the audience on the veracity of your own nonsense is to accompany it with a graph.  A graph demonstrates your authority, your intelligence, your organization, your analytical skills, and your mad Excel skillz; and most of the time, it need not pertain to the what’s going on.

Case in point: Dan Meth, the creative visionary behind Toy Video, demonstrates his the authority and mad skillz with the latest installment in his Pop Culture Charts series, Futuristic Movie Timeline – an analysis of the year in which classic sci-fi movies take place and their year of release, all in chronological plot order.  Meth plots these films like some modern-day Nostradamus who sees the fate of humanity at 24 frames-per-second through a magic camera lens.