The Oscars attempt (emphasis on the word, “attempt”) to recognize cinemas greatest achievements each year. The Razzies, on the other hand,  recognize cinema’s greatest underachievements each year.

After seeing the nominees for this year’s Razzie Awards, I’m beginning to think that the Razzie judges need to be given jobs on the Oscar selection committee. Maybe then the Oscar noms would be a little bit more spot-on.

Here are the 2008 Razzie Award nominees for your viewing displeasure.

WORST PICTURE

• Disaster Movie & Meet The Spartans (Two bad movies, one tired-ass concept)
• The Happening (Ouch, M. Night that’s gotta hurt!)
• The Hottie and The Nottie
• In The Name of The King: A Dungeon Siege Tale
• The Love Guru (Like no one saw that one coming.)

WORST ACTOR

• Larry The Cable Guy, Witless Protection
• Eddie Murphy, Meet Dave
• Mike Myers, The Love Guru
• Al Pacino, 88 Minutes & Righteous Kill (double ouch!)
• Mark Wahlberg, The Happening & Max Payne

WORST ACTRESS

• Jessica Alba, The Eye & The Love Guru
• The cast of The Women, (Annette Bening, Eva Mendes, Debra Messing, Jada Pinkett-Smith and Meg Ryan)
• Cameron Diaz, What Happens In Vegas
• Paris Hilton, The Hottie and The Nottie
• Kate Hudson, Fools Gold & My Best Friend’s Girl

WORST SUPPORTING ACTOR

• Uwe Boll, Uwe Boll’s Postal
• Pierce Brosnan, Mama Mia!
• Ben Kingsley, The Love Guru & The Wackness
• Burt Reynolds, Deal & In The Name of The King: A Dungeon Siege Tale
• Verne Troyer, The Love Guru & Uwe Boll’s Postal
  

WORST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

• Carmen Electra, Meet The Spartans & Disaster Movie
• Paris Hilton, Repo: The Genetic Opera
• Kim Kardashian, Disaster Movie
• Jenny McCarthy, Witless Protection
  
• Leelee Sobieski, 88 Minutes & In The Name of The King: A Dungeon Siege Tale

WORST SCREEN COUPLE

• Uwe Boll and any actor, camera or screenplay
• Cameron Diaz & Ashton Kutcher, What Happens in Vegas
• Paris Hilton and either Christine Lakin or Joel David Moore, The Hottie and The Nottie
• Larry The Cable Guy & Jenny McCarthy, Witless Protection
  
• Eddie Murphy IN Eddie Murphy, Meet Dave
  

WORST PREQUEL, REMAKE, RIP-OFF OR SEQUEL

• The Day The Earth Blowed Up Real Good
• Disaster Movie & Meet The Spartans
• Indiana Jones & The Kingdom of The Crystal Skull
• Speed Racer
• Star Wars: Clone Wars

WORST DIRECTOR

• Uwe Boll, 1968: Tunnel Rats, In The Name of The King & Postal
• Jason Friedberg & Aaron Seltzer, Meet The Spartans & Disaster Movie
• Tom Putnam, The Hottie and The Nottie
• Marco Schnabel, The Love Guru
• M. Night Shyamalan, The Happening
  

WORST SCREENPLAY

• Jason Friedberg & Aaron Seltzer, Meet The Spartans & Disaster Movie
• M. Night Shyamalan, The Happening
• Heidi Ferrer, The Hottie and The Nottie
• Doug Taylor, In The Name of The King: A Dungeon Siege Tale
• Mike Myers & Graham Gordy, The Love Guru

WORST CAREER ACHIEVEMENT (SPECIAL CATEGORY)

• Uwe Boll (“Germany’s answer to Ed Wood”)

Personally I’m just happy that I didn’t see most of the movies on this list. The Happening caught me off guard, though; if I could get my time and money back for that one, I would. And poor Uwe Boll–The Razzies are really raking him over the coals, creating a special category just to highlight his failures.

On a side note, I’m glad to see that the debacle that was Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of The Crystal Skull is also getting the recognition it deserves: as a steaming pile of…well, you know.

Do the 2008 Razzie Award Nominations seem about right to you? Let us know.

Source: The Golden Raspberry Award Foundation Official Website

It’s Wednesday so it’s time for our weekly open discussion, but as it happens this one is hitting on the last day of 2008! Can you believe this year is over already?

And what an incredible year it’s been for movies… 2008 was a banner year for superhero movie fans with the likes of The Dark Knight, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, Hellboy 2, and yes – even Hancock and Punisher: War Zone.

Other great genre films included Rambo, Cloverfield (do you even remember that opened this year?!), Tropic Thunder, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Kung Fu Panda and more.

Of course we’ve had our share of not so hot movies this year like The Happening, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Meet Dave, Meet the Spartans, X-Files, etc. Then there those we were looking forward to that left some of us disappointed like Indy 4 and Quantum of Solace.

I think this would be a great place to post your comments regarding your faves and not so favorite movies of this year… Hits, misses, surprises – whatever floats your boat (within our usual guidelines of course).

All of us here at Screen Rant wish you a very Happy New Year and here’s hoping that 2009 turns out to be as great a year for movie fans as 2008 was!

But the rest of the list may not be as you might have thought. Here it is, in descending order:

25. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
24. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)
23. The Godfather (1972)
22. Star Trek (2009)
21. The Departed (2006)
20. Quantum of Solace (2008)
19. Dragonball (2009)
18. Wanted (2008)
17. Terminator Salvation (2009)
16. Cloverfield (2008)
15. Superbad (2008)
14. Into the Wild (2007)
13. Sex and the City (2008)
12. There Will Be Blood (2007)
11. The Incredible Hulk (2008)
10. Transformers (2007)
9. Juno (2007)
8. No Country for Old Men (2007)
7. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)
6. Iron Man (2008)
5. The Expendables (2010)
4. TR2N (2011)
3. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)
2. Twilight (2008)
1. The Dark Knight (2008)

A few of the usual suspects are there with the top three spots already mentioned above, and other familiar films rounding out the top 10 like Iron Man, Indy IV and Transformers. However one film which stands out to me is The Expendables, which in case it doesn’t ring any bells is Sylvester Stallone’s action flick set to be released some time next year. Having said that, when you look at Stallone (the film’s star, writer and director) alongside Jason Statham, Jet Li and Dolph Lundgren (and hopefully a couple more 80s action icons) – and the interest in the film may not be all that surprising.

Although IMDB’s ratings system is flawed because it allows users to vote for films without having actually seen them (hence why The Dark Knight went to number one within hours of being released, temporarily beating out The Godfather and The Shawshank Redemption as the all time top film) it’s still a fantastic source (actually, it’s THE source) for movie information.

So does this list reflect what movies you’ve been most interested in over the last year or is a much loved movie absent?

Source: /Film

The holiday season is upon us once again. And in the time-honored tradition of making a wishlist of what we hope to receive, I thought I would present something from my personal list for 2009:

A fifth Indiana Jones movie.

Now don’t get me wrong, I certainly don’t expect to receive one in 2009. What I am hoping for is the official announcement that one is in progress; that the contracts have been signed, and pre-production is well under way.

I know that some of my colleagues here at Screen Rant have weighed in on their opinion regarding a fifth Indy movie. Harrison Ford, as quoted by the Los Angeles Times, stated that George Lucas was working on an idea that was “crazy but great.”

As unhappy as many people were with Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, I was happy they managed to get the band back together again. The movie felt like a sound-check, a warm up jam session in preparation of the concert to come. It is my opinion that if Steven Spielberg, Lucas and Ford truly listen to the criticism regarding the last film, they have the ability to win back the fans of the franchise, and maybe even end the series on a high note. Is this likely? George Lucas certainly doesn’t have a history of caring what the fans of his films think.

Granted, while another film seems to be a sure thing, it still took seventeen years before we got our fourth Indy movie. One of the reasons for this is the MacGuffin, or object of Indy’ quest. Lucas has stated in the past that Indiana Jones’ greatest obstacle is finding a MacGuffin that he, Ford, and Steven Spielberg can all agree on. The two greatest, most memorable quests have been for the Ark of the Covenant and the Holy Grail. But for many fans, it is not the Grail nor the Ark that are so fantastic, but the story that surrounds them. They are mere plot devices for the adventures of Indiana Jones.

What I am basically saying is: Don’t stress too much about the object of the adventure… just focus more on the characters and the action. Everyone knows that Indy will find what he is seeking – it’s how he achieves his goal that keeps us entertained.

To that end, one thing I’d like to see less of in the fifth movie is exposition. The last film featured more expository dialogue than any of the previous films. This slowed the pacing down noticeably at several points in the movie. While exposition is necessary in any film to get some points across, just tone it down a bit next time, please.

In regards to the characters, it should remain an Indiana Jones adventure, NOT a Mutt Williams picture featuring guest star Indiana Jones. If Lucas and company want to feature Mutt, I might be up for it in the future, but only after Indy has received a proper send-off. Personally, I enjoyed the character growth of Indy as a father, with the parallels drawn between the relationships of Henry Sr. and Indy with those between Indy and Mutt. In this context, Mutt as a character worked for me. What drew the ill-will for Mutt from so many was the way he took too much focus off of Indy.  Henry Sr. was more of a foil for Indy, whereas Mutt seemed groomed as more of a successor.

Who would I like to see in a fifth movie? Aside from Indy, Mutt would be welcomed if he doesn’t take too much focus off of Indy. I would love to see Henry Sr. , but it would seem Sean Connery won’t be coming out of retirement any time soon. The two characters I’d really love to see are Marion and Sallah. Marion was such a pleasure to see in Crystal Skull, but she should have been given more. I’d like to see her utilized further in the fifth movie. Sallah, on the other hand, was greatly missed this last time around. I would love to see John Rhys-Davies return in the fifth Indiana Jones movie, and preferably as more than just a cameo.

Finally, in regards to the action in the fifth Indy movie, obviously I want to see more. Just keep it as close to plausible as possible.  Keeping the CGI to a minimum would help in this case. Mutt swinging through the trees was so implausible that it took me out of the movie experience. And please, return to the super-natural tones of the first three films. The aliens, inter-dimensional beings or whatever they were just didn’t feel like a good fit for the Indiana Jones series.

Eventually, the Indiana Jones series featuring Harrison Ford will come to an end. My wish is for everyone involved to end it on the highest note possible.  Crystal Skull featured many things I enjoyed, but I still feel there is at least one more great adventure awaiting us.  With Harrison Ford in his mid-sixties we can’t wait another seventeen years for the next sequel.

So my wish is that before the end of 2009, we get the official confirmation that at least one more Indiana Jones film will arrive within the next three years.

Screen Rant’s Indy 4 giveaway is now closed and we’re pleased to announce our 3 winners:

Randy Curran – Omaha, NE
Sara Sicotte – Los Angeles, CA
Robin Trexel – Hodgenville, KY

Congratulations and thank’s to everyone for entering. There will be another contest on its way soon!

Here’s the official info on the release and details of what you’ll find on the disc…

On October 14th, Lucasfilm Ltd. and Paramount Home Entertainment will release the worldwide box office blockbuster INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL on DVD! One of cinema’s greatest adventure heroes is back in this latest chapter of the immensely popular INDIANA JONES franchise! Directed by Steven Spielberg and produced by Frank Marshall, with George Lucas and Kathleen Kennedy as executive producers, the smash hit stars Harrison Ford, Cate Blanchett, Karen Allen, Shia LaBeouf, Ray Winstone and John Hurt, all following Indy on a perilous adventure to find the coveted Crystal Skull of Akator. Utterly packed with exciting bonus features, this may just be the biggest DVD release of the year! Put on your fedora and grab your handy whip as INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL blazes onto DVD October 14th!!

“A nonstop thrill ride adventure. Wow! ‘The Crystal Skull’ delivers!”-TIME

THE LATEST CHAPTER OF THE GREATEST ADVENTURE OF ALL TIME BECOMES THE HIGHLY ANTICIPATED DVD RELEASE OF 2008

With More Than $770 Million in Worldwide Box Office, the Globe-Trotting Adventure Launches October 14 in Single & Two-Disc DVD Packed with Sensational Behind-the-Scenes Special Features

DVD FEATURES

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull two-disc Special Edition DVD is presented in widescreen enhanced for 16:9 TVs with THX Certified Dolby Digital English 5.1 Surround, French 5.1 Surround and Spanish 5.1 Surround and English, French and Spanish subtitles.  The two-disc set includes the following special features:

Disc 1:

• The Return of a Legend-The evolution of the new film and a tribute to the legendary hero and his creators.
• Pre-Production-Follows Steven Spielberg as he creates animatic sequences, Shia LaBeouf as he learns to swordfight and captures the reunion of filmmakers and cast on the soundstage.

DVD Disc 2:

• Production Diary: Making Kingdom of the Crystal Skull-Join filmmakers, cast and crew for a complete look at the making of the film.
  • Shooting Begins: New Mexico
  • Back To School: New Haven, Connecticut
  • Welcome to the Jungle: Hilo, Hawaii
  • On-Set Action
  • Exploring Akator
  • Wrapping Up!
• Warrior Makeup
• The Crystal Skulls
• Iconic Props
• The Effects of Indy
• Adventures in Post Production
• Closing: Team Indy
• Pre-Visualization Sequences
  • Area 51 Escape
  • Jungle Chase
  • Ants Attack
• Galleries
  • The Art Department

§         The Adventure Begins

§         Cemetery and Jungle

§         Akator

o       Stan Winston Studio

§         Corpses, Skeletons & Mummies

§         Aliens & Crystal Skulls

o       Production Photographs

o       Portraits

o       Behind-the-Scenes Photographs

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull has a running time of 122 minutes and an MPAA rating of PG-13 for adventure violence and scary images and is rated PG in Canada for violence and frightening scenes.  For even more information about the adventures of Indiana Jones, visit www.IndianaJones.com.

Harrison Ford spoke with the LA Times today revealing that George Lucas is thinking up a story for the next installment to the Indiana Jones franchise. Harrison says:

“It’s crazy but great”

Well I for one, think the opposite.

It’s not crazy because Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull made a ton of money. George Lucas likes said money and likes continuing his two biggest franchises (even if they are getting worse by doing so).

It’s also not great because Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was the worst of the four movies in the series, and I can’t imagine another one being much better then the last. Look at where we were left off – with a marriage, a kid called “Mutt”, and aliens… the more I repeat that and think that this is Indiana Jones and all of that actually happened… I want to hit my head on the desk. It wasn’t an awful movie by any means, but I didn’t think it was great either.

On the bright side, Harrison Ford said that he is against doing an animated Indiana Jones.

“I’d hate to see it reduced in any way from the movies that we have done and the way we have done them.”

The key word being “reduced.” I wish he said this before The Clone Wars came out. That being said, the fact that that was animated was the least of its problems.

As much as I love the original Indy trilogy, I don’t think George currently has the right target audience in mind. We all saw what happened with the Star Wars prequels and then, even unimaginably worse, with The Clone Wars. It seems there’s not been much credit given to what once was and why it was so successful for all age groups in the past. There’s a reason everyone loves the original Indiana Jones and Star Wars movies and why its not the same with the newer versions.

Why can’t we get the quality of old? It seems they’re just running through the motions now that they have a massive brand name and audience. As long as it’s called Indiana Jones starring Harrison Ford, here comes a half-billion dollar paycheck.

In a previous Screen Rant article, Jamie posed a question about the possibility of an Indiana Jones 5. In it, he brings up the point that money does talk. A lot of people thought upon hearing of the fourth installment, that it would be the final sendoff of the character. But no, if the character is alive, and the movies bring in a fortune then of course there will be a sequel. He also brings up the important point that even if a movie is hated, it can still make tons (i.e. Spider-Man 3, The Da Vinci Code, Pirates of the Carribean 3). Oh and look, ALL of those movies have prequels/sequels coming out.

It’s too bad these big movies are about quantity over quality. An Indy 5 would no doubt make a huge profit. I predict however, that it will make less than the previous simply because there are many disappointed fans out there now.

We have absolutely no information on story, cast or anything and I’m already a little worried. I would love to see the franchise end on a high note and return to its roots in terms of style. How about you?

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull on DVD and Blu-ray hits shelves on October 14th. And if you were one of the few souls who enjoyed it, don’t miss our Indiana Jones 4 Special Edition DVD Giveaway!

Source: Los Angeles Times

Before I start my little op-ed about Iron Man and The Dark Knight, I want you all to know that Iron Man is indeed my favorite character. I had him tattooed on my right forearm almost five years ago, and Entertainment Weekly even featured me as their “Obsessive Fan of the Week” last year! I write for Advanced Iron (the #1 Iron Man fan site on the planet), and my love for the character stretches back over 20 years.

That said, Batman is my second favorite character (tied with Captain America), and Batman Begins was, for the longest time not only my favorite comic book movie, but one of my top 20 favorite films of all time. The Dark Knight somehow topped Batman Begins, and completely blew me away. It deserves all the money and (hopefully) awards it has (or will) earn.

Okay, now that that’s out of the way, I want to spend a little time talking about why, ultimately, I love Iron Man more than The Dark Knight. Understand that while I think TDK is a magnificent movie, and the musical score is infinitely better than the pedestrian soundtrack of Iron Man – ol’ Shell Head’s film wins the race (but only by a little bit).

So why do I love Iron Man more? I recently sat down, and thought about the best movies I’ve seen this past summer, and I was hard-pressed in deciding whether Iron Man or TDK was better – or if they were a tie for me. Due to a busy work schedule this summer, I could only see each movie once, but you know I’ll wear the DVDs out when they’re released. I could also watch only a handful of films, but I hear that Indiana Jones 4 stunk anyway.

So after thinking about both, even going so far as comparing stories (both are aces) and direction (two veteran indie filmmakers doing their best work).

• Acting: Tie – you can’t get better than Robert Downey, Jr. and Heath Ledger.
• Visual FX: Iron Man.
• Music: The Dark Knight.
• Villains: Sorry, Iron Monger, but Heath’s Joker scared the crap out of me, and he deserves an Oscar.
• Cinematography: Matthew Libatique (Iron Man) and Wally Pfister (The Dark Knight) are both tops in their field, but I give the slight edge to Libatique.
• Overall fun factor for me: Iron Man wins by the narrowest of margins.

After all that, I came to the conclusion that Iron Man was the best film.

What ultimately got me to that conclusion was my good friend, comic book creator Rich Koslowski. He is the creator of The 3 Geeks, and he recently commented on his blog:

“I did love it [The Dark Knight, but] I still liked Iron Man better. And the one main reason I think is that Iron Man was more well-rounded. Iron Man had the one thing the The Dark Knight did not… joy.”

That’s exactly what I was mulling over: joy. Don’t get Rich or I wrong, we both love the dark aspects of Batman (don’t EVER lose that and don’t EVER hire Joel Shumacher EVER again!), but we went for the “light” with Iron Man.

So there you have it. Even though I am a big-time Iron Maniac, had the movie stunk, or had it been just decent-to-good, TDK would’ve won, hands down. Trust me, I love Iron Man the character, but I don’t love being let down. I learned that years ago, when I’d get excited for upcoming movies, much like sports fans would get pumped up for the big game, only to be disappointed when the film opened (Jurassic Park being the exception). And believe me, I was obsessing about both of these films.

For me, ultimately, I just loved watching Iron Man fly around, dispatching bad guys. But don’t forget that I absolutely loved The Dark Knight. It and Iron Man are the top two best comic book movies I’ve ever seen and I can’t wait to watch both films at least two dozen times on DVD before the year ends.

And one more thing: I think it’s great that TDK made over $520 million, and Iron Man, a minor, not-as-well-known Marvel superhero made more money than Indy 4. No one expected Iron Man to do as well as it did, but it certainly did.

I can’t wait for the next Iron Man and Batman films.

As we all know, Hollywood is the epicenter of not only fads, but also ripping off copying what works from other studios. We’ve all seen this before many times. One studio puts out a successful movie in some genre and within 6-9 months we see a bunch of movies coming out trying to capitalize on the popularity of the first one.

This phenomenon really took off in the early 1980s, with movies like Star Wars launching a new era in Sci-Fi films (yes, I know Star Wars was released prior to 1980), Superman starting the superhero movie trend, Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street giving us the wonderful teen horror genre (at least they were rated R back then). Rambo started the lone hero with enemies that were lousy shots and couldn’t kill him even with machine guns and Porky’s gave us the start of the raunchy high school comedy.

So I suppose it was only appropriate, and a matter of time before Hollywood, bereft of new ideas, decided to re-visit those old gold mines to search for a fresh vein to tap. But now we’re not doing remakes any more… oh no – now the big buzzword is: Reboot.

The first recent film to tackle this concept (and succeed) was Batman Begins in 2005. Warner Bros. took a once successful franchise that had been ruined utterly and completely by descending into tongue in cheek, replete with nipples on the Bat-Suit. As we all know, director Chris Nolan exceeded everyone’s expectations and cleansed our palates of the abomination that was foisted upon us by Joel Schumacher.

Warner Bros. followed this success with Superman Returns, which while it was profitable, was a disappointment to many, and didn’t really “reboot” the franchise. It seems like the next Superman film may actually try to do that (again). We also had the rejuvenation of the James Bond franchise with Casino Royale, which gave us Daniel Craig as the closest thing to the early days of the series and Sean Connery.

The Incredible Hulk reboot didn’t go as well as planned for a variety of reasons including poor marketing and internal conflicts.

So now that the studios have seen that it’s possible to do a reboot well (as opposed to recent failures like Planet of the Apes and The Pink Panther), the reboot trend is moving full steam ahead. Interestingly, the main target for source material seems to the very same era I mentioned above: the 1980s (give or take a couple of years).

Now technically some of the projects haven’t been reboots – a similar trend that’s emerging is to create an additional sequel to a movie franchise that ended 20 years ago. An example of this was Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull – which while successful, was not as huge a hit as Paramount had been hoping for. The fact that the term “Nuke the fridge” has entered the vernacular has more than a little to do with it, I’m quite sure.

On the “delayed” sequel front we also had Bruce Willis returning as John McClane in Live Free or Die Hard (aka Die Hard 4). While that was controversial due to dropping the rating from the usual R to a PG-13, it did well at the box office and was fairly well-received. We also had not one but two Sylvester Stallone sequels: Rambo and Rocky Balboa, both of which kicked butt IMHO.

Projects ready to hit the screen next year include J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek and McG’s Terminator 4. Other “dust off the concept” movies that are in the works include Child’s Play, Hellraiser, Ghostbusters and Beverly Hills Cop 4.

So this got me thinking… what movie reboots/delayed sequel possibilities are out there that haven’t been tapped yet? Now I’m not saying this is a good idea – I’m just saying that I’m betting there are “scriptments” floating around Hollywood for these well-known franchises.

Whether they get made before this trend runs out, I don’t know – but if they DO, you heard it here first.

Here’s the list, in no particular order:

1. Smokey and the Bandit (1977)

Here’s the movie that made both Burt Reynolds and Sally Field stars and beloved by the public. Just a fun, against the establishment, redneck fun movie.

Logic: Are you kidding me? With Sarah Palin as the Republican Vice-Presidential pick and the whole Liberal vs Conservative angst, the timing for a new version of this couldn’t be better!

2. Crocodile Dundee (1986)

This is the movie that made Aussie Paul Hogan a star. With his low key charm and self-confidence, he became and instant audience favorite. It spawned a sequel which wasn’t bad, but in 2001 they did a third movie which was a stinker.

Logic: Someone needs to make a casting trip to Australia to find a new Dundee – shouldn’t be too difficult… Australia seems to have a good supply of “manly men.”

3. Home Alone (1990)

The original starring Macaulay Culkin and directed by Chris Columbus is a classic. There was one sequel and a failed attempt at a reboot back in 1997.

Logic: It’s been 11 years since the last one, so you know that someone out there thinks “if we could only find the right child actor” they could make a go of this one again.

4. Back to the Future (1985)

Another beloved series, which starred Michael J. Fox and was directed by Robert Zemeckis. While the first two were great, the third left a bit to be desired.

Logic: Yes, this one should remain untouched, but it’s got a brand name, was a big hit for its time and I can just see some new spin on this (no doubt with characters that are annoying instead of endearing).

5. Revenge of the Nerds (1984)

Having been pretty nerdy myself at the time this originally came out, I thought it was hysterical. As usual, the sequels got progressively weaker.

Logic: You could almost argue that with the unending string of teen comedies, this is unnecessary. Well, yeah, it IS unnecessary – but remember we have a known title plus lazy screenwriters (no, not ALL of them, but we know they’re out there).

6. Rambo (1982)

Logic: Considering the fact that we just had a sequel, maybe some bright-eyed exec will think it’s time to re-cast this with a younger actor. Instead of a Vietnam vet I’m sure they’d be happy to use a black-ops Iraq war veteran as the hero.

7. Porky’s (1982)

If memory serves, this was the first really raunchy high school comedy (yeah, we had Animal House but that was college, big difference, right? RIGHT?).

Logic: See #5.

8. Mad Max (1980)

Mad Max was a little film that gave us the first big screen appearance of Mel Gibson (dubbed horribly with an American voice). Immediate cult classic -spawned two sequels, one good, one not so much.

Logic: You could almost argue that a reboot has been attempted already with this year’s clunker Doomsday. But it’s not really a reboot unless they use the original title.

9. Rocky (1976)

Logic: Similar to #6, Rambo and the same logic applies.

10. Lethal Weapon (1987)

The original team-up of Mel Gibson as the manic cop and Danny Glover was awesome. Again, each subsequent film was not as good as the one before.

Logic: While there have been many “buddy cop” movies since this one, again we have the “Lethal Weapon” brand name. Definitely reboot material – PLEASE do not bring Glover and Gibson back for this.

So what do you think – do you have any that should be added to the list, or ideas for how any of these should play out?

Thanks to DenOfGeek for sparking some ideas.

It’s almost September and that means that the big summer movie season of 2008 is finally over – but what a summer it’s been!

2008 delivered the kind of summer that superhero and action movie geeks dream of – this is the year that brought us three bonafide superhero movies: Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk and what was that third one… oh yeah: The Dark Knight.

We also had the chance to see the long awaited Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, the latest Pixar flick Wall-E, Will Smith as a superhero in Hancock, Angelina Jolie as an assassin in Wanted, Hellboy II: The Golden Army. To keep us laughing we had Tropic Thunder, The Pineapple Express (which I haven’t seen) and Get Smart.

Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight: Summer 2008 box office winner

The Dark Knight was this summer’s box office juggernaut, and no doubt will be the year’s biggest earner. The big surprise of the summer (and the film that kicked it all off) is Iron Man, which came in second and actually beat Indy 4 in the US! That speaks to both how great Iron Man was and how poor an addition the latest Indiana Jones movie was to the original trilogy.

Iron Man: Surprise hit of the 2008 Summer movie season

Here are the top ten movies this summer based on US box office:

1. The Dark Knight – $493.7MM
2. Iron Man – $317.6MM
3. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull – $315.3MM
4. Hancock – $226.5MM
5. Wall-E – $216.8MM
6. Kung Fu Panda – $213MM
7. Sex and the City (yeah, I know) – $152.4MM
8. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian – $141.6MM
9. The Incredible Hulk – $134.4MM
10. Wanted – $133.8MM

One big suprise in the above list is Pixar’s Wall-E: I’m really shocked that the R-rating-pushing, PG-13 and mediocre (according to most critics) Hancock actually beat the family friendly Pixar film. Also surprising is that Kung Fu Panda made almost as much as the Wall-E. It looks like despite the universally rave reviews for Wall-E, that the overly message-heavy plot of the movie wasn’t as much of a winner with families as other of their films like The Incredibles and Finding Nemo. Heck, even Cars (considered by many to be Pixar’s weakest film) made more money than Wall-E at the box office.

Wall-E: Below Summer box office expectations?

I’ll take a moment to toot my own horn and point out that I was one of the lone voices pointing out the fact that Wall-E was too heavy handed with its messages.

Also, despite the “cool factor,” Wanted didn’t manage to beat underdog summer flick The Incredible Hulk. I guess more people thought it was ridiculous (as I did) than thought it was “awesome, dude!”. However superhero movie fans across the land can weep in unison at the fact that Hulk was not able to defeat three hip, New York City powershopping babes on the prowl for true love.

Summer 2008: The Incredible Hulk did not go down without a fight

How the heck Sex in the City made into that list is beyond me.

Movies worth noting that are missing from that top 10 list include The Happening (huge stinker for Shyamalan), The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (couldn’t bring myself to watch it), 10,000 B.C. (do I even need to comment on this one?), Speed Racer (LSD trip for kids), and Hellboy II: The Golden Army (too niche, I suppose).

In the “bombed at the box office” category I guess I’d add X-Files: I Want to Believe ($20.7MM) and at only $27MM since opening, for a Star Wars movie, I’d say The Clone Wars didn’t do too well.

All in all I’d say it’s been a pretty damned awesome summer for movie fans, and it’ll be a tough one to top in 2009.

Don’t worry – there are plenty of films to keep us entertained.

In this Weekend Movie News Wrap Up we look at why Simon Pegg isn’t an Inglorious Bastard, we see the return of Candyman,  Conan gets rewritten, we check out the details of the Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull DVD and we have a look at some more images from Watchmen.

1. Simon Pegg was almost in Inglorious Bastards. Almost. The Shaun of the Dead star was close to signing on to the WWII film, but he had to retreat because of scheduling conflicts.

Pegg had this to say on his Myspace page:

“Much to our mutual disappointment, I won’t be appearing in QT’s forthcoming Inglorious Bastards due to insurmountable scheduling difficulties. We really tried to make it work but in the end, it just was not possible without severe ramifications elsewhere.”

“I’m trying to remain upbeat, as Tom Selleck said “Who the hell is Indiana Jones anyway?”

Pegg also informs us that Superbad director Greg Mottola will be helming Paul, his next film with Nick Frost.

Sources: Simon Pegg

2. Another week, another horror remake! This week it’s Candyman’s turn.

Shock Till You Drop has learned that Sony is in the planning stages of remaking the Tony Todd terror flick. The original was based on Clive Barker short story The Forbidden, and it spawned two follow-ups.

No word on casting or writer yet, but don’t expect Todd to return.

Now if they could only fit in that Christina Aguilera track to make it extra scary.

Source: Shock Till You Drop

3. Will we ever see Conan again on the big screen? Maybe, but I might be old and grey by the time it happens. Heck, I could be dead – but we won’t even go there!

Dirk Blackman and Howard McCain writers of the forthcoming Outlander are the latest scribes to be hired to take on a script for Conan’s return.

If I hit the gym now I could be in with a chance of being Conan. It’s an idea!

Source: Hollywood Reporter

4. There have been a few more images from Watchmen released. They’re pretty cool. Here’s one image – head over to Joblo to see three more.

I’m currently reading Watchmen for the first time. I know, I know… twenty years late – but I have to be prepped for the movie!

Source: Joblo.com

(Continue reading “Weekend Movie News Wrap Up”)

Hey, do you wanna win some cool retro Indiana Jones stuff? With Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull set to open in less than a week we thought it would be appropriate to give away some cool Indy gear. So courtesy of the very gracious 80sTees.com we have some neat Indy t-shirts and even a classic Indiana Jones fedora to give away!

Screen Rant is giving away a total of 8 T-shirts in the two styles shown below. One of the things I like about them is that they have the classic “faded” look that serves as a tribute to Harrison Ford’s dusty signature character.

Oh, and if you’re looking for stuff to watch in addition to stuff to wear, my bud over at Movies Online is giving away Collectors Box Sets of all the original films on DVD. Click here if you want a shot at grabbing those as well.

Check out our prizes below!

Grand Prize:

One of each of the T-shirts below (in either large or x-large) and an official Indy hat in the average hat size of 6 5/8.

Runners-Up:

Four winners will receive one of the two T-shirts below.