A guy just can’t take a vacation around here… leave for a few days and ya miss a boatload of movie news. So here’s a quick summary of a few items worth noting:

- Yahoo! Movies has a trailer up for Slipstream, a time travel movie directed by and starring Anthony Hopkins. It looks interesting but I’ll be damned if I can tell what the story is from the trailer. Maybe that’s the point…

- It seems that Brett Ratner will be directing the remake of Escape from New York. Uh oh.

- Vin Diesel as the Terminator directed by McG? I suppose that half of that is good news… And sorry, I just wasn’t in the mood to do one of those half Terminator/half Vin Diesel photoshop jobs that everyone else has attached to this story.

- The Heartbreak Kid is getting killed at the box office and by critics. It got it’s butt kicked by Disney’s The Game which is in it’s second week. As of right now it’s scoring about 30% positive over at Rotten Tomatoes. It’s from the same guys who brought us There’s Something About Mary, and no, the critics aren’t being high-brow on this: The latter scores 80% over at RT.

- The trailer for Sweeny Todd starring Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter is out. Call me a killjoy but I predict box office doom for this one, even if it turns out to be interesting. There was one brief scene in the trailer that indicated to me this might turn out to be a musical, which is the kiss of death for a modern movie. Audiences just don’t buy the concept any more.

- George Lucas says that Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (yeesh, I had to look that title up because I can’t even remember it) will be as good as Raiders of the Lost Ark. Hey George, I think we’ll be the judge (cough, Phantom Menace, cough) of that.

- Pixar doing a CGI version of John Carter of Mars? Where do I sign up?

- The Thor movie as it is currently written would cost $300 million, and Marvel wants director Matthew Vaughn to trim half of that from the budget. Hmm… maybe they can just reuse styrofoam cups for coffee instead of getting a new cup every time? That should do it.

- Serenity 2? I doubt it, although I absolutely loved Serenity.

• Will Sean Connery Return For Indy 5?
• Indiana Jones 5 To Hit Screens By 2011?
• Harrison Ford & Karen Allen Talk Indiana Jones 5
• Shia LaBeouf Says Indiana Jones 5 Is ‘Gearing Up’
• Vin Diesel Talks Potential Superhero (And Villain) Roles
• Pirates of the Caribbean 4 Has a Plot