Previously known as Stuff and Things, Stuff We Missed is exactly that: stuff we missed. Consider this the Costco of blog posts, where you save time and read your movie news in bulk. Yum.
-- Will Watchmen hit theaters on March 6th, as scheduled, or will those evil demons at 20th Century Fox prevent fans from seeing their beloved film on time simply because they hate human beings and everything they stand for? Okay, maybe there's a little more to it, but good news is both sides have agreed to let a judge settle this on January 20th. It's complicated, but we'll know then whether the film will arrive on time or not.
-- Our friends over at io9 came across a few images of early concept art for that new Judge Dredd flick (see them below). These come from comic artist Jock, who also worked on Losers, 2000 A.D and Green Arrow: Year One. The images are all tagged with the name Rebellion, which is the company behind the 2003 Dredd video game, and is also producing the new film.
-- The ASC (American Society of Cinematographers) have dished out their nominations for best of the year, with nods going to Revolutionary Road, The Reader, Slumdog Millionaire (my choice) and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
That's good news if you loved him as Jacob in Twilight, anyway. If you didn't, well, I guess it sucks to be you, because he ain't going anywhere.
Taylor Lautner was one of the youngest Twilight cast members, not quite 16 years old when the film was shot (he turns 17 next month), making him essentially the same age as his character -- a rarity in teen films. His character, Jacob Black, is the Native American boy whose forefathers' anti-vampire streak, coupled with his own fondness for Bella (Kristen Stewart), made him wary of dreamy teenpire Edward (Robert Pattinson), and while Jacob played only a minor part in Twilight's story, he becomes much more important in the sequel, New Moon. I haven't read it, but evidently (and this is no spoiler) he goes through some physical transformations befitting a lad of his werewolfy ancestry.
Lautner's youth and baby-facedness made some people question whether he'd be the right choice to continue playing a beefed up Jacob. At 5'9", Lautner is taller than lots of Hollywood leading men -- but most Hollywood leading men aren't required to play 6'7" lycanthropes. Rumors swirled that he would be replaced, and a representative for New Moon director Chris Weitz confirmed back in December that "the casting decision in regards to the character Jacob Black has yet to be made." Actor Michael Copon, a 26-year-old Lautner lookalike, was being considered at one point, going so far as to say on his Facebook page that he had been locked to take over the role.
Talk about a comeback -- Mickey Rourke has gone from wrestling his way back into our hearts to getting cast in what is perhaps the biggest blockbuster of 2010: Iron Man 2. Variety tells us that Rourke is in talks to play a villain that's described as "Tony Stark's Russian alter ego, a heavily tattooed bruiser who is in the arms trade and battles Iron Man in his own nuclear-powered armored suit." Though the script isn't finished yet, most likely the character will be that of Crimson Dynamo. From Wiki: "The first Crimson Dynamo was also the creator of the armor: Professor Anton Vanko. A Soviet scientist of Armenian birth with a PhD, Vanko was the world's foremost expert on electricity. He built a suit that was wired up to perform electric miracles, making him a human dynamo. The Crimson Dynamo battle-suit allowed him to control electricity in all of its forms, allowing him to fire devastating bolts of electricity. It also allowed him to fly." THR, however, mentions that Rourke is playing the villain Whiplash, who's also known as Blacklash, "a man with deadly, technologically enhanced coils." Rourke also signed on to star in Sylvestor Stallone's The Expendables, as reported earlier, which means the man is taking all he can get.
According to casting calls, they still need to cast an "Eastern European, brilliant, gritty" male lead in his thirties and a "beautiful [female lead who] speaks several languages fluently and is equally proficient in martial arts" in her twenties, who is Tony Stark's assistant Natasha (as per THR). Mickey Rourke playing villain in Iron Man 2? What do you think about all this? We'll have more as it develops -- Iron Man 2 hits theaters on May 7, 2010.
UPDATE: Sam Rockwell is also circling the role of Stark rival Justin Hammer (which takes care of our "Eastern European, brilliant, gritty" male lead").
Several films are heading into next week's Sundance Film Festival with a giant helping of buzz, and one of those is Paper Heart (pictured above) -- starring Charlyne Yi (Knocked Up) and Michael Cera -- which comes served with this description: "Combining elements of storytelling, reality and fantasy, Paper Heart brings a fresh perspective to the modern romance and redefines the classic love story." Since I kinda dig the randomness that defines the humor of both Cera and Yi, I've been waiting for a teaser of some kind to hit prior to the festival -- and while one has not found its way online, Karina over at Spout discovered Yi's YouTube page which is just packed with little nuggets of hilarity.
Karina highlighted a few videos in her post, but the ones that stood out for me were a series of conversations between Yi and SNL's Fred Armisen. It all started with an audition tape Yi made for Saturday Night Live, which she posted to YouTube in the hopes that it would become popular enough that Lorne Michaels would see it and put her on the show. Well, Michaels didn't see it, but Fred Armisen did and so was born a pretty funny series of videos featuring both Yi and Armisen communicating with one another -- with the last being my personal favorite. Are these real? Are these fake? What's the deal? Nevertheless, it gives us a better look at Yi, and the type of humor we should expect from Paper Heart (see images below).
Sean Connery did it, Joaquin Phoenix apparently did it, and countless other actors, actresses and filmmakers have talked about it at one point or another -- leaving us, along with the pages of People Magazine, to wonder when, how or what if. It's funny, too, because you don't find many people who want to retire from the entertainment business, simply because most either never make it, fall out of the spotlight or wind up overdosing on drugs, their own ego or something along those lines wayyy before they'd ever reach an age to retire at. But here's a good question: Could the fans at home ever force someone into retirement?
Our good friend Jenna Busch wrote a little thing for Sci Fi Wire on nine reasons why George Lucas should retire ... like, now. Say what you want about Lucas and his career choices, but the man definitely still has his fans -- as poor Jenna is feeling the fanboy wrath in the comments section of her post. Her reasons, of course, mention Lucas' "additions" to the original Star Wars films, the fact that he refuses to release any of his flicks in hi-def, his work on both Willow and Howard the Duck (two awesome guilty pleasures, in my opinion), etc ...
While I've thrown more than a few internet punches at Lucas over the years, I have to say I'm really enjoying the Clone Wars animated show on Cartoon Network (seriously, watch it), I didn't loathe Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull as much as the rest of you did, and I feel Lucas still has a few good chunks of awesomeness left in him. That said, you all (including the lovely Jenna) may feel differently. So have at it below: Should Lucas retire?
When was the last time you watched The Breakfast Club? And I mean really watched the film -- and not some cruddy edited version on TNT? The original version has been airing commercial-free on some cable stations recently, and I watched it the other day completely forgetting how much fun it is when the flick airs all in one piece, with its pot smoking and cursing and awesome '80s teen angst. Not long ago, the documentary American Teen recreated the classic Breakfast Club poster with its real-life characters, and now the above fan-created poster -- featuring our favorite breakfast cereal characters -- has popped up over on IronicSans. Maybe my nasty head cold has me a little stuffed up and not thinking straight, but I think I want to see that movie ... like, soon. The taglines on the poster crack me up -- definitely check out the full version down below, then tell us which breakfast cereal character is your favorite.
Updated: Thanks to techstar25 for reminding us of the video below ... I guess, well, yeah -- Simpsons Family Guy did it!
When a studio in Hollywood snatches up your favorite book, I think you die a little inside. How many fantastic novels have been rewritten, gutted, misrepresented, and utterly destroyed in their big screen adaptations? Too many to count, right? You could probably devote a film blog to documenting them all. But every once and awhile, a movie comes along that is actually better than the book. It's rare, but it does happen. As we have a fair number of film and book fans browsing our fair site, I'd like to know which adaptations you think make this elusive category.
I'll give you two of my own to start -- and I'll probably cause a flame war just for my opinions on T.H. White. I'm a medievalist at heart, and a junkie for the fantasy genre, who eagerly picked up a copy of The Once and Future King one summer as a break from studying Old and Middle English. I thought it was a crime I hadn't read it, since I do own multiple copies of the Morte d'Arthur and promised my professor I would read Sir Gawain and the Green Knight in the North Midlands dialect someday.
I expected to be blown away, to sneer at Disney's milquetoast adaptation, and put it there alongside my umpteen copies of Chaucer. Instead, I could barely get past the cat boiling, the threats against Questing Beasts and hedgehogs, and the blatant misogyny. (Guinevere is a basket case because she can't have kids!) Disney's The Sword and the Stone may not be my favorite film, it may not even rank among the greats of animation, but it's better than The Once and Future King -- if only because it lacks cat torture and misogyny. (It does, however, lack Robin Hood, which is the highest point of White's novel for me.)
A brand spanking new Japanese Watchmen trailer has arrived online, featuring a good chunk of fresh scenes not included in any of the other trailers or behind-the-scenes videos. Surprisingly, it's heavy on the Nixon stuff for some reason while also highlighting Fidel Castro, JFK and the threat of nuclear war. The domestic trailers, however, barely showed these political leaders -- instead focusing more on the superhero/action aspect of the film -- which just goes to show the different ways they're marketing this flick to audiences all over the globe. The release date of March 28th at the end is, in fact, limited to Japan, so don't go freaking out yet -- Fox hasn't managed to delay our March 6th release, and if they want Wolverine to be successful with the fanboy community, they'll find a way to work this sucker out and allow Watchmen to hit theaters on time. But enough of my babbling, check out the trailer below and let us know what you think.
Cinematical has gotten their hands on the first official image from Judd Apatow'sFunny People, which yours truly recently named the comedy of the year. Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen, Leslie Mann, Eric Bana and Jason Schwartzman star in this flick about a comedian who suffers a near-death experience. This is only Apatow's third time in the director's chair (40 Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up), despite the fact that his name has been attached to a slew of comedies over the past couple years. On his latest, Apatow notes: "I'm trying to make a very serious movie that is twice as funny as my other movies. Wish me luck!" For more on the comedies of 2009, check out our discussion post over here. Best comedy of 2009? Maybe. Most anticipated? Definitely. Funny People hits theaters on July 31.
Cinematical has just received this exclusive poster for Sunshine Cleaning, starring Amy Adams, Emily Blunt and Alan Arkin. The film follows a down-on-her-funds mom (Adams) who, in order to raise money to send her son to private school, listens to the advice of her father (Arkin) and starts up a crime scene cleaning business with her sister (Blunt). Adams and Blunt together seems like a recipe for success, and advanced buzz on the film -- which comes to us from the producers of Little Miss Sunshine -- is pretty positive so far. Directed by Christine Jeffs and written by Megan Holley (nice female duo at the top there), Sunshine Cleaning hits theaters on March 13th.
So remember that whole Shazam! movie, with John August writing, Peter Segal (Get Smart) directing and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson starring as the villain, Black Adam? Last year we talked about this project a lot, wondering which actor would eventually play Captain Marvel, as well as teenager Billy Batson. In fact, as recently as November of 2008, Variety had reported that Shazam! was part of Segal's first-look deal with Warner Brothers. (The project was originally set up at New Line, but moved to Warners when they went under.)
However, over on his blog, August says the project is now dead in the water after several re-writes, most of which came about after the studio wanted him to take the film from a lighter action-comedy to something much darker (a la The Dark Knight). And regarding the recent news that Segal would be directing, August notes that "press releases often have little relationship to reality." He does admit, though, that the movie may still happen ... just not with him onboard and not anytime soon. Which is a shame, because this pitch -- "Like Big, but with superpowers ..." -- definitely had potential.
So Erik-with-a-k covered the coming comedies of 2009, Scott was all over the horror picks (though his inclusion of Race to Witch Mountain still boggles my mind), Eric-with-a-c nabbed the family-friendly fare, and Elisabeth went over the geek fodder that awaits. But while I respect their calendar years and made-up math alike, I've opted to divide my list of 2009's action and adventure flicks into four categories: Action Flicks I Couldn't Care More About, Action Flicks I Couldn't Care Less About, Action Flicks That I Hope Surprise Me, and Those Which Fell In Between. Enjoy!
Action Flicks I Couldn't Care More About: First and foremost -- Watchmen (March 6th). It's one hell of a graphic novel and looks to be one hell of an adaptation (with or without the Giant Blank), and come Fox or high water, it'll see the light of day soon enough. Then there's Public Enemies (July 1st), which has me sold on not the subject matter, but sheer pedigree: Michael Mann directs Johnny Depp and Christian Bale as '30s gangsters. (It doesn't hurt that the earliest word ranges from damn good to great.) On the skimpier side, I can only hope that Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (July 17th) streamlines its source material as the previous one had, and I can only hope that Crank 2: High Voltage (April 17th) lives up/down to the depravity of its predecessor. There's one last action movie that I couldn't care more about because, well, I've already seen a version of it. The international cut of Taken (January 30th, though reportedly opening with some R-dodging trims) is about as brisk and butt-kicking as one might hope out of a man-on-a-mission kidnapping thriller, and if you disagree, I'll send Liam Neeson to change your mind.
The Producers Guild of America has officially existed since 1962, when separate groups for TV and film merged, but the PGA didn't start giving out awards until 1990. Since then, the PGA best picture winner has matched the Oscar winner 12 out of 19 times. They lined up last year (No Country for Old Men), but conflicted for three years in a row before that. So whichever film wins the PGA award on Jan. 24 has a reasonably good chance -- but by no means a slam-dunk -- of winning the Oscar, too.
But the more immediate question is whether The Dark Knight will even be nominated for the Oscar. The other four PGA nominees are likely Oscar candidates; it's The Dark Knight that's had the big ol' question mark next to it in people's guesses and predictions. A comprehensive list of past PGA nominees is hard to come by, even at the guild's own website, but Gold Derby's Tom O'Neil has done some number-crunching. He reports that of the 95 Best Picture Oscar nominees between 1990 and 2008, 72 were also PGA nominees. Statistically speaking, that means The Dark Knight now has about a 75% chance of getting an Oscar nomination.
Sometimes these movie sites make me laugh: They'll absolutely trash the remake of a classic horror film like Halloween, but as soon as the sequel gets going, they race to throw up the first bit of casting news, or photos, or release date, as if the first flick never existed. They're excited all over again -- for what ... we have no idea. But anyway, Rob Zombie's Halloween sequel (currently titled H2) has firmed up a release date of August 28th, 2009, returning once again to the time of year that was very kind to it the first time around. A little unrealistic considering August is only eight months away? Sure ... but it's a horror sequel, and they can write, shoot and edit those things in like a month, tops.
Along with the release date, Zombie threw up an image of the new Michael Myers mask in its early sculpting stages on his MySpace page (check it out by clicking the image below). It should be fascinating to watch this sequel grow, since a) the first one made a whole lot of money, but b) it wasn't successful with fans at all. Could the late summer release actually hurt the film this time around? Would it do better during Halloween season -- perhaps convincing those fans on the fence to see it because it's October and they want more horror? We're sending out a feeler to see how many of you are actually looking forward to this sequel, so sound off below ...
Because it's important to start off the new year on the right foot, here now is a Gremlins-related Fan Made video that's sure to bring back a few monster memories. Essentially, what if Gremlins somehow found a way to break into your DVR player, scroll through it and wreak havoc on the recorded films? Using puppets created from a hard cast of one of the production sculptures, Sacha Feiner created this video (for a total of $3,000) which pays homage to the alternate scene from the VHS version of Gremlins 2.
Confused? Here's Sacha's description: "In the middle of the movie Gremlins 2, there is a sequence where the film seems to break, and where the gremlins invade the projection booth. For the VHS edition in the early 90's, they reshot a special sequence where the VHS tape seemed to be torn apart and in which the gremlins invaded a John Wayne movie. The DVD just kept the original theatrical version. This is the alternate sequence I made, supposed to replace the theatrical one on the DVD." Some of the films featured include Tim Burton's Batman, Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Exorcist. Very funny stuff -- check it out below. What do you think: Is it time for a Gremlins 3?
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That's good news if you loved him as Jacob in Twilight, anyway. If you didn't, well, I guess it sucks to be you, because he ain't going anywhere. 
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Because it's important to start off the new year on the right foot, here now is a Gremlins-related Fan Made video that's sure to bring back a few monster memories. Essentially, what if Gremlins somehow found a way to break into your DVR player, scroll through it and wreak havoc on the recorded films? Using puppets created from a hard cast of one of the production sculptures, Sacha Feiner created this video (for a total of $3,000) which pays homage to the alternate scene from the VHS version of 
