Geek Bits: Doctor Who Series 6 Trailers!

I celebrate my first post of April 1st by posting two trailers for a show I hold dear: Doctor Who! With the sixth series ready for transmission on April 23rd, trailers and promos and pictures are making their way on the net, and I cannot be any more excited!

Wanna know how excited I am? A battalion of gorgeous naked ladies could not deter me! Meeting George Lucas or Vanessa Hudgens could not deter me! Slow internet connection will not deter me! No matter what, on April 23rd, it's date time: me and Doctor Who. Ladies and gents, watch this series, watch it and love it.

Without further ado, two trailers, one from BBC1 and the other from BBC America promoting Series 6 of Doctor Who:





C'mon? Isn't that awesome?!!?!?

O-M-G!!!!

Life has meaning again!

Geek Bits: Trailers, Trailers, Trailers

Geek Bits: Providing nuggets of news about movies and television with commentary from Andy the Time Lord himself. I know, I know, too awesome for words.

What with the Super Bowl (which I didn't watch, me being one of the non 44%) movie studios released a ton of trailers and teasers the last week. Although here's to guessing you've seen 'em all already, here they are nonetheless. But with comments from the Geek!

Comments: Frankly, I forgot about this film even being made, and then publicity photos started appearing and word of mouth about how director Matthew Vaughn is still in the final days of shooting even though the theatrical release is rapidly approaching, so it's sort of in my head now. Finally, post-Super Bowl, we got our first glimpse of the movie in action, in the form of a short trailer. Overall, not highly spectacular, not enough to get me salivating with anticipation, but I dig it, and I will most definitely see it. Thanks to the waked out continuity of the X-MEN movies, I was initially puzzled by the inclusion of Beast in FIRST CLASS, but after reading a few comments on at the Comic Book Movie forum, technically speaking, Beast should absolutely be a part of this movie and all that stuff from X3 was frakked up. Okay, then. Looks like the X-MEN movies will be one of the few 'true' comic book movies, with each - except the X-MEN trilogy - having their own sort of continuity and world. Look at X-MEN ORIGINS, which by no means looks and feels like the same Wolverine from the trilogy [although it's meant to]; Darren Aronofsky's forthcoming THE WOLVERINE is purely self-contained, not a sequel or remake as has been emphasized; and X-MEN: FIRST CLASS seems to be in a world of its own, although drawing influences from the Singer/Ratner films. Visually, the film looks pleasing, although I didn't have much in the way of doubt since director Matthew Vaughn is 'da bomb! Still a bit iffy about the casting, specifically McAvoy as a young Professor Charles Xavier, but like most things, I need to see more before I can make judgment. Anticipation Rating: 64%

Comments: I know very little about CAPTAIN AMERICA, so the prospect of a full-fledged film about the character is rather exciting. From a box office standpoint, I'm a bit worried. I don't know if CA has that name brand power to pull off the numbers Marvel wants it to, but here's to optimism. No matter what happens, THE AVENGERS is still a go. Although I'm not exactly a lover for characters who declare themselves as warriors of the American way (Superman included), I am interested to see the outfit in action, and how well Chris Evans will peform as the titular action hero. However, with Evans committed to the franchise (allegedly for six films, AVENGERS included), the prospect of seeing PUSH 2 is pretty slim, I guess [sad]. Anticipation Rating: 76%

Comments: Frankly, didn't have much in the way of excitement level. Now, after seeing this TV Spot. Um, I'm in love. (Except the girl: not a fan. Rather have Fox back) Hell, I might even see this in 3-D! Anticipation Rating: 100%

Comments: And then there's SCREAM 4. I love the SCREAM saga as much as I love the AMERICAN PIE saga, and that's saying something huge. The story, the scripts, the direction, the actors, the twists, the kills and killers - I love it all, and there is no other film before summer that I anticipate more than SCREAM 4. If the theater nearby had a midnight screening, I'd pay outrageous dinero to see it ASAP. You better believe I'm hitting the first showing opening day. The rumor mill says that Williamson and Craven are looking at this as the beginning of a new trilogy, to reflect the horror culture as it is now. Although I love SCREAM, I do think that it should end with number four. I dig the number four, it has some serious awesomeness and rightness to it, so ending the series here, I think, would be good. Two more would sorta just be overkill. I look at SCREAM 4 as entirely necessary. Maybe the plot didn't come out organically in how it relates to Sydney Prescott, as SCREAM 3 closed that up pretty nicely, but the SCREAM series is invaluable in its way to comment about our culture, the do's and don'ts of film, etc. Also, funny fact: in middle school, I wrote myself a SCREAM 4 story. I am actually quite proud of it. Sydney was still a main character, she was in college, and the movie producers were working on yet another STAB movie and some messed up guy emulated the events of the movie on Sydney. Eh, at the very least, I had fun writing it. Anticipation Rating: 100%

Comments: The first clip for RED STATE premiered thanks to a MTV sit down with writer/director Kevin Smith, and although it doesn't show much, it does provide a sense of the atmosphere and tone Smith is going for. His trademark writing is most definitely present and accounted for, but it doesn't seem to have the same pizazz and, dare I say, poetry that it normally boasts. The cinematography is all hand-held, and the lighting is noticeably darker than any picture of his before. Listening to his Red State of the Union podcast, watching the trailer, reading/listening to interviews, and watching this clip, I'm friggin' excited. Now too bad I don't have $71 to see RED STATE when it hits Minneapolis 9 March. Anyone wanna donate? Anticipation Rating: 89%

• Speaking of the SCREAM trilogy, they will be arriving on Blu-Ray sometime in April to coincide with the 15 April release date of SCREAM 4 [Blu-Ray.com].
  

This makes me happy. Will own.

• Screenwriter Robert Orci revealed on Twitter he expects to have a draft of STAR TREK 2 ready by late March, and Simon Pegg let slip shooting will commence around August [TrekMovie]

Anyone else feel like it's been forever since STAR TREK? Gimmie another one, already!

• SMALLVILLE: 2-hour series finale on 13 May 2011, titled "Finale, Part 1 & 2" [TV Line]. Michael Rosenbaum will return!

Comments: Oh. My. God. Michael Rosenbaum has agreed to reprise his role of Lex Luthor for the two-hour series finale of SMALLVILLE! Hallelujah! 'tis a bright day, sirs! Bright day, indeed! Last seen in the season seven finale "Arctic", the producers have been requesting a return appearance for eons, of which he has declined, but finally motherfrakkin' accepted!!! Oh, this is glorious, magnificent, fantastic news.

Geek Bits: Justified Season 2 Equals O-M-G!

Earlier today I just finished the third and final disc of JUSTIFIED: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON, and sent it back to Netflix (with the first disc of SONS OF ANARCHY season one on its way next). For anyone who hasn't watched the series and are reading this right now, I frankly can't recommend this show enough. Back when the series first aired, I was perusing Comcast On Demand and came across the first four episodes. All four were watched that evening. JUSTIFIED stars Timothy Olyfantastic as Raylan Givens, a US Marshal who is one hell of a gunslinger. It also co-stars Walton Goggins, one of the finest actors working on television today (need evidence? Look no further than the last three seasons of THE SHIELD), as Boyd Crowder, a once crazy man not too far off from the Joker who has since decided to change his ways (he found religion). Each episode is filled with sharp, clever dialogue, rich and complex characters, shootouts, and all around awesomeness. For a rather brilliant write-up of five reasons why JUSTIFIED is great, I defer you to a nice piece written by Fletch over at Blog Cabins.

In preparation for the launch of JUSTIFIED's second season, airing 9 February 2011, FX has been posting trailers seemingly every other week. Normally, I'd just let this go and write about the show on the latest edition of The Watcher (which I will review, keep in mind), but I came across the following ad and I couldn't stop myself. It's so brilliant, so awesome, and so keeping in tune with the tone of the show. Plus, the major geek in me just couldn't pass up the opportunity to post this. Ladies and gentlemen, even if you have no interest in JUSTIFIED - which I feel inclined to advise is unfortunate - take a peak at this 30-second TV spot. Fans of STAR WARS, prepare to laugh your heads off (or groan in displeasure at remembering George Lucas and his excessive need for 'fixing' things; perhaps he needs to be sent to a mystical island and learn to let go?).

God, I love this show.

Geek Bits: Godzilla Raids Again!!!

Godzilla, the legendary beast that has spawned over 25 feature films worldwide, has been resurrected by Legendary Pictures (300, The Dark Knight) and Warner Bros. for a projected 2012 release date! Rumors circulated in August 2009 concerning a new American Godzilla project in the works, but Variety just recently confirmed it.

In the official press release, Thomas Tull, Chairman and CEO of Legendary Pictures, stated: "Godzilla is one of the world's most powerful pop culture icons, and we at Legendary are thrilled to be able to create a modern epic based on this long-loved Toho franchise. Our plans are to produce the Godzilla that we, as fans, would want to see. We intend to do justice to those essential elements that have allowed this character to remain as pop-culturally relevant for as long as it has."

All I can say is: YES! YES! YES! YES!!!!!!!

Now I don't want to get too giddy, but this is fantastic news. With Toho Co. Ltd. not really all that enthusastic resurrecting Godzilla back in Japan (monster films, and Japanese productions for that matter, don't make much mullah compared to American productions), I'm even more excited with this announcment. Hopefully this film will be a success, and a new age of monster movie craziness will be upon us!

Probably not, but here's to dreaming.

Also worth noting is that amongst the producers behind the project, Godzilla vs. Hedorah director Yoshimitsu Banno is listed! So with his involvement, I'm going to make the guess that Banno's Godzilla in 3-D project is on the back burner, and its fate entirely depends on the reaction of this new Godzilla production.

Although I wager there's not many Godzilla fans left in the world - Ryan evidently being one exclusion - I'll nonetheless be updating with any big/major news surrounding the project, including the (hopefully) soon-ish announcment of director. Personally, I'm still intrigued what Jan De Bont and the Rossio/Elliot script could turn out to look like, but I wager Legendary is going in a fresh direction. Either way, I'll be there midnight showing 2012. It'd be a nice End of the World present.

Geek Bits 003

Attention Riddick fans (the few of you left in existence, including myself), Fast & Furous actor Vin Diesel has been updating his Facebook page with a update regarding the next Chronicles of Riddick installment. Basically, writer/director David Twohy delivered "a really great script." So, hopefully, Universal will get their butts in gear and finance the picture, Twohy and Diesel will officially be on board, and maybe in a year and a half (okay, two years) we'll be seeing the third live-action Riddick adventure! I'm sorry, I'm just giddy; Riddick is 'da bomb.

Mark 13 August 2010 on your calendars, sirs, because that is when Warner Bros. plans to unleash the 13th Friday the 13th flick to theaters! (well, if you're counting Freddy vs. Jason as a Friday film) Considering the mammoth $40 million opening for the 2009 reboot, this was probably sort of a duh. No info (yet) on writers or a director, but I wager an announcement will be forthcoming. 2010 is shaping to be quite a horror year: Nightmare on Elm Street (view trailer & a pic of Freddy), Halloween 3D (if the Weinsteins choose to go ahead with that), and now Friday the 13th Part 2.2. [Bloody-Disgusting]

Because you asked for it: Universal Pictures is ready to pump out American Pie presents: Book of Love, the seventh American Pie movie, and the fourth American Pie presents release (aka 'direct-to-video title'), on DVD & Blu-Ray on 22 December. Watch the HD trailer here. Once again, Eugene Levy will reprise his role as "Jim's Dad", aka Noah Levenstein, and this adventure takes place ten years after the first flick (which did, in fact, come out ten years ago) with a new batch of virgin teens (one lookiny strikingly similar to Jonah Hill) trying to reconstruct "the Bible." As a personal lover of the Pie franchise (they're my Breakfast Club; I'm biased), I will more likely than not check it out, hope futilly that the writers got their game back and decided to make the story about the characters than the boobs, though the trailer isn't too promising. And, once again, there will be an Unrated cut (along with a Rated), though both cuts will be avaliable on the same disc, so luckily if you're renting it, one will be able to watch the Unrated cut without having to Blockbuster it or buy the flick.

Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass have a new flick coming out next year that can best be described as Jason Bourne in the Middle East kicking ass and taking names. Called Green Zone, the trailer is up, and it's definitely one helluva enticing movie. Action, intrigue, and Greengrass' trademark camera style are all present. Coutn me one as one of the audience members March 12th.

One of those awesome action flicks I've rented a gazillion times from the library but never actually watched, Smokin' Aces, is getting a sequel dumped onto the Direct-to-DVD circuit. Smokin' Aces: Assassins’ Ball is making its way on DVD, Blu-Ray and Digital Download on 19 January 2010. For cover art, plot synopsis, and features, check out BeyondHollywood.com.

Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day hits (limited) theatrical release on Friday, and 5-minutes of the flick (more precisely, 5:22) is now online. Naked butts, the introduction of Julie Benz (TV: Dexter), and kickass music. I am so totally there. Only sucky thing: All Saints Day isn't premering anywhere around White Bear Lake, Minnesota, so I'm screwed. Suckage.

And finally, low-budget independent horror flick Paranormal Activity (working on a review as we speak...er, read) dominated the box office October 23rd weekend, knocking Saw VI out of the #1 spot (first time for a new Saw release). Saw VI pulled in $14.8 million during the weekend, and Paranormal Activity achieved greatness with $22 million, making its gross revenue to date $62 mill. Pretty good for a roughly $10,000 budgeted flick.

Geek Bits 002

Hello! And welcome to the monthly Geek Bits column here at Ramblings of a Minnesota Geek! Please pardon the month that must not be named (okay, June), where I didn't really do much in the way of postings. Major amount of distractions and writer's leg: lack of enthusiasm. But hereith in July, I'm feelin' the urge to write! And not only am I writing here on my blog, but I'm also mapping out some stories that I've had stuck in my head for a while, so it's quite refreshing to have them finally jotted down on paper.

Well, Geek Bits serves to have little tidbits of news that may be relatively new or completely old; I'm not a news website, really, but there's a few things that I like putting up here. Makes me feel giddy. So here's a few items that I've found this month:

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- Apparently, principal photography for the Platinum Dunes re-take of Nightmare on Elm Street has finished, as revealed per Brad Fuller's twitter page.

- New trailer up for Jennifer's Body, the follow-up for Juno scribe Diablo Cody, and the deliciously hot Megan Fox's (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, for those three blokes who didn't know) next flick-a-roo. Well, looks nice, all I can say. Amanda Seyfriend (Mamma Mia!) has already bought my ticket, there's a hint of Cody's trademark dialog, and from what I can tell - it'll simply be a bloody fun horror/comedy movie. Jennifer's Body hits theaters 18 September.[Beyond Hollywood/Slashfilm (Red Band)]

- Similarly, a new trailer for the 14 August District 9 release has hit the web, and although I still haven't the foggiest what the actual plot is, the cinematography and visual effects are simply breathtaking. Perhaps when I see this flick in action, the effects won't look as beautiful, but as it is watching that trailer on a semi-well-sized monitor at the local library, the effects are fantastically integrated with on-set cinematography. And the shots of destruction and the helicopters around the giant ship - awesome. All I can say is, I'm extremely excited. This movie looks intense and intelligent, a cross between Alien and Children of Men (at least, visual-wise, it appears). [Beyond Hollywood]

- For those intending on picking up the 21 July release of Watchmen on DVD, either in its single disc state or 2-Disc Director's Cut edition, you may want to first know that Warner Brothers is already in the process of manufacturing a 5-Disc Edition due out in Christmas time. Apparently, this 5-Disc set will only be avaliable up till June 2010. As expected, the Takes of the Black Freighter will be woven back into the movie; and for blokes like me who simply eat up commentaries, original Watchmen artist David Gibbons and director Zack Snyder provide a commentary track! That alone is making me uber-excited. With this pre-announcement, I'm already re-thinking my 'pick-up-Watchmen' idea, and save that extra dough for the following week's release of Dollhouse, Battlestar Galactica 4.5, and Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead. But then again, do I like Watchmen that much to wait until Christmas? Argh! In semi-related news, the Watchmen: Director's Cut will be screened theatrically in only about four (?) theaters across the US, and one of 'em is in Minnesota! The only downside - I hardly ever go to Minneapolis. Bloody lack of transportation, and MN buses are lousy. [Blu-Ray Blog]

- A settlement thingy with the Siegels and Warner Bros./DC over the Superman property has concluded. Well, Warner has until 2013 to make a Superman movie. Since I'm not too well versed on this whole dealio, I reckon you should check out Slashfilm for the actual page. Honestly, I really don't care about Superman unless they decided a go-ahead with a World's Finest Superman & Batman team-up, which I would pay mucho amounts of dinero to see. If another Superman movie becomes in-development immediately, all I hope is that Brandon Routh (Superman Returns) reprises his Superman role, despite his apparently being let go from his contract. Routh and Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor were the best things about the entire movie. I could live without director Bryan Singer, although I recognize many fans consider such a statement blasphemy.

- Oh, and Ryan Reynolds has been cast as the Green Lantern, a character I'm sure not many folks know about. My knowledge of the character is close to null, and it probably won't be expanded until his direct-to-DVD animated feature Green Lantern: First Flight on 28 July [FYI: voice cast includes Tricia Helfer of BSG fame!]. I'm interested enough to check out the regular updates for this flick, but not exciting tingling with the excitment a officialy-in-principal-photography Deadpool movie starring Reynolds would elicit. But it's Reynolds and director Martin Campbell (Casino Royale), so I'm game.

- Although there's no date yet, I've heard rumblings that Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (now nearing the $600 million worldwide mark) will be hitting DVD shelves on 20 October. That's relatively close, but adheres to the unofficial 'five-month rule'. It's just a little sucky that inferior movies like X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Terminator Salvation, and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen hit the market before Star Trek, which I'm super duper uber anxious for (for a hint of how much I dug the flick, click the link to get to my orgasmic review). Anywho, all these titles are getting 2-Disc Editions, and that makes me happy enough. Wolverine and Terminator I might wait to pick up if someone sells in a used copy, or I find it cheap at Half Price Books.

- Warner Bros. is prepping to release even more titles as part of their successful 4 Film Favorites line. Past releases saw releases that include all the Nightmare on Elm Street films, all four Christopher Reeves Superman movies, the three Matrix titles plus the Animatrix, and misc. Dracula and Elvis Presely titles. Now they're coming out with: the Batman Collection (Batman, Batman Returns, Batman Forever, Batman & Robin), the Blade Collection (Blade, Blade II, Blade: Trinity, Blade: House of Chthon), the Ocean's Collection (Oceans Eleven, Oceans Twelve, Oceans Thirteen, Oceans Eleven [original]), and many more! So, if you need any House Party, Rush Hour, or Austin Powers, check out the listings at DVDEmpire, and thanks to the DVDTalk forums for the heads up!

Well, until next time...

GEEK Bits w/Commentary 001

Hey all! Welcome to a new feature here at Ramblings of a Minnesota Geek. Obviously, there's a gazillion of web browsers that are brilliant at getting news pretty much right away (Ain't-It-Cool, E! News, etc., etc.), but I thought I'd just include this anyhow to cover news that relates to the stuff I dig.

GEEK Bits w/Commentary 001

- Despite a full-length workprint of the title leaked a full-month before its theatrical release, X-Men Origins: Wolverine grossed a whopping $87 million debut over the May 1st weekend. Although impressive, it's still behind Brett Ratner's X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) which opened with $102.8 million, although it did better than Singer's opening numbers. Now, does this mean that the ploy Fox executed by saying that there were 10 minutes of missing footage and refined special effects not seen on the downloaded copy (which is false) really did work? I don't really think so, and even if it did, I think we should all be a little ticked off at Fox for, well, fakking it.

- Not only has the official movie trailer for Rob Zombie's H2: Halloween 2

premiered on the web (last Friday), but Zombie updated his official blog with a new pic of a hooded gangsta Michael with a messed up mask. And I gotta say, I dunno how I feel about it: overall, I'm more than OK with Zombie's 2007 Halloween re-imagining, but if there's one thing that's sacred, it's that damn mask; mess up the mask and make his actual face more visible, and you ruin 5-% of what makes Halloween such a frakkin' masterpiece. The only other bit that I'm iffy about is his mom telling him what to do and forming his decisions - it's a little too Friday the 13th-ish for my taste; not like I have a problem with that series, I just don't want it here.

- Warner Brothers is actively seeking to adapt the first three installments of the 13-part manga series Death Note to American theaters (Variety). Charley & Vlas Parlapandies (War of the Gods) have been sanctioned the task of writing the screenplay, based on the original manga by Tsugumi Ohba. Personally, I think this is going to blow. I hold the Japanese live-action adaptations to such a high esteem that anything Warner Brothers chums out will be a load of baloney. If this project actually sees the light of day, I implore all viewers to watch the original Japanese films by Shusuke Kaneko (Crossfire).

TELEVISION SCRIBBLE

- TVShowsOnDVD.com has cover art for Smallville - The Complete Eighth Season, Blu-Ray and standard DVD, as well as Supernatural - The Complete Fourth Season, and are expected to hit retail shelves around mid-September. Once more info surrounding the special features are revealed, I'll update. Concerning Smallville, I'm sure there's plenty of people rolling their eyes thinking, "Holy frakkin' crap, how the hell did that show manage eight seasons? How is it not done with?" And surprisingly enough, Smallville's finally getting good again. It's like their hitting a creative reprisal after a disappointing six and seven. And as for Supernatural - well, its fourth season is perhaps one of the best things television has ever brought us, and I'm not sure that's an exaggeration. Give 'em a look when they're released.

- The future for NBC's Chuck is looking grim. Its April 27th season (series?) finale drew in 6.1 million viewers (TV Squad), of which it typically draws in 6.5 million. For a brilliant series, it sucks that it's life is on the line. It seems shows that have some intelligence to them are usually the ones to hit the axe - Reaper (most likely), Veronica Mars, Firefly, etc., etc. I just don't understand how this program is on the 50/50 scale while Heroes, a convoluted mess that barely had more season finale viewers than Chuck has already been renewed for a 18-episode fourth season. If this is indeed Chuck's final season, than the best I can say is that it ended on a creatively high note, and that I'm thankful NBC gave fans a full 22-episode second season order. But pllleeeaassse renew?

REMAKE LOOKOUT

- 1991's Drop Dead Fred is being resurrected by Dennis McNicholas (Land of the Lost), and to be produced by his studio Marc Platt Productions along with Working Title. Dark Horizons reports that McNicholas seeks to make the tone similar to Beetlejuice.

- 1983's Videodrome is next in the remake list for Universal, according to Variety. The "re-imagining" is to be written by Ehren Kruger (Scream 3, The Ring Two) and produced by Daniel Bobker. It is their intention to "modernize the concept" for todays audiences.