AZM Ally Dave Reimer sends word that Hugo Weaving is in negotiations to play the Red Skull. Truth be told, I’m not a huge Captain America fan. I don’t actively dislike the character, but I’m not terribly excited about the movie either. If Weaving is cast, I think that’s one of the only reasons I’ll be seeing this flick. He can get a menace in his voice that will go perfectly with the Red Skull. And although I don’t think his physique matches up with the way the Skull is typically portrayed, I think his performance will overshadow the comic book version. Hope this one pans out.

Source: Hollywood Reporter: Heat Vision

Warner Bros is hoping that lightning can strike twice and is reportedly courting Chris Nolan to “mentor” the development of a Superman reboot. What the fuck does that mean?

My guess is that he’ll serve as executive producer, bring in his writing team, tap a director (it’s doubtful he’d be interested in directing), maybe offer up some casting advice. It’s clear that Warner Bros wants the Batman Begins/Dark Knight treatment for Superman, but honestly, I don’t see it. I mean yeah, the gritty, hardboiled treatment works very well for Batman because that’s where he comes from. His whole motivation for dressing up as a flying mouse stems from witnessing his parents murder in a Gotham alleyway. Gotham is every dark, dirty, drug infested alleyway of every city you have ever imagined. Darkness screams Batman.

Metropolis is no Gotham.

Whereas Gotham is the dark side, Metropolis is the bright side of every city. Metropolis is all skyscrapers and highways and clean air (how they manage that is a fucking miracle). Gotham is the despair of a city. Metropolis is the hope of a city. Superman’s origin does spring from death. And entire planet dies. But it’s an impersonal death. It happens lightyears away. Clark never witnesses the death of his home so it doesn’t really become the sole motivation for his crusade. Superman is the ultimate boyscout. To grit him up, to give him a hardboiled dark edge, that totally misses the point of Superman.

I know Warner Bros is expecting a darker take on Superman, but I hope Nolan recognizes the heart of the character and brings back hope to Superman. I don’t want to just see a super powered Batman. And give Brandon Routh a proper chance. Returns wasn’t a proper Superman.

Source: Deadline Hollywood

Angry Zen Minion Tyler Anderson sent along a Ustream red carpet interview in which Bryan Singer says he’s singed a contract to direct X-Men Origins: First Class (click on over to the 28 min mark). The first X flick was decent enough. But the second X flick really won me over. So when it was announced that Singer was doing a Superman film, I was giddy with geeky anticipation.

And then we saw Superman Returns. Blech. Super let down.

So on the one hand, we have a rather dull superhero flick. On the other hand, we have two pretty awesome superhero flicks. It’s more than likely that there was just no way for Superman to live up to the hype. The X-franchise had yet to be thrown up on the silver screen when Singer got to it. But Superman had at least two really awesome films under his belt. It was clear that Singer was trying to recapture the feel of the first two Superman films, but I think he played it way too subtle.

I’m also done with X movies. It’s gonna take a whole hell of a lot more than a geek friendly director to get me excited about another damn X movie. I say let the X flicks rest for ten years or more and move on to something new.

But that’s not gonna happen. So I’m in wait-and-see mode for this one.

It seems that Rob Liefeld is somehow involved with the Deadpool movie. At least, that’s the impression you get from his Twitter account:

Walking into Deadpool movie meeting!!! Yowza!

I guess it makes sense. He created Deadpool. I’m curious to know what kind of deal Rob got when he created the character. Marvel isn’t in the habit of giving their creators ownership of Marvel U characters they create, but it seems like Rob is always around when talk of Deadpool comes up. Maybe he’s being brought in as a consultant of some kind which doesn’t make much sense since Deadpool only got cool after he left for Image.

Anyway, it sounds like the meeting went well:

Great Deadpool movie meeting! Lauren Schuler Donner and her team are headed in the right direction!

Rob brought along his own personal check list of things he wants to see from the flick:

Deadpool movie checklist- DP in costume-check! Breaking 4th wall-check! Loads of killing-double check!

Oh, and he’s excited that Ryan Reynolds is returning to play the Merc with the Mouth:

Deadpool movie- YES! Ryan Reynolds is on board!!!

But unlike Rob, I’m not excited about this next bit:

Also excited to discuss possibilities of Cable in future X-films!!!

Does anyone really trust Fox to do right by Cable? Does anyone really trust Fox to do right by any of the X characters? I hope and pray that Marvel will ask uncle Walt to slap Fox with a giant load of cash so that they can get their X-movies back.

Well, if DC and Warner Brothers are losing Superman, at least there’s always Captain Marvel. Ugh.

Do you remember when Warner Brothers was going to do a live action Shazam!, the role of Billy Batson had almost been cast, and the Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson was slated to play Black Adam? Do you remember when the studio hired a new writer to rework the script? If you don’t remember any of that shit, I’m not entirely surprised. It’s been two years since we’ve heard shit about this movie. And now we get word that it’s going in for yet another round of rewrites with Bill Birch and Geoff Johns scripting. Peter Segal of Get Smart fame is attached to direct

I don’t even like DC’s Captain Marvel all that much and I’m kind of wondering why this movie is going through development hell. It’s not even like Captain Marvel is a top tier character. He doesn’t have his own regular series. He’s a big doofus. Nobody really cares about this thing. And yet it’s going back and forth and back and forth and back and forth and blah blah blah. They’re spending all this time on a character no one under the age of 40 gives a shit about and yet they can’t get their shit together to do a fucking Wonder Woman movie, one of DC’s three most recognizable characters? Bleh. Not impressed at all.

Source: Super Hero Hype

AZM Ally Greg and Angry Zen Minion Devon Wolfe both sent along news that Steven Spielberg will produce a Halo movie based on writer Stuart Beattie’s take on the prequel novel Halo: The Fall of Reach. Many on various message boards have extolled this announcement as the greatest thing to happen to games and movies since… well, since evar! I beg to differ. While there’s no doubt that Spielberg has the money to throw at a production to make it look like some hawt sauce, there is much cause for concern.

• Strike 1: Beattie
  You may know Beattie as the man behind the script G.I. Joe: The Rise of Your Lunch as You Puke it Back Up. Coin Flip Cinema’s review of that flick convinces me that Beattie should not get to play with any new toys for a good long while, especially not Halo type toys.
• Strike 2: Transformers 2
  Spielberg produced this festering ball of drek. Regardless of how many shit tons of cashola it’s bringing in, Transformers 2 is not a good movie. It’s not true to the source material. It’s not true to the fans. It’s true to the bank account and if this is any indication of what it means to be produced by Spielberg, I fear for for Halo.
• Strike 3: Shia LaBeouf
  The LaBeouf factor is strong with Spielberg. No doubt the Beouf will land a role in Halo. Even if it’s just as Master Chief’s water boy, the Beouf will be there to stink it all up. If, and this is a very big if even for Spielberg, if the Beouf is cast as Master Chief no good can possibly come from this movie. Ever.

There’s also AI and Indy 4 to consider. Ugh.

If Neil Blomkamp (District 9, SO AWESOME) gets a call back to direct the project, maybe then I’ll be a little more excited. Until that happens, I’m not convinced we Halo lovers should be so excited.

Source: IESB

There are very few things that I consider truly sacred. Bruce Lee’s movies fall into that exclusive category. So when I hear that Warner Brothers is remaking Enter the Dragon as a modern noir-style tale about underground fight clubs entitled Awaken the Dragon, my great fury starts to build. There are rumors floating about that Warner Brothers is very interested in casting Korean pop sensation Rain to play Bruce Lee’s character. Ninja Assassin has yet to drop so we’ve yet to really see if Rain has the action chops to carry a martial arts action film. In my mind, if you must remake Enter the Dragon, Donnie Yen should play Bruce Lee’s role.

As much as I love Enter the Dragon, I must admit that the martial arts tournament as a cover for an evil empire plot isn’t exactly new nor ground breaking. It’s Bruce Lee’s performance that brought the movie to life. And with the completely restored edition of the movie, the spiritual aspect that was cut out of the theatrical release really elevates the film to a new level. But it’s not really that unique of a plot. So plot-wise, Awaken the Dragon could be a remake of any number of generic chop socky flicks. By outright stating that you’re remaking “Enter the Dragon,” you’re basically throwing down the glove. Now all the martial arts geeks can’t help but compare whoever is cast to Bruce Lee which is a big lose for you. You could probably get away with doing a film “inspired” by Enter the Dragon, but now that you’ve used the generic term “remake” you’ve unleashed martial arts geek fists of fury.

If Rain is indeed cast, I kind of feel bad for him. What I’ve seen of Ninja Assassin from the previews looks entertaining enough. But Rain is no Bruce Lee.

Source: Latino Review

There are three actors up for the role of Hal Jordan in the upcoming live-action adaptation of Green Lantern, Bradley Cooper, Ryan Reynolds and Justin Timberlake. I think I’ve only seen Bradley Cooper in Midnight Meat Train. I quite liked him in that and I think he’d make a decent enough Hal. Ryan Reynolds I’m not so keen on. Wade Wilson, yes. Hal Jordan, no. I’ve yet to see Reynolds not be a smart ass in anything. Hal just doesn’t fit. Then there’s JT. If he lands the role we get to make all sorts of “bringing sexy dick boxes back” jokes which will make for great blog post titles. He’s been landing some minor roles here and there so it might be fun to see if he can carry a movie on his own. I could dig on that.

So Angry Zen Casting Agents out there, which one of these three tasty mens would you like to see portray good ol’ Hal Jordan?

Source: Hollywood Reporter

comic from Penny Arcade, Copyright Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins

Back in 2005 when rumors of a live-action CW-styled Star Wars television show first surfaced, the lads at Penny Arcade had this offering. Angry Zen Minion Nathan Yuen sends the latest word that indicates Penny Arcade’s take may not be that far off. According to “several inside sources,” the series will be shot in Australia and will pull in local writing talent including writers for “Love My Way” and “Secret Life of Us,” two award-winning Australian shows that focus on “relationships and emotional landscapes.”

What the hell is an emotional landscape and how do you keep its grass green?

Well, I guess it could be worse. Lucas could be writing it. Blech. I do think that relationships were a key component to Battlestar Galactica’s success. What hooked Audrey was the characters, not the tech. If the Star Wars television show has strong characters with interesting relationships, this could be worth watching.

Then again, this is all horrible rumor and speculation.

Source: Sci Fi Pi

Consider this a rumor until we get official word, but it seems that Chris Nolan is ready to call it quits on Batman. Heath Leger’s untimely death understandably hit Nolan pretty hard and according to one source, because of this Nolan stated that The Dark Knight would be his last bat film. Sounds more than reasonable to me. And honestly, The Dark Knight knocked it so far out of the park that I’m not sure a third film could ever hope to live up to expectations.

It’s clear that Warner Brothers intends to go ahead and make a third film. This is the part that worries me. If Nolan is indeed out, the studio will proceed just for the sake of making more money. And we all know how that turns out.

Warner Brothers will most likely recast the Joker which totally sucks for whoever gets chosen. This is comics so us fanboys and girls should be used to recasting by now. Every time a new team takes over a book, we get a new visual style and a new characterization. Why can’t it work for the movies as well? The fan outcry against Warner Brothers will be tremendous and depending on who is chosen, I might even jump in. But honestly, we should be used to this by now. Be prepared for the announcement that we’ll be getting a new Joker for Batman 3.

As for Chris Nolan, I’m more than satisfied with the two bat films we got. I don’t really need any more.

Source: Batman on Film via Occasional Superheroine