dimfuture.net

So much news, I have to keep it in Hefty bags.

Peter Hawkins, voice of Dr. Who’s Daleks, has passed away, may he rest in peace.

The Cultural Gutter has an amusing list of 25 Movie Cliches I Never Want to See Again. A couple are a little too nitpicky for my taste (the helicopter sound?), but I’m picky about trifling things in movies, myself, so I can’t judge. Actually, I can, I’m just not going to.

Similarly nitpicky is DavidPutney.com’s list of loves and hates about Star Wars, which, to its credit, has some positive things to say, but is a bit predictable about exalting everything about the original trilogy while excoriating the favorite dead horses of the prequels (Jar Jar, the list goes on and on). I will give the list this much credit, however. I didn’t know about this:

Rolling Stone reported that Frank Oz, Yoda puppeteer for “Episode I – The Phantom Menace” would let loose some NC-17 dialogue in Yoda voice between shots. People were going “Yoda just cursed me out.”

God, I’d pay to see that.

The trailer for Battlestar Galactica Season Three is out on YouTube. Despite my misgivings about the season finale (which took the form of a resounding “huh?!”), this got my blood going. Check out the long hair on Kara Thrace! It’s enough to make a drooling fanboy want to take off his pants and… well… nevermind.

And, lastly, Louis Leterrier has been slated to direct the inevitable Hulk sequel. Who the hell’s Louis Leterrier? The guy behind the Transporter movies. To his credit, Leterrier mentions that the first film was “too serious,” an assessment I personally agree with. (Actually, “hopelessly pretentious and muddled” is more what I’d say, but never mind.) More action and less existential angst is precisely what the Hulk needs; I do worry, however, that Leterrier might be a step too far in the other direction — the Transporter movies are pretty much loud, corny nonsense. Will that work in Hulk’s favor? I guess we’ll find out.

News has been a bit slow, so here are a few assorted bits from around the Web.

Spielberg on Indiana Jones IV:

“George and I have been promising it for a lot of years now, but I’m making every attempt to keep my promise. I just want to make sure that the fanbase is given the best ‘Indiana Jones’ anybody could possibly make, and until I can assure myself that at least I’m trying to make the best ‘Indiana Jones’ film of all time, the development will continue. The process of developing the script will continue, and it continues right now with David Koepp writing the script… I feel that if anybody can do it and pull this together, David can”.

Translation: Continue not holding your breath.

Spielberg on Jurassic Park IV:

“Joe Johnston is standing by. First dibs on it, and Joe is my go-to ‘Jurassic’ guy now. I think the film is witty and clever, and I think Joe did an amazing job putting together those battles. And I think those battles Joe put together… I was jealous of the spinosaurus attack on the airplane! That scene where the spinosaurus attacks the airplane and the passengers inside the airplane was every bit as good as I thought the main road attack in ‘Jurassic Park’ was. So I’m a huge fan of Joe’s, and he’s the right guy to do the fourth one”.

What are we down to now for new Jurassic Park dinosaurs? Diplodicus? Killer marmots? Not that I get tired of seeing dinosaurs rampaging, but I’m wondering how they’re going keep gas in this franchise. Also, can we please bring Anne Heche’s character from JPIII back so she can be eaten, as she rightfully should have been? Thanks.

Cyberpunk Review has a great review of Scanner Darkly, which I’m really looking forward to seeing. I saw the first 20 minutes of the film on IGN, and it looks great. SFAM writes awesome reviews, so you should go check it out.
Apparently none of us have to live with mere nostalgia anymore when it comes to televised entertainment, because everything’s coming out on DVD, including Jack of All Trades, the Flash Gordon animated series, and Blackstar. You remember Blackstar, the series with the Trobbits? No, not Hobbits, Trobbits, totally different. TOTALLY DIFFERENT. I can only hope that Marshall BraveStarr and the Mighty Orbots will get the same treatment. When these come out, by the way, I plan to watch and review them all for your enjoyment and edification. Well… enjoyment, anyway. I doubt anyone’s going to learn anything from Jack of All Trades.

The fan community at large appears to be wetting itself with glee over the new Spider-Man poster, so I figured I’d go ahead and link to it as well. Apparently the original poster is holographic, and changes color from red to black. It’s like 1987 all over again! Hey, anyone remember Visionaries? How awesome were those? I had Arzon. He had an eagle hologram on his chest. Fuck yeah!

Well, anyway, Spider-Man!

I make the Comics Curmudgeon one of my daily stops for amusement. Though this post is a couple of days old, the bit on Plugger nearly made me choke laughing. Now, inexplicably, I find myself wanting to read Plugger, but I’d probably only find myself wishing Josh was writing the strips.

Looks like Wesley Snipes is primed to take up a new action hero mantle after the cinematic abortion that was Blade: Trinity. This time, it’s personal:

Wesley Snipes has taken the lead role in Andrew Goth’s “Gallowwalker” reports Production Weekly.

Snipes will play mysterious gunman Kaos, the son of a nun who breaks her covenant with God to ensure his survival. This act brings a curse upon Kaos - all those that die by his gun will return.

Hunted by a gang of his undead former victims, led by the vicious Kansa, Kaos enlists Fabulos, a new young warrior to fight by his side.

Written by Joanne Reay, filming is scheduled to begin in Namibia, South Africa next month.

Kaos, didn’t he used to open for 50 Cent? Also, I guess you have to make films like this if your name is Andrew Goth.

Anyway. You know what comic book character ought to get the big-screen treatment? Jonah Hex. Hell, they’ve done everyone else. C’mon, Willem Dafoe as Jonah Hex! That can’t possibly go wrong! The world is crying out for a hero whose mouth is half-welded shut.

This could be interesting, although I detect a faint whiff of something The Crow: Wicked Prayer-ish about it. I pity the fool who ends up playing a character named “Fabulos,” though. Sounds like a job for Chris O’Donnell.