Happy Halloween, Friends!

Best costume ever! Happy Halloween!!!

20,000 Nemos Under the Sea, David Fincher...!

One of the many projects director David Fincher has been considering is a remake of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea - and this week it came a lot closer to becoming his next film. Disney has a 3-month hold on Fincher (wonder what that cost?) to see if he can assemble a project that makes them confident enough to fund and green-light the film. Fincher’s first public salvo is the idea of frequent collaborator Brad Pitt as harpooner Ned Land, with an older A-list actor playing anti-hero Captain Nemo. Now 20,000 Leagues is my favorite film of all time. It had a colossal influence on me growing up, being the first live action drama I ever saw in a theater - no, not during its original release - I'm not THAT old... I’d normally be quick to pooh-pooh this kind of remake, but with Fincher involved, I can’t help but feel excited and curious. So if you were able to get Pitt to play the Kirk Douglas role…my immediate question was, who do you cast as James Mason?! 

That’s my question for today. You need someone capable of being imperious and brilliant – a visionary inventor whose belief in the future has been twisted by personal tragedy, having been warped into a cold-blooded vigilante, a haunted man full of grief and anger. He needs to be older, but capable of some action - of grabbing a harpoon and charging onto the deck to face the mother of all nightmares, face-to-face. I’ve reviewed my list of suspects, and here they are - along with my doubts and caveats - forgive me, gentlemen:

WAVE 1:

Anthony Hopkins - (possibly too old now, a somewhat tarnished rep)

Daniel Day-Lewis - (too highbrow for the role, though he’d be brilliant)

Jeremy Irons - (too old now? Possibly seems too detached)

Ian McKellen - (possibly too old now…?)

Geoffrey Rush - (intriguing choice, but maybe not dark enough)

Michael Fassbender - (might be too young)

No, not quite there - which lead me to...

WAVE 2: - (in increasing order of preference)

Bryan Cranston - (so has the acting chops – can we disassociate him from WW?)

Liam Neeson - (he’s the Taken persona now – too much an Irish Harrison Ford?)

Daniel Craig (can he convey the inventor – the visionary? Too action-oriented? He was great as Blomkvist for Fincher)

Hugh Jackman (phenomenal at anger and intelligence – but too heroic?)

Christian Bale (can do seemingly anything. A great choice to play the haunted genius)

…which finally led me to my #1 choice, with just the right balance of hope and anger...

Kenneth Branagh

I can see Branagh very clearly – older, bearded, tortured, judgmental – easy to believe as the once-starry-eyed inventor, full of hope for the future – turned cold avenger after the loss of his family, raging at fate and humanity.

And please - no Wild Wild West cracks. This is Wallander we're talking about here! He's aged, he's seasoned and he brings heft and humanity that would simply be letter perfect for Nemo. So, Mr. Fincher, if you're listening, one die-hard fan's plea to seal the deal and give Ned Land a worthy adversary.

What do you think, readers? I would love to hear!

"This time travel...fries your brain like a egg..."

If you need a dose of real, intelligent science fiction to get you through the cold autumn nights, look no further than  Looper, starring Bruce Willis and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Directed by Rian Johnson (Brick, The Brothers Bloom), Looper is one of the best sci-fi films in ages. Given the time travel nature of the plot, there's very little I can reveal here, short of the common knowledge setup that Gordon-Levitt plays a younger version of Willis in a fantastic performance. There are loads of surprises in Looper that I wouldn't dream of spoiling, but trust me - this one's a keeper and evokes films as diverse as Blade Runner, District 9 and Twelve Monkeys, among others. The notion of time travel inevitably seems to call up matters of the heart and the flickering embers of hope - those themes are just the beginning here. Looper gives us a vision of the future that unfortunately isn't hard to imagine - told convincingly with small, vivid details. The men behind the future are as old as crime - and love - itself. Don't miss this one.

Fight the Dead - Fear the Living...

Sharpen your blades and grab the spare ammo, The Walking Dead are back!!!

Sunday night sees the 3^rd season premiere of the most successful ratings juggernaut in AMC history.

To avoid any possible ambiguity, be served notice that I consider The Walking Dead to be one of the best shows anywhere on TV these days. If you’ve missed this series due to its extreme horror, you’ve been missing some amazing series television. The direction and cast is as good as you’re going to find anywhere – feature film quality. The writing is thoughtful and the world they’ve created is realistic and disturbing. Most importantly, the show never forgets to put character front-and-center. Some folks complained that the action in season 2 wasn’t sufficient, that too much time was spent on Herschel’s farm. That there was too much “talking.” Sorry about your whole short attention span problem – maybe drama isn’t for you – you missed some phenomenal acting and directing. It was a fantastic – and frankly, action-packed season that pulled no punches.

With the arrival of season 3, we’re finally getting to some of the most infamous parts of the story from the comics – the group’s attempt to set up living quarters in a derelict prison, the introduction of fan favorite character Michonne, and The Governor – the less said about him, the better. As fans of the comic know, the show has frequently taken some very different turns from events and plot points from what we might have remembered reading. It does sound like the depiction of The Governor may be one of those cases –  

but I'm going in with a very open mind. Given what they’ve managed to achieve on this show so far, the showrunners have earned the benefit of the doubt here and I can’t wait to see what they came up with.

The Walking Dead belongs on the same shelf with Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad, Sons of Anarchy and Homeland. If you haven’t watched it yet, seasons 1 & 2 are out on disc and you should really check them out – season 3 promises to bring lots of new faces into the arena and looks to be the series most exciting season yet!

Prometheus has landed - for some of us...

At long last, Ridley Scott’s Prometheus is out on blu-ray – I harbor few illusions that this release is going to convert any naysayers, but given the content of these discs, attention must be paid. Without a doubt, Prometheus was the most divisive film within the science fiction community in ages. Many fans dumped all over the picture, railing against supposed inconsistencies and unanswered questions. I had no problems with the film at all and consider it to be visionary and successful – a triumph. Many feel otherwise. To those who did take issue with the film, there are a lot of answers waiting for you. Not only is there a commentary from director Ridley Scott, but there’s also an additional writer’s commentary from Jon Spaihts and Damon Lindelof, in addition to some fascinating alternate takes and deleted scenes. It’s worth pointing out that Fox offered to let Ridley run wild with a Director’s Cut and release a different version of the film like he did with Kingdom of Heaven – Scott declined, firmly stating that the film he released was his preferred cut. If you spend any time listening to the commentaries and viewing these scenes, you’re likely to find a lot of clarification within.


If you’re a fan of the film and plan on purchasing it, here's the skinny and the important information you need to know: there are TWO blu-ray editions of the film - there's a 2-disc blu-ray that has some extras, but more importantly there is a 4-disc collector's edition that has an entire extra disc of bonus features - THAT IS ONLY AVAILABLE WITH THE BLU-RAY 3D PACKAGING OF THE FILM. THAT is definitely the edition you want.

That's right – you have to get the BD-3D version - so you're getting a superfluous disc, as it comes with these 4 discs total:

1. Blu-ray 3-D feature film

2. Blu-ray feature film

3. Blu-ray Bonus features - 7 hours of extras including a 3 &1/2 hour documentary, alternate beginning/ending, Weyland archive, etc.

4. DVD feature film

Don’t be confused - you are getting it in Blu-ray (disc 2), but you're also getting it in 3-D on a separate disc. They did something similar with The Avengers release, but nothing this pointed – presumably part of the marketing strategy to get more consumer adoption for BD-3D. I can't ever recall a release like this, so it may be a trend for the future – but for films like this, we may have to start reading the fine print very carefully.

The real jewel of this presentation is the nearly 4-hour production documentary, The Furious Gods. I haven’t seen a more fascinating behind-the-scenes documentary since – oh, Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings material on the Extended Editions – that intrigue you sufficiently? I’ve only seen about 1/3 of the massive disc 3 documentary so far, but it’s blown me away. To have this level of access throughout the production – including every aspect of the design and genesis of preproduction – is just amazing. I’m not exaggerating when I say that this is simply one of the most immersive and revealing production accounts I’ve ever seen. It’s fascinating to see that given the long hours involved, Ridley and production designer Arthur Max created an environment where it was not unusual to uncork a few bottles of wine to get everyone’s wheels spinning. From the initial screenwriting through an absolutely fascinating journey of every stage of the film’s design evolution, this documentary is just an amazing achievement and should be seen by any serious filmmaking fan, regardless of your thoughts on the film. The supplements were produced by acclaimed documentarian Charles de Lauzirika who worked on the massive Blade Runner blu-ray documentary Dangerous Days, and I think he’s outdone himself here.

After revisiting the film and sampling these bonus features, I’m more excited than ever at the prospect of Ridley Scott’s rumored return to make another film in the Blade Runner universe – a heady idea to contemplate! If you were scared away from Prometheus during its theatrical release, do yourself a favor and explore this absolutely fantastic blu-ray release.

Fringe Frayed...

What have you done to our beloved Fringe?! I've been a fan for four long, delighted years, watching this show find its voice, experiment, build the characters - supporting it through thick and thin with the hope that despite poor ratings, the gods would see fit to give Fringe a 5th and final season so they could wrap things up and have a proper send-off. Now I'm not so sure.

The Fringe I've been in love with is missing in action.


Like some leftover episode of Heroes, suddenly we've jumped into the future - where The Observers are completely the opposite of who we've always believed them to be. Not neutral altruistic Swedes - but hateful Nazis who've now turned into The Invaders, occupying our planet like an episode of V.

Since the invasion, everyone's conveniently been trapped in amber - you know, like during a writer's strike? Meanwhile, Olivia and Peter's daughter has grown up into a somewhat expressionless, high-cheekboned knock-off of her mom, a completely pointless character who is cut from the same unconvincing "tough blonde" cloth as Sarah Jones on Alcatraz. So far, actress Georgina Haig brings nothing to the table, save her Germanic cheekbones and the occasional pouty frown. She's taking time away from Olivia and giving us nothing in return. "Etta" is not someone I've become invested with over the course of the show like I have Astrid and Peter - or Lincoln Lee, for that matter? Who cares about this tranquilized blonde, fer cryin' out loud?

I miss Fringe. I miss it being set in our time and being a bizarre reflection of the weird corners of our reality. I miss Massive Dynamic and Broyles and Nina and Gene! I hope this is only brief detour into the first half of this final season and things right themselves for the finish - but I hate having The Observers be evil and I'm more than done with Henrietta and amber. You had a great thing here, people - please don't let this be another J.J. show that couldn't find the dismount (cough-cough - Lost).

The Fringe I've seen these last two weeks has been held together by the spark of Walter's (John Noble) personality - no surprise there - as both Peter and Olivia seem more passive and less colorful than they have before. Running around as a half-baked collection of "resistance fighters" trying to solve the puzzle of how to topple an evil (yawn) regime, it feels more like Hogan's Heroes than another trip down the rabbit hole.

Happy Global James Bond Day!

It's Global James Bond Day, so I've been doing my bit by exploring the behemoth that is Bond 50 (thank you, Wifey!), every Bond film ever, from 50 years ago today with Dr. No, all the way through Quantum of Solace! Not that I've been able to watch them all, but I had to spin You Only Live Twice, and have been spending some time checking in with Sean, George, Roger, Pierce and Daniel.

Great to be just a few short weeks away from Skyfall, which looks to be a fantastic return to form.

Fantastic to see Bond getting his due after a few lean years! What a treat!

Hobbit movie figures on doorstep!

Yes, it's beginning - thanks to Toys R Us pre-orders, the first figures from The Hobbit movie are beginning to arrive! There are two series, 3.75" and 6" - I've decided to focus on the 3.75" figures, as there appears to be more variety, they're a little easier on the wallet and they take up less space in an already overflowing display room... feast your eyes...

The first set is our pal Legolas (again, Orlando Bloom) and Tauriel - a new character, described as a Sylvan Elf of Mirkwood, "as deadly as she is beautiful." Tauriel is played by Lost's Evangeline Lilly. 

The sculpts are nice, though Legolas seems to have the mystical ability to avoid coming into clear focus.

Quivers attach to the characters' backs by pegs, arrows are together in a solid bunch - bows are without string - details presumably available in the larger 6" versions. 

There are nice bits of detailing, the carved markings on their daggers, armor and quivers...

They are a bit taller than the Hasbro Star Wars and Marvel Universe counterparts. Figures have decent posability, with movable wrists, feet, elbows and knees.

Here's a look at new Legolas beside his Lord of the Rings Toy Biz ancestor - about half as tall.

These are bound to be a hard find in stores once the film's December release date arrives - so unless you've got gas (and time) to burn, grab these off of TRU while you can!