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‘Spectacular Spider-Man Season 2’ Episode Descriptions

  • News
  • December 23, 2008

Marvel Animation has released episode descriptions for the second season of The Spectacular Spider-Man.

The second season kicks off will premiere on the Canadian network Teletoon at 10:30 a.m.  January 11, 2009. The American fans have to wait until March when the series moves from TheCW4Kids to Disney XD.

14 – Blueprints
It’s early December, and the first snow is falling. PETER PARKER has a long “To Do” list – leading off with talking to GWEN STACY about their surprise first kiss. But before he gets the chance, SPIDER-MAN has a run in with the sorcerer MYSTERIO.

15 – Destructive Testing
Both GWEN STACY and LIZ ALLAN like PETER PARKER. So whom should Pete pursue? Meanwhile, KRAVEN THE HUNTER has come to New York to make SPIDER-MAN his prey!

16 – Reinforcement
As Christmas approaches, the SINISTER SIX reconstitutes with SANDMAN, RHINO, VULTURE, ELECTRO and new members MYSTERIO and KRAVEN. All they want for Christmas is SPIDER-MAN – dead. Meanwhile, PETER PARKER finds his wandering eye prevents him from being with GWEN STACY. He’ll have to learn to focus if he wants to get the girl… and if he wants to stay alive. (more…)

Judge Dredd Returning to the Big Screen

  • News
  • December 23, 2008

Judge Dredd, England’s long-running weekly comic feature, is returning to the screen.   At 2000 AD’s website, they had the following short announcement:

“Rebellion and 2000 AD are proud to announce that Judge Dredd is coming to a cinema near you soon!

“Together with DNA Films, the movie production company behind such great sci-fi movies such as Sunshine and 28 Weeks Later, Judge Dredd will go into production in 2009.

“Jason Kingsley, CEO and Creative Director said, ‘We can’t give away too many details at this point, but we’re looking forward to working with DNA Films to bring Judge Dredd back to the big screen’.”

The British-based DNA Films was founded by Duncan Kenworthy and Andrew Macdonald (The Beach). The company has a production partnership with Fox Searchlight Pictures, which owns 50% of DNA Films in addition to backing from the UK Film Council.

Last seen in the ill-timed 1995 release, the Sylvester Stallone movie tanked both commercially and critically. The problem was that the inventive visual world of Mega City One, first seen in 1979, was partially co-opted for the look of Blade Runner and its knockoffs.  By the time this original made it to the screen, it looked redundant rather than trendsetting. That the story and performances were lackluster didn’t help either.
 

Sneak Peek: ‘Lone Ranger’ Vol 2.

  • News
  • December 23, 2008

Just in time for last minute gift buying, Dynamite Entertainment releases the second Lone Ranger trade paperback, Lines not Crossed, on Wednesday.  The book collects issues 7-11 of the well regarded interpretation of the classic radio hero.  The stories are from writer Brett Matthews with art by Sergio Cariello and covers from John Cassady.

From the solicitation copy:

The Lone Ranger is an unrelenting tale of the American West. Texas Ranger John Reid seeks revenge for the murders of his family and friends, only to find justice… and that he’s something greater than he ever thought he could be.

In "Lines Not Crossed" and "Downbeat" — the thrilling adventures of The Lone Ranger continue as he and Tonto find themselves caught between frontier justice and a condemned man. As the hangman’s noose draws tighter — and Butch Cavendish ever closer — The Ranger and Tonto must uncover the truth behind a violent shootout… and what course of action to take when the law and their morality fails to p¬rovide clear answers.
  (more…)

DelRey Adds Ninja Girls in 2009

  • News
  • December 23, 2008

Del Rey Manga has announced the acquisition of Hosana Tanaka’s Rappi Rangai, which it will arrive in bookstores under the name Ninja Girls.  Produced in Japan by Kodansha, the ongoing series has five volumes to date out in Japan. 
 
ICv2 describes it as “A young man in Japan’s distant past has an encounter with a beautiful female ninja that helps him discover that he’s the last living descendant of a feudal lord family; a group of beautiful ninjas that will help him regain his throne.”

This will mark Tanaka’s domestic debut.

James Cameron may be Joining JMS on ‘Forbidden Planet’

  • News
  • December 22, 2008

Lots of Forbidden Planet buzz spread across the Internet while you were digging out from the snowstorms.

IESB broke the news that James Cameron was to meet with writer J. Michael Straczynski to discuss the project.  The Latino Review reported, “I do know that Cameron has flipped for the current draft.”

The Review also confirms that the script is a prequel to the 1956 movie, picking up threads from the original’s dialogue. Warner Bros.. recently gave the script a green light with a 2010 release date pencilled in.

“I told [producer] Joel [Silver] this is how you do Forbidden Planet without pissing on the original that no one has ever thought of,” the screenwriter was quoted as saying. “When I told [the idea] to him, his eyes lit up. It’s not a remake. It’s not a reimagining. It’s not exactly a prequel. You’ll have to see it. It’s something that no one has thought of when it comes to this storyline.”

“The prologue to the script contains the following: Two ships traveled to Altair 4, a planet orbiting a star 16.7 light years from Earth. The first ship, the Bellerophon, came to explore that world. The humans on board encountered the relics of the Krell civilization for the first time and exhumed their dangerous past. The Bellerophon was never heard from again. Twenty years later, a second ship, a C-57D Starcruiser, came to investigate the disappearance of the Bellerophon and her crew,” the Review revealed.

Additionally, Straczynski has intentions of this being, what else, a trilogy. The Latino Review outlines the plan:

•    Movie One tells the story of the original ship that came to Altair 4.

•    Movie Two tells the story of the search for the Krell by the captain of the Bellerophon and his crew…as Diana continues to grow into something profoundly other-worldly. The search takes them beyond the limits of known space into other dimensions, passing from what’s known into what’s not.

•    Movie Three tells the story of the second ship to arrive at Altair 4 to investigate what happened to the Bellerophon. They discover Morbius and his "daughter," who is desperate to get off the planet and out into the rest of the universe, where her power would nearly be god-like…a fate we are spared when Morbius sacrifices his life to keep her there and eliminate the Krell homeworld once and for all.

Michael Uslan Teams with Sam Raimi on ‘The Shadow’

  • News
  • December 22, 2008

It’s been two years since there has been any serious movement on a new feature film adaptation of The Shadow.  Two years ago this month, Sony announced that they obtained the rights and will have Sam Raimi on board to produce and possibly direct the feature, telling the press,  “I’ve been a passionate Shadow fan ever since I was a kid and have long dreamed of bringing this character to the screen.”

Now, producer Michael Uslan tells IGN that his company will be coproducing with Raimi’s outfit.

In October, Raimi reported, "I don’t have any news on The Shadow at this time, except that the company that I have with Josh Donen, my producing partner, we’ve got the rights to The Shadow. I love the character very much and we’re trying to work on a story that’ll do justice to the character."

Uslan confirmed that last week, adding that Siavash Farahani has penned the screenplay. She has only one previous screenwriting credit, 1999’s Ingénue. Uslan, whose Spirit film opens on Thursday, has someone “unconventional” in mind for the lead role but wouldn’t say anything further.

The Shadow, perhaps the best known of the pulp magazine adventure heroes, was previously the star if a big budget film in 1994, with Alec Baldwin as Lamont Cranston/Shadow. The character began life as the unnamed narrator of stories taken from Street &Smith’s crime pulps. As readers asked news dealers for “the Shadow” magazine, the publisher recognized the need for one.  Editors commissioned the prolific Walter B. Gibson to create the character in 1931.  The Shadow dominated newsstands and radio through the 1930s and 1940s.  He went on to star in a movie serial and numerous comic book adaptations including the celebrated stories from Denny O’Neil and Michael Kaluta.

The original stories have been reprinted over the last year by Anthony Tollin.

Fox Going to the Wolves in ‘Bitches’

  • News
  • December 22, 2008

Fox network has announced work has begun on a new hour-long series, Bitches, described by The Hollywood Reporter as “a dramedy about a quartet of female friends in New York who are werewolves.”

Given the November 2009 release of both The Wolfman and the lycanthropes in New Moon, plus the Big Bad Wolf in NBC’s Fables project, it looks to be a hairy fall.

Michael Dougherty (X2: X-Men United) is writing the script for Warner Bros. TV which received a pilot script commitment complete with penalties if no film is shot. Gretchen Berg and Aaron Harberts (Pepper Dennis) will serve as executive producers alongside Dougherty.

Dougherty wrote about werewolves in Trick ‘r Treat a Warner Bros, film that got dumped earlier this year and will be a direct-to-DVD release.

Winter Weather or Bar Reviews? ‘Yes Man’ Tops Lackluster Box Office

  • News
  • December 22, 2008

The question wasn’t whether they were naughty or nice, but whether the harsh weather or poor reviews kept people out of the theaters this weekend. According to numbers from Box Office Mojo, the repetitive Jim Carrey vehicle, Yes Man, bested Will Smith’s guilt-ridden drama Seven Pounds.  Yes Man topped the box office charts with $18,160,000, nearly $5 million less than expected while Smith’s holiday offering grabbed $16 million, about $3 million under the predictions.

The other new film, the family friendly The Tale of Despereaux did $10,507,000 worth of business and met the low end of expectations.

Coming in fourth is Fox’s remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still but poor word of mouth saw it dip 66.7% from its so-so opening weekend.  As a result, after two weeks it has grossed only $48,627,000 and may prove a costly disappointment in a year where Fox has had more misfires than hits.

Fifth place went to Four Christmases, the Warner comedy that took in an additional $7,745,000, letting it crack the $100 million mark. The other seasonal film, Nothing Like the Holidays, tumbled to 13th place and has an anemic $5,940,000 after two weeks.

Family fare did better with Bolt with $4,256,000 and possibly the last film to break $100 million so during the calendar year. Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa is slowing down, but with $172,332,000 after seven weeks, Paramount has to be delighted.

Twilight continues to attract besotted fans, taking in another $5.2 million, with the movie now immensely profitable with $158,461,000 to date.

More serious offerings are being met with indifference during these tough economic times.  While good for Academy Awards nods, they seem to attract on true cinephiles.
 

Arcana Makes Deal for 5 Film Adaptations

  • News
  • December 22, 2008

Arcana Studios has optioned five of their titles to Legacy Filmworks in a co-production deal that also involves production-finance group Bron Management according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Paradox, starring Kevin Sorbo (Hercules) will be the first of the quintet to reach the cameras. Brenton Spencer (Stargate: Atlantis) will direct the story of a “homicide cop on a parallel Earth ruled by magic who investigates a series of murders committed by a previously unseen means: the power of science” The script adaptation has been handled by the 2005 miniseries writer Christos Gage and his wife, Ruth Fletcher Gage (The Breed).

Deboragh Gabler will producing the five films on behalf of the Canadian based production company, working alongside Bron’s Aaron Gilbert, with Arcana founder-publisher Sean O’Reilly receiving executive producer credentials.

Chopper, produced for Arcana through Martin Shapiro’s Night Owl Studios, was originally developed for Platinum Studios before moving to Arcana.  Written by Shapiro, it will be illustrated by Martin Montiel and Rodney Ramos with a cover from Tony Mauro. The first issue was previewed at Comic-Con International in July but has not been scheduled or solicited by Arcana nor does it appear on their website.  Night Owl’s site describes the premise as:

“Combining the chills of supernatural horror with the excitement of action movie gun battles and car chases, the first issue of Chopper reveals the origin of the chopper-riding Angel of Death and how he became a headless ghost. Jeremiah Payne, an ex-outlaw biker turned fanatical soldier of God hunts down and exterminates evil sinners. He meets his match when he runs into a headstrong cop determined to bring him down.”

The third property is  Sundown, which was a three-issue miniseries from writer Jay Busbee and artist Jason Ossman.

Arcana’s website offer this synopsis:

“Arizona territory, 1880. Someone’s killing preachers, and New York City reporter Will Dalton heads west to cover the story. Will and his brother Clay, a small-town sheriff, begin digging for the truth behind the murders. But they soon find themselves on the front lines of a horrific war for the very soul of America! Sundown is a terrifying three-issue tale of the Old West where sometimes, dying just means you’re switching sides.”

Arcana was founded in 2004 and has comics, webcomics and custom comics produced ever since.  They made a splash this fall as  the home for the comic book in carnation of The Greatest American Hero, which was released last week. They also produced Red Lotus, animated webisodes for Spike TV.
 

Movie Review: ‘The Spirit”

spirit-posterIn the past, the holiday season is a time for at least one big box office hit, and while the period between 2001 and 2005 may have been taken over by Peter Jackson’s army of Orcs and giant gorillas, the pattern has been consistent. This year, however, you shouldn’t expect to be blown away, or even spend the money on admission with an adaptation of a literary or Hollywood classic, as Frank Miller and his motley crew try to pass off a remake of Will Eisner’s classic “middle-class crime fighter” comic. The film, as a whole, makes very little sense and will bring mostly heartache to fans of the source material, and on an original level, the movie jumps around both in mood, story, and even dialogue so much that it makes it feel like you’ve been watching [[[Sin City]]] fan film for over 90 minutes.

The movie should have simply been called a faux sequel to Sin City, because that is what it felt like. Gravely voices, over-the-top villains, and women in leather should just be what was written on the poster for this film, because those elements just about sum up what to expect. There are a few twists and turns, mostly in the tone of the film and how it jumps from a high-paced action film to a slapstick comedy around every turn. The inconsistency alone is enough to deter most of the audience, let alone the campy dialogue or ridiculous plot devices that would have Eisner spinning in the grave.

Those who were/are a fan of Eisner’s original story or even the later retellings know the basic story behind the hero: Denny Colt, a middle-class rookie cop in Central City is presumed killed, but actually goes into suspended animation, only to come back and create the identity of The Spirit, a man who is able to fight crime in a way local cops can’t, all while wearing a blue suit, red tie, domino mask, and a fedora. [[[The Spirit]]] never had super powers, but still had the same mystery as rival character Batman to the in-book villains. This new representation has The Spirit as a man who was killed, and brought back to life by a serum that gave him super powers, allowing him to recover from fatal wounds quickly and run across telephone lines. He now must take down The Octopus, his archrival who mysteriously has the same powers as our red-tied hero.

(more…)

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