the first teaser for batman begins finally hit the web today. theres a glimpse of bruce waynes childhood in the wake of his parents murders, and then of him traversing the world looking for himself, and an all too brief glimpse of batman. very coo…i definitely think christian bale was the perfect choice for the role.

oh, and quint from aicn goes nuts for sky captain and the world of tomorrow. damnit people, release the movie already.

> batman begins teaser (via cinescape)
> quints sky captain review (via aicn)

and the hits just keep coming. anti-robot files been updated, but google seems to be taking their time crawling. unique visitors hit 1,400+ the other day, 1,300 of which most likely coming from google images…bleh. this irks me.

anyhoo, aicn has two new reviews for m. night shyamalans the village today, and things dont look good. the first reviewer absolutely hated the movie, and the second criticized the story in particular. character development, etc are generally shyamalans strong points, so no problems there. its the actual progression of the story thats pissing people off. supposedly the “twist” this time around is a weak one that could be spotted an hour into the movie. and once the twist is stripped away, what youre left with isnt a whole lot. *shrug*…i suppose ill just have to see for myself…

> the village reviews (via aicn)
> the village website

this interesting bit of news just surfaced today. from the san diego comic-con comes a report that in the upcoming season of the simpsons, someones going to be coming out of the closet. and while everybodys immediately pointing to waylon smithers, they specifically stated that its not who you’d expect it to be…which is to say, smithers is too obvious. hmm…so who else in the simpsons universe could potentially come out? dr. hibbert? ned flanders (….hmm)? carl and/or lenny? skinner? damn…seems everybody could be a potential. my moneys on millhouse tho. just because, dude…its millhouse.

INNOCENCE
oh right, and the north american trailer for ghost in the shell 2: innocence is out. but its got the obligatory voiceover man, which kind of poops on the elegance of the trailer. bleh…ah well.

> queer eye for a simpsons guy (via ign)
> ghost in the shell 2: innocence trailer (via ign)

and quickie movie news too. first and foremost, its official. the title to star wars eps 3 is….revenge of the sith. whew, better than the creeping fear, which was retarded…and it actually sounds coo. you can see the symmetry too with the original trilogy if youd like…but thats a big “dur“.

ROTK EE
and more coo news from the comic-con…descriptions of scenes from the forthcoming return of the king: extended edition! holy shit…word. continue for the transcript…

> continued…

(more…)

wanted to mention this as well. neil gaiman’s death: the high cost of living, has been picked up by new line to be made into a movie, and neil gaiman is set to make his directorial debut. very coo. the graphic novel revolved around a teen contemplating suicide, who spends a day with death personified and rethinks his outlook on life…and the movie is set to expand on the graphic novel. ive always thought that winona ryder was the perfect image of death (in no small part to her role as lydia in beetlejuice)…but that was ten years ago when the graphic novel first came out. and while fairuza balk has long expressed interest in playing death if a movie was ever to be made, i think the best fit now would be keira knightley. big surprise right? no really…ive always thought she looked like a cross between natalie portman and winona ryder. and with dyed black hair, she’d make a pretty coo (and hot) death. shannyn sossamon would be pretty coo as death too…does she even still act? heres to hoping.

> new line to adapt death (via shh)
> old old script review (via aicn)

i forgot to bring this up. donnie darko: the directors cut is set to be released in nyc this week. so if anyone in the city is up for seeing the movie with me this weekend…or for that matter, even know what theaters it will be playing at (i cant seem to find it listed anywhere), shoot me an email. sunday or something…darko yo. let me know…

UPDATE
we have a theater! (thanx to jess) cinema village on 12th. im personally planning for a saturday showing…maybe the 4:20pm-er. all those interested, email me. those who already did, ill send the info yo.

> donnie darko: the directors cut (via ny times)
> donne darko website

[ audio selection | the gorillaz – 19-2000 (soulchild) ]

so with the news coming out that bryan singer has bailed on x-men 3 for the new superman movie, there was bound to be some negative reactions. supposedly wolverine wasnt too thrilled with superman stealing his director, so he wrote him a letter that goes something along the lines of, “dear superman, fuck you.” nice.

HOBBIT ADDENDUM
and on a sidenote, the chances of seeing peter jackson follow-up the lord of the rings trilogy with a hobbit movie just got alot better today. the movie rights to the hobbit have long been held by mgm studios, tho peter jackson and new line cinema, who made the lord of the rings trilogy, wanted to make it. so what to do? well, have your parent company buy the little shits out of course. there are reports today that time warner, which owns new line cinema, is seeking to purchase mgm studios, essentially resolving any legal speedbumps that wouldve prevented new line from making the hobbit. yay for corporate buyouts.

> dear superman (via shh)
> the hobbit news (via cinescape)

[ audio selection | uberzone – botz ]

super…another 27k hits and an unusually high number of traffic. or is this not unusual anymore? grr…if this keeps up, it might be time to switch hosts. again. argh…pain!

ahem. anyhoo, i just watched the new sky captain trailer, so im a wee cheered up. just a wee tho. the movies looking very very coo indeed…dig the flying carriers of the royal air force. and not only is there a rockin’ new trailer, but theres also an exclusive clip from the movie of an underwater battle. word…very sweet. ok, thats it yo. i gotta go fig out if i even remember all the little tweaks i did to the mt code. pain yo…

> new sky captain trailer and clip (via aicn)

[ audio selection | beastie boys – ch-check it out ]

theres like a laundry list of interesting movie and tv news today. interesting, but kinda bleh. ill start with the lukewarm and move down to the disagreeable. first is a follow-up to last weeks post about fantastic four castings, with sue storm still being a toss-up between jessica alba and elisha cuthbert. news surfaced today however that jessica alba has in fact landed the role of sue storm/invisible girl. wrong call dudes, elisha cuthbert fits the bill better. i mean, i have nothing against alba…shes quite the cutie. but who are these casting directors? do they sniff glue? i hope alba knows how to pull off blonde, b/c im not feeling this casting.

MAGIC HANDS
next up is kind of laughable and semi-disposable…but still interesting. jessica “chicken of the sea” simpson had supposedly sent in an audition tape to the producers of x-men 3 with the hopes that they might be able to create a role for her, specifically as the dazzler. yea thats right, the dazzler…the viciously over-powered 80s progeny with the amazing ability to transform sound into light. thats uncanny! and its reported that simpson did actually land a role in x3…a cameo as “a lounge-singer to introduce the character of dazzler.” thats…super. the dazzler…super. i suppose i should concede that she is pretty much the spitting image of dazzler, so i cant complain that she doesnt look the part. break out the disco balls and roller skates.

LOIS LANE CAST
and the big news for today (for smallville fans anyway) is that the coveted role of lois lane has reportedly been cast. and the winner of the “id better be hotter than kristin kreuk“-contest is…erica durance! eh? right then…erica durance, a relatively unknown canadian actress whos had roles on andromeda and tru calling. of course the first thing i had to do was to track down a picture of her. and i did. and im kind of sad now. because while shes by no means ugly, shes not exactly how id pictured lois lane to look. admittedly tho, i think they really overstepped their means when they cast someone as beautiful as kristin kreuk for the inevitably rejected lana lang. lois lane, as the person clark kent eventually chooses over lana lang (ie: kristin kreuk), wouldve been a hard cast. ill give them the benefit of the doubt here and see how her role evolves. im hoping to be thoroughly surprised by this actress.

> jessica alba is sue storm/invisible girl (via cinescape)
> jessica simpson wants to be the dazzler (via cinescape)
> erica durance is lois lane (via cinescape)

[ current selection | lightning seeds – life of riley ]
[ feelin’ | tgif ]

i like how the “feelin’” header no longer makes any sense. ill toss in nouns, adverbs, whole phrases, symbolic gestures…whatever. i think ill just toss it starting next week. its friday…woot! and tomorrows going to be another biking excursion. except my shoulders are still sunburned from last weekend…blah. maybe we’ll bike in the shade.

AVP INTERNATIONAL
didnt i say just a week ago that id try and diversify the post subjects? *shrug*…ill try harder after this post. first up for today is a new international avp trailer, which begins with a similar intro to the u.s. trailer, but then shifts gears and cuts into new footage not seen in prior trailers. more alien shots, more predator snarls, and more humans pissing in their pants…yay! can you hear my expectations rising? im setting myself up for a letdown…

SUPERMAN
and new superman news surfaced today about how casting was going. usa today (via shh) points out that young thesp shia labeouf is in talks to play jimmy olsen, so thats coo…a dude with typos all over his name. jk, its all good. the post mentions that he was in charlies angels 2, so im gonna guess he was that young afro kid the angels saved from the assassin. in regards to the superman casting, shia mentions that jake gyllenhaal was no longer in the running to play superman, and that they were going for a relatively unknown. gyllenhaal’s coo, but i wouldnt be opposed to bringing in an unknown. more power to them. shia goes on to say that they were also looking to bring in scarlet johannson as lois lane and johnny depp as lex luthor. the depp thing id heard before…but the johannson casting is news to me. not sure how i feel about that…im squinting my eyes trying to picture her as lois lane, but its not looking right. maybe its just me.

> international avp trailer (via shh)
> superman casting (via shh)