Check out the featurette for the upcoming Transporter 3 starring our favorite badass Jason Statham. The first two films were directed by Louis Leterrier of Incredible Hulk fame.

I would probably assume that this movie is just an addition to the films rather than anything new, but it seems to me its a cross between Transporter 2 and Crank. What do you think??

The movie is scheduled to appear in theaters on November 26th 2008.

2008 may very well be remembered as “the year of the superhero”.  This is the year that gave us the immaculate “The Dark Knight”, the crowd-pleasing “Incredible Hulk” (although it did everything BUT please me), and of course the surprisingly strong “Iron Man” starring Robert Downey Jr.  The latter has just been released on DVD and Blu-Ray, with a 2-Disc “Ultimate” Edition that’s sure to satisfy the millions of fans the film garnered since its release this past May.

This hugely entertaining comic book adaptation about Tony Stark (Downey Jr.), a smarmy and sarcastic narcissist of a billionaire playboy who comes from a long line of weapons manufacturers who donates those weapons to the war effort.  But when Tony is captured and held captive in a terrorist camp for three months, he plans an escape by constructing a suit of iron equipped with some nifty devices and an assortment of weapons.  After being rescued, Tony returns home with a renewed set of morals and a fresh new purpose: he wants to protect the people he put in harm’s way by modifying his original suit design.  But Tony is soon swept up in a plot being orchestrated by his shady business partner Obidiah Stane (Jeff Bridges), who wants to use Tony’s suit design for more sinister purposes.

This 2-Disc DVD is jam-packed with bonus features, starting with a slew of deleted/extended scenes that are good to say the very least, but while watching them it’s obvious why they were cut.  Most of these scenes are extended versions of scenes in the final cut, such as more interaction between Tony and Rhodes (Terrence Howard) at Caesar’s Palace and on the plane ride to Afghanistan.  However, there are some entirely new scenes that are pretty nice, including more Iron Man action from the film’s finale and a scene in which Obidiah Stane chastises his workers for not building his own suit quick enough.

But the bulk of the bonus features are on the second disc.  Things really kick off with an elaborate 7-part making-of documentary entitled “I Am Iron Man”.  This documentary chronicles every single part of the process of bringing “Iron Man” to the big screen; it certainly takes a while to get through, but it’s still a worthy special feature.  Another one, “Wired: The Visual Effects of Iron Man”, gives us a gander into how the filmmakers created the impressive special effects of the movie, as the title would suggest.  “The Invincible Iron Man” is another multi-chaptered documentary, this one a 6-parter which details the history of the character Iron Man, from the initial conception to what he has now become.  Also included is Robert Downey Jr.’s Screen Test for the film, a short feature entitled “The Actor’s Process”, still galleries and more.  This Special Edition DVD is the type collectors dream off: full of quality features that showcase the hard work put into a really good film.

Of course, Paramount has also released a standard one-disc edition which includes only the film and the deleted/extended scenes, but this is the version more deserving of your money.

Movie Rating: 4 stars

DVD Rating:  4.5 stars

This just in from the Wall Street Journal…Warner Bros to reboot Superman for the big screen. Look for Brian Singer to not be involved with this new take on the Man of Steel as the bad taste that was 2006′s “Superman Returns” is still lingering in the water.

Realizing that Marvel Comics has been hitting home run after home run with film adaptations of their comic book characters, DC and Warner Bros are going to get aggressive with Super Hero movies based off of the DC Comics properties. They will also follow the blueprint setup in Iron Man and the Incredible Hulk from this past summer and build upon the characters that will make up the Justice League.

There has been a rumor floating around for months that comic book scribe Mark Millar has a script and business plan ready to present to the WB and DC in hopes of making Superman the be-all-end-all movie that we were expecting in 2006.  Here is to hoping that this announcement will be made prior to the end of 2008.

“Superheroes are more global than ever in today’s commercial world, existing in 30 languages and in more than 60 countries,” says Paul Levitz, president and publisher of DC Comics. The characters are “a world-wide export,” he says.

With the major box-office sucess that is “Batman Begins” and the follow-up “The Dark Knight” it was only a matter of time that WB would realize they needed to do something to jump start the failing movies based on DC Characters.

The studio is set to announce its plans for future DC movies in the next month. For now, though, it is focused on releasing four comic-book films in the next three years, including a third Batman film, a new film reintroducing Superman, and two movies focusing on other DC Comics characters. Movies featuring Green Lantern, Flash, Green Arrow, and Wonder Woman are all in active development.

As a comic book fan and a movie junkie, I hope they can keep the tidal wave that is the recent comic book adaptation hits going and compliment the work Marvel is doing. We don’t want to have to sit through another “Batman & Robin” or “Superman 4: The Quest for Peace” any time soon.

First I would like to say that going into this film, I really wanted to cheer for M. Night, because as of lately all the douche bags have come out of the woodwork to pick on his films and how they have gone down hill. “The Lady in the Water was terrible, The Village was so so and really didn’t produce”. Well, I enjoyed them both for what they were and would probably watch them again. The Happening is a different story.

The Happening is M. Night Shyamalan’s latest creation and should be called for what it really is,  “What the Hell is Happening”? What happened to a storyline like Unbreakable or even The Sixth Sense. What happened to actors doing more than reading off a few lines? This film delivers 1 chilling scene and really was misplaced amongst the story.

The Happening is a supposed thriller that follows a family on the run from a natural crisis. A science teacher named Elliot Moore (Mark Wahlberg), runs for his life together with his estranged wife, Alma Moore (Zooey Deschanel), in order to survive an unknown killer all while the world goes into a violent whirlwind of self destruction.

While the directing was okay, the acting was sub par. From the likes of Mark Wahlberg, Zooey Deschanel and my personal favorite, John Leguizamo, a lot more was expected. The characters came off as shallow, and lacking in all aspects. At the end of the film I was okay with what had played out for each character. Dead or alive, some seemed better off out of the picture, and others definitely weren’t missed.

For those die hard fans of M. Night – please don’t see this, you will be so turned off. That, and I don’t want to hear you moan for another two or three weeks about this. As for you other folks looking to see this film, I would advise seeing something else like Kung Fu Panda or The Incredible Hulk.

After spending 1.5 hours with Marky Mark and the lack-of-acting bunch, I wanted to cheer on those critics of M. Night. This movie did nothing for the haters of M. Night except fuel the fire.

[imdb]0949731[/imdb]

Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆ 

The summer of 2008 will be known as the starting point for something great. This will be the time we look back and see how Marvel Comics was able to take their properties and move them forward into one big movie universe. Some will say Spider-Man started it, but it didn’t start to merge till now, till Iron Man laid the groundwork of something large. The Incredible Hulk builds on this groundwork giving us a movie that fits in with the rest of the movie Marvel Universe but also is able to stand alone and deliver it’s own themes and ideas. For those of you that don’t know the background of the Hulk, here it is in song form. Catchy, isn’t it? One thing to keep in mind is, this isn’t the Ang Lee 2003 Hulk which was a very stylized movie based off of the comic book. Some liked it, some hated it. I was among those that liked it, even if the Hulk didn’t appear till almost an hour into the movie. This isn’t a continuation or sequel either. It’s a “reboot”, a do over if you would like. Marvel took a chance to re-image the Hulk’s world for the big screen and they delivered on this by getting Louis Leterrier on board to direct. He brings a real world feel to the movie that some thought was missing in the 2003 version. Plus he knows how to stage an action sequence and we get to see plenty of it in the 2008 Incredible Hulk. Here is a quick run down of the plot. Doctor Bruce Banner (Edward Norton) was belted by gamma rays and turned into the Hulk (Lou Ferrigno, providing the voice). During the accident, he injures long time girlfriend Betty Ross (Liv Tyler) and her father General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross (William Hurt). Like the TV show, we see Bruce trying to find a cure to remove the Hulk from him. Like the comic book we see Bruce running from the United States military in hope of not being captured and used as a weapon.  Two great tastes that go great together. Assisting General Ross with his quest is Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth), on loan to the US from the UK. Blonsky is a warrior that lives for the fight, the adrenalin rush, the thrill of the hunt, and the capture of the prey. He’ll stop at nothing till Bruce Banner/the Hulk is captured. Bruce has help as well in the form of a mystery Mr Blue who is trying to come up with a cure. We later learn that Mr Blue is Professor Samuel Sterns (Tim Blake Nelson) and he has plans of his own for Bruce’s blood.

Unlike the previous outing, this movie picks up the action right away and we see the Hulk within the first 30 minutes of the movie. Between a roof top chase in South America, a fight between the Hulk and General Ross’ military forces, and a showdown in New York City we get to see tons of action. So in honor of this movie I am going to debut a new feature called “The Good, The Bad, and The Geeky.” The Good:

• Action and lots of action
• True to both the TV version and the comic version
• Bill Bixby is in the movie, keep your eye out
• Cameo appearances by Lou Ferrigno and Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee
• The HULK seen within the first 30 minutes is a plus
• William Hurt did a great job as General Ross; He was on-par with Sam Elliot’s version in the 2003 Hulk
• Ed Norton showed that he was a fan of the source material and respected both the TV and Comic fans with the script that he helped write

Have you seen Iron Man yet? If not what are you waiting for? Go out and see it this weekend.

Prior to the May 2nd debut there was talk all over the Internet that Hillary Swank would have a cameo part in the movie along with the now known Samuel Jackson as Nick Fury scene. However it is now being reported that this rumor was just that…a rumor and there was no truth at all to any of it.

Cinematical notes that former Marvel Studio head honcho Avi Arad had come out and said she was never part of the story, had never been cast, and was not in the movie at all. You can read more about it by clicking this link.

Who would Hillary have played? I think she was going to be the Black Widow who is an agent of S.H.E.I.L.D and works as Fury’s right-hand person.

Another rumor making the rounds is for the Incredible Hulk. There had been rumors for the past few weeks that Sam Jackson would turn up as Nick Fury in Hulk along with Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark AND someone as Captain America. It seems that Captain America will not be in the movie afterall no.

It seems that one day Leterrier says we the audience will “have to look hard and to see him” and the next Leterrier says that the scene was cut from the movie and may be on the DVD.  Click this link to read more.

All in all Iron Man and The Incredibule Hulk are making grounds for 2011 when the Avengers movie is out for all to see.

Good moring. This is going to be a bit of everything as I’m doing the Wednesday morning potpourri post.

I was out and about last night and saw these two cool statues for upcoming Summer movies.

The first one is of the Kung Fu Panda himself. The movie opens on June 6. 

 Next would be the big green guy himself, the Incredible Hulk. The movie opens June 13.

Next we have three banners/posters for the upcoming Summer Blockbuster “The Dark Knight”. The movie opens July 18.

Here is the bat pod. Check out the tires.

Howabout one of the three main characters all together. Is it me or is this very Alex Ross-ish?

And here’s another cool one that shows Batman looking over the city.

And lastly the music video for Spee Racer has hit the interweb. The movie looks like it will be a fun trip to take and I can’t wait to see it next week. Enjoy the remix of the classic Speed Racer theme song. The movie opens May 9.

Speed Racer music video

What is it about the Incredible Hulk that always seems to cause issues? The first movie came out in 2003 directed by Ang Lee and was considered a box-office bust. Why? The style of the movie was considered too slow by most and the fact that your main character of the HULK isn’t seen till over an hour into the film. When he was shown, the CGI made him look as if Shrek and the Jolly Green Giant had a child together. Add to it the very stylized comic book look and feal that Ang Lee gave the movie didn’t sit well with most audiences. For some reason they all wanted the movie to follow the themes set in the TV show from the 70′s and all forgot that there was a comic book prior to that version.

Now we move to 2008 where a newer version of The Hulk will hit movie theaters in June. This movie is being called a “restart” by Marvel Comics as the story follows the flow of the TV show with hints of the comic book thrown in. They even got a more action oriented director in Louis Leterrir (the Transporter movies) and a good set of writers in Zack Penn (Superman Returns) and the star of the movie, Edward Norton.

So where is the touble with this film? The trouble seems to be between Edward Norton, Louis Leterrir and Marvel Comics.  Entertainment Weekly had a sitdown with Louis Leterrir where he mentioned that all parties were getting along during the filming of the movie. It wasn’t till the edit proces that issues started to rise. It seems that both Leterrir and Norton wanted a “135 minute more contemplative and richer epic” as to Marvel Comics who wanted a “under 120 minutes and action packed” film.

Do you see where I’m going with this? Marvel wants an action movie featuring one of their toughest characters in comics where the director and star/writer wanted to make it more of a movie like the one in 2003.  Needless to say Marvel Comics won the battle but I won’t be surprise if we see two versions of the movie on DVD next Fall – one with the theatrical version and one with the director’s cut.

Adding to the story is that Edward Norton released a statement as he is not granting interviews at this time.

“Every good movie gets forged through collaboration, and different ideas among people who are all committed and respect the validity of each other’s opinions is the heart of filmmaking.

Regrettably, our healthy process, which is and should be a private matter, was misrepresented publicly as a ‘dispute,’ seized on by people looking for a good story, and has been distorted to such a degree that it risks distracting from the film itself, which Marvel, Universal and I refuse to let happen.

It has always been my firm conviction that films should speak for themselves… our focus has always been to deliver the Hulk that people have been waiting for and keep the worldwide love affair with the big green guy going strong.”

Again, the green guy seems to have issues. How will the audience take to the new Hulk? We’ll find out in June.