News Around the Net

Did you enjoy the new Hobbit trailer I posted last week?  If you haven’t seen them, here are all of the other alternate endings to that trailer.

Uh oh.  Looks like Rise of the Planet of the Apes director Rupert Wyatt has dropped out of work on the sequel, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, apparently because Fox is rushing the film to meet the release date the studio had chosen.  This is not a good sign.

This past weekend, on the eve of Treme’s season 3 premiere came the good news/bad news that HBO had renewed the show for a fourth and final season (four seasons was apparently David Simon’s ideal length for the run of the show), albeit a shortened season.  The exact length of this shortened fourth season, what Mr. Simon refers to as “season 3.5,” is TBD.  I’m bummed the show couldn’t swing a full final season, but I’m thrilled that HBO is at least giving Mr. Simon and his team some episodes to bring their television masterpiece to a conclusion of their choosing.

Well,  now I know why Robot Chicken did a DC Comics special this year, rather than a fourth Star Wars one.  It’s because Seth Green and many of the rest of the Robot Chicken gang are working on a whole new Star Wars parody show, Star Wars Detours. This first trailer is funny, though I’m not sure why this is a whole new show and not just more Robot Chicken…

Speaking of Star Wars, it looks like Episode II and Episode III will be getting a 3-D theatrical re-release in 2013.  I sat out the Episode I re-release (I must admit I was a little tempted, but that film is just so bad I couldn’t see spending the money, even though I was curious about the look of the 3-D), and I’m not that much more interested in seeing Episode II. But seeing Episode III back on the big screen, and in 3-D?  That just might have my ticket.  But I am really waiting to see if they re-release the Original Trilogy.  Any excuse to see those films on the big screen again is exciting for me, no matter how much new digital fiddling Mr. Lucas and his minions have done…

This is an interesting list of the Top 5 Best-Acted Moments in a Steven Spielberg Film.  I definitely agree with numbers 5, 4, and 1, not so sure about 3 and 2…

I was already interested in Judd Apatow’s new film, This is 40, and this interview with Robert Smigel and Albert Brooks, both of whom are appearing in the film, has me even more excited.  This is a great interview, check it out.

As I’ve been drawing all of these Dark Knight Rises comics over the past few weeks, I’ve been thinking a lot about the film.  Unfortunately, the more I think about the movie, the more I’m disappointed by it.  I’d been thinking about writing another piece about the film, but then I read this assessment and realized that this guy made all my points for me.  Check out: How a Severe Lack of Cause and Effect Undoes All That is Good About The Dark Knight Rises.

Batman: The Animated Series is twenty years old???  Holy cow, I feel old.  I absolutely ADORE that show, and I believe it is the definitive version of Batman from ANY media (including film, TV, and comic books).  From the same blog as the above DKR piece come a series of blogs about the greatness of Batman: TAS. Check out Celebrating the Legacy of Batman: The Animated Series 20 Years Later: Why Batman: TAS is Still the Best as well as his list of his ten favorite episodes from the show’s run.  I wrote my own list of my very favorites episodes of Batman: The Animated Series a few years ago — click here to read my list.  Just mentioning this show makes me nostalgic for it — might be time for me to bust out my DVDs to re-watch a few of my favorite episodes…

Drew at Hitfix has a hysterical (and a little sad) review of Terrence Malick’s upcoming film To The Wonder.  After having spent some time recently watching Mr. Malick’s films (as two examples, click here for my review of Tree of Life and here for my review of The Thin Red Line) I’d bet Mr. McWeeny is right on the money on this one.

Lastly, let me end with two great articles by Devin from badassdigest.com.  The first is his list of the 10 Best Moments in Star Trek history.  It’s a terrific essay and a pretty spectacular list, and I really can’t object to any of his choices.  (In particular, his choices for  number 5 and numbers 3 through 1 are absolutely perfect.)

The second is Devin’s piece about why We Need to Reboot the MPAA, along with his proposals for the structure that a new, revamped movie ratings system might follow.  It’s a well-reasoned, thought-provoking piece, and well-worth your time.  (Let me also add that if you’ve never seen Kirby Dick’s 2006 documentary about the MPAA’s rating system, entitled This Film is Not Yet Rated, you need to track down that film RIGHT NOW.  It is incredible.)

See you back here tomorrow!