News Around the Net!
At last! Our first glimpse at footage from Game of Thrones season three!
http://youtu.be/RzI9v_B4sxw
This is a very funny article: Six Horrible Aftermaths Implied by Movies with Happy Endings.
Here is a terrific, in-depth interview with the show-runner of the phenomenal Parks and Recreation, Mike Schur. It’s no coincidence that the first half-hour of last week’s Parks and Rec double-episode felt like it could have been a series finale — that’s because it was designed to have served as such, had NBC not ordered nine additional episodes for this season.
Kristen Wiig will be appearing in the new episodes of Arrested Development?? And she is playing a young version of Lucille Bluth? Brilliant!!
I just wrote about Layer Cake the other day, and I am excited that Matthew Vaughn — who also directed Kick Ass (click here for my review) and X-Men: First Class (click here for my review) — in addition to producing the next X-Men film (the adaptation of the seminal Days of Future Past that will be directed by Bryan Singer, returning at last to the franchise he began) has also signed on to produce Fox’s upcoming Fantastic Four film (which will thankfully be a total reboot, scrapping the two lame films directed by Tim Story). I love that crazy comic book writer Mark Millar (who wrote the comic book Kick Ass, which Mr. Vaughn directed as a film) will be overseeing Fox’s upcoming super-hero films (X-Men, Fantastic Four, etc.) and I really love that his frequent collaborator Mr. Vaughn also seems to be stepping into a larger supervisory role. It’s obvious that Fox is attempting to shamelessly imitate the success of Marvel Studio’s crossover Avengers film, but if it results in more great super-hero films for us, then I have no problem with that!
Speaking of Bryan Singer’s upcoming X-Men film, Days of Future Past, I really hope he’s serious about fixing what Brett Ratner did to the franchise in the catastrophically disappointing X3. If they’re playing around with time-travel and alternate timelines, this is a golden opportunity to at long-last course-correct this franchise back to what worked in the first two X-Men films. I home Mr. Singer can pull it off.
Sticking with super-hero movie news for a second, this is an interesting comparison of the Spidey-Suit in this past summer’s The Amazing Spider-Man and the far superior, re-designed look for the sequel. (And I agree with the author of that post — MY cooler of haterade for Marc Webb’s The Amazing Spider-Man ALSO runs deep! Here’s hoping the sequel is better.)
And here is an AWESOME look at Ben Kingsley in Iron Man 3! I am so excited that they are finally bringing the Mandarin into these films, and I love what I have seen so far of Sir Kingsley’s take.
Did Skyfall secretly reveal M’s real name? And a very Bond-girl name at that!
Click here to see Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker himself, who was the brilliant voice of the Joker for many years on Batman: The Animated Series) give his version of Heath Ledger’s Joker’s “Why so serious?” line!
I’m in a bit of a Battlestar Galactica mood, after reviewing Blood & Chrome last week. Here’s just the thing: TV critic Maureen Ryan (a huge BSG fan) revisits the controversial fourth season episode “Someone to Watch Over Me” (in which we sort of meet Starbuck’s father as a guy playing the piano at a bar who might have composed the “All Along the Watchtower” music) with the episode’s writers! The podcast is here. It’s pretty great.
I’m not sure I agree that these are really the 15 most intense teaser trailers from the last few decades… but those are some pretty great trailers, nonetheless. A fun diversion, if you’re looking to waste a little time. (I do love that Watchmen trailer, and I still remember getting my mind blown when I saw that very first teaser for the Lord of the Rings trilogy…)
The blu-ray releases of the first two seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation have been absolutely magnificent. (They appeared pretty high up on my list of the best DVDs and Blu-Rays of 2012!) Not just because of the gorgeous top-to-bottom HD restoration of the show, but also because of the spectacular bonus materials (created by Robert Meyer Burnett and Roger Lay, Jr.). I have not felt that ANY of the prior releases of ANY of the Trek films or TV shows on DVD had halfway decent bonus materials. But Next Gen, finally, has had the type of in-depth, feature-length documentaries that I have been waiting for, and it’s clear that this is because of the passion and skill of Mr. Burnett and Mr. Lay, both of whom clearly love Star Trek. TrekCore ran a phenomenal, lengthy interview with Mr. Burnett last month, and it made me more excited about Star Trek than I have been in years. Now they have started a new interview with Mr. Lay, and it’s a terrific read. Highly recommended for any Star Trek fan reading this!
Speaking of Star Trek: The Next Generation, this is a fantastic love-letter to Next Gen. (Thanks to my friend Aaron for sending this my way!)
But wait, I am not done talking about Star Trek: The Next Generation. Have I seen “The Best of Both Worlds” many, many times? Oh yes! (Part one of that seminal cliffhanger just might be the very best episode of Next Gen.) Will I be going to see the two episodes when they are shown together on the BIG SCREEN in April? OH YES!!
That’s all from me, for now. Hope to see you back here tomorrow!