Marvel News Galore

• "Of course Marvel is always open to looking at ways to work with 'The Incredible Hulk,' but there is currently no script in development" even though according to Marvels site a script is in the works. And Tim Roth (Abomination in the last film) is very interested in working with director Louis Leterrier again as is Tim Blake Nelson. Roth right now is set to be in at least 2 more movies as Abomination.
• George Clooney is Dr. Strange? Maybe. Director Ridley Scott (Alien), George Clooney and a representative from Marvel were seen doing lunch earlier this week. Can we expect an amazing Dr. Strange movie? Hopefully.
• Many fans were disappointed to hear that the Thor movie was going to be set ONLY in the mythic world of Asgard, thus ruining the bridge between Thor and The Avengers. Now the next part gets a little geeky. To bridge this Dr. Donald Blake will be placed near the end of the movie. Blake is currently in the comics, the modern day Thor. Apparently Blake will find Thor's hammer and read the inscription on the side thus becoming the member of the Avengers we all love.
• Mickey Rourke and Sam Rockwell have been cast in Iron Man 2. Rourke would play a tattooed Russian heavy named Ivan who becomes Whiplash, a man with deadly, technologically enhanced coils. And Rockwell would play Tony Starks multi-billion dollar business rival Justin Hammer.
• Sam Rami, director of the Evil Dead's and in this case Spider-Man 1-3, has come out with his preference for the next Spider-Man villain. "I like it in the Marvel comics when Spider-Man fights Morbius" says Raimi. "Hes really cool. A vampire! I like that combination of superhero plus supernatural". Well he did do Evil Dead...but more likely is The Lizard or even maybe The Vulture. As http://www.comicbookmovie.com/ points out though, Rami didn't want Venom in Spider-Man 3 and remember how terrible that became? Venom is a badass character too, he deserved his own movie...still...

What happens when you combine 3 of the biggest action stars of all time?

You get The Expendables. Jason Statham, Jet Li, and Sylvester Stallone are all set to star in the Stallone directed flick. In my opinion Statham is the only one who's made anything decent as of late and Li and Stallone have hit a rough patch with their last movies. This sounds exciting because the movie features a team (of men all from different countries) hired to overthrow a South American dictator. Assuming they play to the different action stars strengths this could be good...or a train wreck.

Alice In Wonderland News

- Christopher Lee was cast in the the movie. Slashfilm.com speculated that he would either The Caterpillar, King of Hearts, or The White Knight. Sounds good to me. While I would like to see him play the Caterpillar, I know that he has the most experience as rather Royal figures so King of Hearts is a good bet.

- Danny Elfman (probably the biggest composer ever...behind John Williams) also announced his involvement in the score for the film.

-Crispin Glover was cast as the Knave of Hearts. You would recognize him from Charlie Angles...and...Beowulf as Grendel... Kidding aside he looks the part so it seems like a good call.

-Obviously old news, but Johnny Depp is the Mad Hatter. Really enough said.

- Matt Lucas was cast as Tweedledee and Tweedledum. Again like Glover, not a name but certainly looks the park.

- Anne Hathaway was cast as the White Queen. This is type casting. C'mon, branch out. Do more things like Rachel Getting Married (review coming up soon). While she will be good, I wish she would stop with the princess/queen roles.

- In the least shocking casting news Tim Burtons wife Helena Bonham Carter was cast as the Red Queen. She's a good actress, but it just upsets me when she is cast in EVERY ONE of Burton's films.

Daniel Craig is so naive

C'mon. I love him. You love him. We ALL love Daniel Craig. The actor single handily...well he probably had help...but kinda single handily saved the Bond franchise and turned it into something that gritty, dark and exciting. Empire Magazine (a British Film magazine) published their review of Quantum of Solace saying -

"A pacy, visually imaginative follow-up. If it doesn't even try to be bigger than Casino Royale, that’s perhaps a smart move in that there’s still a sense at the end that Bond’s mission has barely begun and he’ll need a few more movies to work his way up to destroying the apparently undefeatable Quantum organisation. The only real caveat is that while it’s exciting, it’s not exactly anyone’s idea of fun. To keep in the game, perhaps the next movie could let the hero enjoy himself a bit more. "

Great news right? The movie is good. They gave it 4 stars out of 5 which is a relatively decent score from Empire. Daniel Craig announced that, despite his contract for 2 more movies, may tap out early. The actor is apparently unsure in this next film saying

"I did sign on for four so a piece of paper says there are two more to do," said Craig "But let's see how this one goes. In the film business, everything doesn't always go according to plan. We'll wait and see. If it goes wrong, we'll have to rethink things.

Whatever. Quantum of Solace is going to be big. Not Casino Royale big, but big none the less. By questioning that it's not going to do well makes me less excited.

What do you think of this story? Is Craig an idiot or simply trying to save his career? Comment on the story!

Brett Ratner's Career Found In Toilet

I'm kidding but seriously Brett Ratner ruins things. He makes bad movies and for some reason continually tries to kill excitement for people that like going to the theater. If you remember a couple of weeks ago, he announced that he was interested in Guitar Hero: The Movie. He also wanted to direct God of War the Movie. First of all, Video Game movies do NOT fare well with anyone. WHY WHY WHY would you want to make video game movies then? Let good, established directors take care of ruining their careers because Brett Ratner has already done that many times. X-Men 3 is not a terrible movie in the slightest, but it is MUCH worse than the previous installments. Remember when he did Rush Hour 1, 2 AND 3. I unfortunately do. Family Man? After the Sunset? No.

The point of this story is not to bash on Ratner at all (even though it's a lot a fun). This week he was rumored to direct a Conan the Barbarian movie. No one is a bigger supporter of that than me... minus the part where he was rumored to direct. Conan is a cool IP and, if given to the right director, could turn out awesome. If Ratner gets his hands on this...*shudder*...I Choose not to think about it.

Big Day For News If You Have Abs, Save Third-World Countries and are Married to Angelina Jolie

Yes. Brad Pitt everyone. He's appeared several times in movie news today. First off, remember Troy? Ya, you might have heard of it. Pitt has had his name attached to The Odyssey. This should hopefully keep the series even, and of all the bad parts of Troy and Pitt wasn't one of them.

This picture found at the link below(http://www.empireonline.com/gallery/image.asp?id=30142&caption=&gallery=2103) was released for Quentin Tarantino's WWII film Inglourious Basterds (spelled wrong intentionally). The movie focuses on 8 Jewish-American soldiers known as "the Bastards". If Tarantino's name is on it, you know it's going be somewhat credible regardless of plot.

"Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game", a book about the Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane has been set to be written as a theoretical role for Pitt. Could this be his potential Oscar? One can only hope...Benjamin Button can't come any sooner.

Good News for Geeks

I love video games. I love movies. I do NOT love video game movies. They are terrible and generally disqualify video games. Max Payne is a movie I'm excited for despite it's video game back story. If your a geek, stay after the credits. It'll be work your while.

A game I do not endorse is World of Warcraft. I was never able to get into it, which I feel makes me slightly less geeky than those that do. The game is wildly popular though so this news may excite you.

"There are still plans for a World of Warcraft movie," said President Mike Morhaime. "The script is being written but if they say anything more than that they will be shot."

The plot is said to overview growing tentions between different factions in the WoW universe. Sounds...mildly intresting.

Another thing too geeky for me would be Star Trek. JJ Abrams is a director/producer I respect enough to allow me to buy into the series. This Entertainment Weekly cover (released tommorow) has some neat details. I'd check it out.