Posts
Trek Books, ID4 Sequels, Best Worst Movie, Walking Dead, Battlefield Earth, Godzilla, PS3, DSi/DSi XL
New Cover For Classic Trek Novel
Speaking of the book schedule and the J.J. Abrams movie, Pocket Books were left with a significant hole in their 2010 schedule after Bad Robot respectfully asked them not to release the "Abrams-verse" sequel books scheduled for this summer. So Pocket decided to re-release some classic TNG books and they've revealed the new cover art for one of them:
Best Worst Movie Trailer
Okay, I'll admit it: I've never seen Troll 2. But after watching this trailer, I've added to the top of my Netflix queue. One of the stars of Troll 2 has created a documentary about the phenomenon surrounding the movie, which has been repeatedly named as the worst movie ever made. It looks like a fantastic documentary; check it out:
Frank Darabont (director of The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, and The Mist) recently pitched a zombie series to AMC based on the comic book "The Walking Dead" by Robert Kirkman and THEY ACTUALLY PICKED IT UP! Yep, that's right--the same network that brings you "Mad Men" and "Breaking Bad" is now going to produce a series about a zombie apocalypse! I'm really psyched about this one--read more about here.
Screenwriter Apologizes for Battlefield Earth
I thought this was absolutely hilarious; J.D. Shaprio, who wrote the adaptation of L. Ron Hubbard's Battlefield Earth (another movie vying for the title of worst movie ever made) wrote a column in the New York Post last week explaining how he came to write such a cinematic crapfest and offering a sincere apology to anyone that has had to sit through it. I actually feel sorry for the guy; sounds like he did his best but just got ran over by Travolta and the Scientology cult.
Godzilla Returns to U.S. Shores
Variety reports that Legendary Pictures has picked up the rights to Japanese company Toho Co.'s iconic character, Godzilla. I personally never thought Roland Emmerich's 1998 Godzilla movie was that bad, but then again, I'm something of an Emmerich apologist (except for 10,000 B.C.; there's no excuse for that mess). Still, I'm excited to see another U.S. Godzilla, especially if it means the destruction will be more rampant, as that seems to be the chief complaint about Emmerich's version. The plan appears to be to have the giant lizard back on the big screen by 2012 (hey, another Emmerich movie!).
No More Linux for Playstation 3 Owners
In a firmware update scheduled for tomorrow, April 1, Sony will be removing the ability to run your PS3 with a different OS--and no, it's not an April Fool's joke. This unusual ability was actually already removed when the newer PS3 "slim" model came out but it was still supported on older models. Sony claims that "security" breaches are to blame for the removal of the feature. That sounds like a big "duh" to me; could they not have anticipated security problems when they included this feature from the get-go? Now there are labs and universities across the globe that will find themselves with a pile of useless PS3s (many researchers, including the U.S. military, were using PS3s as a cheap way to build powerful computing clusters). Of course, if any of those labs is looking for a place to dump those PS3s, they're welcome to give me a call...
DSiWare Transfers = No
In a not unexpected but still shockingly ridiculous move, Nintendo announced that anyone who purchased DSiWare content for their DSi but then upgraded to the newly released DSi XL will have to re-purchase that content. The widely accepted standard for digital content is that if you paid to download that content once, you own it and have the right to re-download it again (maybe not infinitely but at least more than once). The fact that Nintendo continues to tie their digital content to the particular console is insulting. I've had my own issues with this policy, as my Wii was stolen in December, along with all of the Virtual Console and WiiWare games I had downloaded. My Xbox 360 was stolen as well and once I replaced it, I was able to quickly retrieve my Gamertag and all of my downloads and accomplishments. How about the Wii? Nope--that stuff is gone for good. I hope they change their mind on this before the 3DS and the successor to the Wii arrive on the market.
Wii HD, Heidi Montag Movie, Paranormal Activity 2, Iron Man 2 Clip
Wii HD
No, Nintendo still hasn't announced a new Wii system but a company called VDIGI is now selling an upscaler that will convert your Wii's output to high-definition. On its own, the Wii outputs in a crappy maximum of 480p but the "VD-W3 Wii HDMI Upscaler Processor" promises to convert that signal to a full 1080p. Sounds impressive, right? Here's the thing, though: Wii games aren't designed to be 1080p so you can't just plug this thing in and expect for "Mario Kart" to suddenly look like a PS3 game. At most, it's just going to clean the image and make it a little smoother. But here's the other thing: if you have a HDTV, odds are it's already trying to upscale your Wii output.
Heidi Montag Has a Killer Rack
Yeah, I know...why the hell am I covering Heidi Montag on a geek blog? Well, it turns out that Ms. Montag fancies herself a movie mogul now and has even written (!) her first movie. That's right, she wrote a movie! Heidi tells People magazine, "I am making the first 3-D beach comedy about a shark that attacks a small beach town and I save the day with my 3-D boobs." Now, if SyFy were to turn this into one of their great SyFy Originals cheesefests, I would totally watch it. But there's no way I'm paying $13 at a theater to see that plastic bimbo run around in 3D. I'll be shocked it the thing gets made anyway...
Paranormal Activity 2 Has a Director
First of all, let me just say that making a sequel to Paranormal Activity is just about the stupidest idea I've ever heard. But, the first one was cheap and it made a ton of money, so that's just the way things work in Hollywoodland. There were some big names floating around for this sequel (Brian DePalma, Akiva Goldsman) which, frankly, scared me even more. DePalma may be a legend but if you're gonna sequelize Paranormal Activity, you don't want the sequel to be a slick, stylized production (*cough* *cough* The Blair Witch Project 2 *cough*). Well, thankfully, they've hired an unknown named Kip Williams. I still think this is a disaster waiting to happen but maybe this guy can bring a bit of an original spin to it. We'll see.
Iron Man 2 Clip Online
The BBC's "Top Gear" show has an exclusive Iron Man 2 clip/making-of film on their website. It's not much but if you're as excited about this movie as I am, anything counts.
Happy Birthday, Leonard Nimoy!
And, finally, I want to wish a happy belated birthday to Mr. Spock himself. Yesterday, Mr. Nimoy celebrated his 79th birthday. Live long and prosper!
Captain America, Avengers, & Nintendo 3DS News
Since this is the first official post on the blog, I'm playing catch-up just little bit. This is all news that broke earlier in the week but, hey, you know what they say--better late than never.
Chris Evans is "Captain America"
Marvel made it official on Sunday; they'd offered the part to Chris Evans on Friday and he'd accepted over the weekend. The internet is abuzz with positive feedback on this casting but I'm not entirely convinced. It'll be hard to say until we see some footage down the line. Sure, Evans looks the part but I'm not convinced he can pull off the confident swagger than you need from Captain America. Not to mention the fact that he's already played a Marvel superhero; has everyone forgotten that he was Johnny Storm in Fantastic Four and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer? Yes, I know the FF rights are all tied up at Fox right now so those movies don't tie into these new Avengers set-up movies but, still, it bugs me.
Louis Leterrier Wants to Direct "Avengers"
Speaking of the Avengers, Incredible Hulk and Clash of the Titans director Louis Leterrier is now officially on the shortlist to direct the forthcoming Avengers movie. While the obvious choice would be Iron Man director Jon Favreau, it's not gonna happen. Favreau already took himself out of the running, leaving Thor director Kenneth Branagh (yikes!), Captain America director Joe Johnston, and now Louis Leterrier. Or Marvel could just go outside the box and hire a new director altogether. I'm go out on a limb here and say that the best person for the job would be Johnston. Looking at his resume, I think his directing style fits best in the Avengers world and I'm pretty optimistic that Captain America is going to turn out well (despite my reservations about the casting). Leterrier is a great action director, so I'm not gonna be upset if he does land the job but I'm gunning for Johnston.
Nintendo Announces the 3DS
Out of the blue on Monday, Nintendo issued a press release announcing that they were developing a new handheld console which, despite its temporary name, is not just another version of the 5-year-old Nintendo DS. The 3DS will feature (you guessed it) 3D graphics and will be backwards compatible with all Nintendo DS games. That's about all that Nintendo had to say about it but leaks are saying that the system uses a Nvidia chipset, features rumble feedback, and an analog control stick. There's also speculation that a new 3D screen technology from Sharp may be present in the 3DS.
So what do I think? So far I'm underwhelmed. Obviously, there's not a lot to go on here but with the Nintendo DS already the best-selling handheld in history with a slew of different versions available (including the new DSi XL which goes on sale this Sunday), I couldn't care less about a new Nintendo handheld right now, 3D or not. What we really need to here from Nintendo is what they're going to do to follow-up on the Wii. The novelty has worn and the list of great titles for the system has dwindled. With Sony & Microsoft gearing up for Playstation Move and Project Natal, Nintendo needs to beat them to market with some kind of announcement, at least. I'm guessing we'll hear something before the end of the year and in the meantime, Nintendo is promising to have the 3DS fully playable at this year's E3 conference in June.
There's a cool YouTube video floating around that shows what the 3DS might be like. It's a new Japan-only DSiWare game that uses the DSi's inner camera to track movement and give the appearance of 3D. It's pretty freaky and, yes, it is kinda cool: