Ernie, start the reactor

Wizards owner Abe Pollin has seen better days. But on the brighter side he does have his own organs, unlike his doppelganger from Total Recall.

Full scenes from Watchmen

The hookers and politicians will look up and shout "Save us!" And I'll whisper "No."






I feel fear for the last time


And he is American.




I haven't had this much fun since Woodrow and Bernstein


Smartest man on the cinder








Tales of the Black Freighter trailer

Another freaking list

Empire Magazine has released their list of the 100 greatest movie characters of all time, and it's not a bad list. My grievances are the omissions of Colonel Nicholson as portrayed by Alec Guinness in The Bridge on the River Kwai, and Terry Malloy as portrayed by Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront. Characters I'm not a huge fan of that are on the list are Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell in the Escape... movies), White Goodman (Ben Stiller in Dodgeball), and Donnie Darko.

100. Martin Riggs - Lethal Weapon 1-4

99. Hal-9000 - 2001: A Space Odyssey

98. Charles Foster Kane - Citizen Kane

97. Clarice Starling - The Silence Of The Lambs

96. Ethan Edwards - The Searchers

95. Freddy Krueger - A Nightmare On Elm Street 1-6, Wes Craven's New Nightmare

94. Buzz Lightyear - Toy Story 1 & 2

93. Martin Q. Blank - Grosse Pointe Blank

92. Randal Graves - Clerks

91. Scarlett O'Hara - Gone With The Wind

90. The Wicked Witch Of The West - The Wizard Of Oz

89. Princess Leia Organa - Star Wars Episode IV-VI

88. Jessica Rabbit - Who Framed Roger Rabbit

87. Dracula - Dracula

86. Roy Batty - Blade Runner

85. Vincenzo Coccotti - True Romance

84. Agent Smith - The Matrix, The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions

83. Mr. Blonde - Reservoir Dogs

82. Marv - Sin City

81. Wolverine - X-Men, X-Men 2, X-Men: The Last Stand

80. Norman Bates - Psycho

79. Boba Fett - The Empire Strikes Back, Return Of The Jedi

78. Axel Foley - Beverly Hills Cop

77. Ed - Shaun Of The Dead

76. Dr. Emmett Brown - Back To The Future 1-3

75. Marge Gunderson - Fargo

74. E.T. - The Extra-Terrestrial

73. Jack Torrance - The Shining

72. V - V for Vendetta

71. Snake Plissken - Escape From New York, Escape From L.A.

70. Atticus Finch - To Kill A Mockingbird

69. Keyser Soze - The Usual Suspects

68. Napolean Dynamite - Napolean Dynamite

67. Frank Booth - Blue Velvet

66. The Bride - Kill Bill Vol. 1 & 2

65. White Goodman - Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story

64. Withnail - Withnail & I

63. Wall-E - Wall-E

62. Mathilda - Leon

61. R.P. McMurphy - One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

60. Ace Ventura - Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls

59. Tommy Devito - Goodfellas

58. Rick Blaine - Casablanca

57. Brick Tamland - Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy

56. Juno MacGuff - Juno

55. Lt. Frank Drebin - The Naked Gun

54. Luke Skywalker - Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, Return Of The Jedi

53. Luke - Cool Hand Luke

52. George Bailey - It's A Wonderful Life

51. Mal Reynolds - Serenity

50. Quint - Jaws

49. Walter Sobchak - The Big Lebowski

48. Tony Stark - Iron Man

47. Blade - Blade, Blade II, Blade: Trinity

46. Anton Chigurh - No Country For Old Men

45. Amelie Poulain - Amelie

44. Peter Venkman - Ghostbusters

43. The Man With No Name - The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

42. Alex DeLarge - A Clockwork Orange

41. Mary Poppins - Mary Poppins

40. Patrick Bateman - American Psycho

39. Marty McFly - Back to The Future 1-3

38. Donnie Darko - Donnie Darko

37. Edward Scissorhands - Edward Scissorhands

36. Harry Potter - Harry Potter 1-6

35. Maximus Decimus Meridius - Gladiator

34. Rocky Balboa - Rocky 1-6

33. Tequila - Hard Boiled

32. Jason Bourne - The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, The Bourne Ultimatum

31. Aragorn - The Lord of the Rings Trilogy

30. Jigsaw - Saw 1-5

29. Daniel Plainview - There Will Be Blood

28. Gandalf - The Lord of the Rings Trilogy

27. Tony Montana - Scarface

26. Ron Burgundy - Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy

25. Yoda - The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi

24. Ash - Evil Dead I, II & Army of Darkness

23. Harry Callahan - Dirty Harry

22. Ellis 'Red' Redding - The Shawshank Redemption

21. Michael Corleone - The Godfather Parts I-III

20. Forrest Gump - Forrest Gump

19. Jules Winnfield - Pulp Fiction

18. Travis Bickle - Taxi Driver

17. Hans Gruber - Die Hard

16. Neo - The Matrix, The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions

15. Ferris Bueller - Ferris Bueller's Day Off

14. The Terminator - The Terminator, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines

13. Gollum - The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The Return of the King

12. John McClane - Die Hard 1-4

11. James Bond - Goldfinger

10. Vito Corleone - The Godfather

9. Ellen Ripley - Alien 1-4

8. Captain Jack Sparrow - Pirates Of The Caribbean 1-3

7. The Dude - The Big Lebowski

6. Indiana Jones - Indiana Jones 1-4

5. Dr. Hannibal Lecter - The Silence Of The Lambs, Hannibal, Red Dragon

4. Han Solo - Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, Return Of The Jedi

3. The Joker - The Dark Knight

2. Darth Vader - Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jed, Revenge of the Sith

1. Tyler Durden - Fight Club

New Watchmen trailer

Oh. Snap.

I was checking out the reviews for Righteous Kill last night, and one line gave me a pretty big chuckle.

As people have been saying lately, you can't put lipstick on a pig. This movie shouldn't star DeNiro and Pacino. It should star Corey Haim and Corey Feldman.

I've been waiting 20 years to post this cover

It was inevitable for someone to post shots from the Watchmen trailer next to the corresponding graphic novel panels, and Ropesofsilicon did the heavy lifting.

Looks like they made the cover of EW, not quite the classic lineup picture though. There's a great cover story with the first legitimate details I've seen and a look back with Moore and Gibbons.

Slashfilm has the details on a ET homage thanks to an odd MPAA stipulation.

Patrick Wilson implies that the movie will end like the comic, as if there was any doubt. (Okay, I had a little doubt.)

Watchmen trailer is online, awesome

Looks like it's not on Youtube anymore, but here it is in HD on Apple. Also, here are the lyrics for The End is the Beginning is the End by Smashing Pumpkins (I love to do that) which is playing in the background.

9 days to go

Just a week and a half until the release of one of the most anticipated movies of all time, a movie I predicted months ago would place in the top five of all time grossers. The early reviews of The Dark Knight have been gushing. From Variety:

An ambitious, full-bodied crime epic of gratifying scope and moral complexity, this is seriously brainy pop entertainment that satisfies every expectation raised by its hit predecessor and then some.

From The Rolling Stone:

The haunting and visionary Dark Knight soars on the wings of untamed imagination.

The cast is absolutely stacked. Heath Ledger (1 Academy Awards nomination), Michael Caine (six nominations, two wins), Morgan Freeman (four nominations, one win), and Eric Roberts (one nomination) bring the hardware, and it's shocking that Gary Oldman isn't on this list. Katie Holmes has been thankfully replaced by the less culty Maggie Gyllenhaal. And I truly expect Christian Bale to emerge as one of the biggest stars in Hollywood over the next calender year.

The Dark Knight that got away

Spill's got Michael Bay's rejected script for The Dark Knight, and it's outstanding. My two favorite excerpts:

We pan to a beautiful woman: platinum blonde with a huge rack. She is the hottest woman in the world, but she wears glasses because she is also the smartest woman in the world.

and

JOKER unleashes an all-out barrage of missiles, like the biggest fucking missiles you will ever see. BATMAN shoots his own back, and they collide into each other in the middle of the highway releasing a violent explosion, and then, an explosion within that explosion. Afterward: one last explosion, this time in slow motion, with tanks flying out of it.

My City Screams

I'm amped for The Spirit, largely because it's the legitimate directorial debut of Frank Miller. It's slated for a Christmas release according to the slick official website. If there was a Mount Rushmore of comic books heroes in the 1940s, the faces of Superman, Batman, Captain Marvel (AKA Shazam!), and The Spirit would be carved.

This just got real

I saw this hilarious Michael Bay montage, which was posted on DVDTalk in response to the fact that Bay's production company is remaking Rosemary's Baby. Early word is that it will parallel the first ten minutes of the original followed by 90 minutes of baby blowing shit up. I see dollar signs.

OK this looks funny

I just got done reading a description of Ben Stiller's next movie, Tropic Thunder. Apparently, he plays an action star who gets dropped off in Vietnam jungle with Jack Black and Robert Downey, Jr. thinking that they're filming a movie. Jack Black is playing an Eddie Murphy type actor, as in one who typically plays multiple roles in a single movie, and Robert Downey, Jr. is playing a black guy, perhaps one from the Keith David mold. The trailer is set to drop March 17, according to EW. My favorite line from the article:

Stiller plays an action hero who has just adopted a baby from Asia but worries that ''all the good ones are gone.''

Also, Comingsoon.net has pics up of the Watchmen heroes in costume, and it looks pretty convincing. This movie is such a big deal I can't even describe it. It bears repeating: it's the only comic on Time's top 100 novels list. It's there next to staples of literature. Of Mice and Men isn't on the list and Watchmen is.

Like Semi Pro, only funny

The new trailer for Step Brothers is up, Will Ferrell's next movie after Semi-Pro, and it looks pretty funny. John C. Reilly needs to be in every Will Ferrell movie. It's directed by Adam McKay, who directed Ron Burgundy and Talladega Nights, Ferrell's two best movies, in my opinion.

I hope Christian Bale never stops making awesome movies

When Christian Bale was tabbed for the role of Batman for Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins, I was cautiously optimistic. I knew him best from American Psycho and Spielberg's Empire of the Sun, in which Bale was 13. American Psycho wasn't my type of movie, but Bale clearly had acting chops. Batman Begins was one of the great superhero movies of all time, and since then Bale has starred in one fantastic movie after another. The Prestige and 3:10 to Yuma in particular were as good as anything released the last two years. And I'm chomping at the bit for The Dark Knight.

His next three movies: Public Enemies, about John Dillinger, Pretty Boy Floyd, and other OGs; Killing Pablo, starring Javier Bardem as Pablo Escobar; and Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins, a possible second trilogy for which he recently landed the role of John Connor. Bale lends instant credibility to the revitalized franchise, which hopefully can avoid comparisons to the Star Wars prequels.

Prince's parties do not suck

When I heard Kevin Frasier mention on the Dan Patrick Show that Prince had dancers in his wine cellar at his Oscar party, I just assumed I misheard (or perhaps Frasier misremembered). But apparently that's how Prince rolls. There were eight viewing stations set up for girls in various states of undress in various themes, such as strip club, motorcycle, and a changing room. This upstaged Michael Jackson's Oscar party sponsored by Toys 'R Us and Osh Kosh B'Gosh.

Why so serious?

Great homemade Lego video from Youtube. I just hope Warner doesn't make them take it down.

Truck? What truck?

The trailer for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is now live. It is impossible not to smile while watching it. This is The Dark Knight's biggest competition at the box office in 2008, as both movies could end up being among the top ten grossers ever.

The day in commercials

Two commercials stood out for me as being excellent, and one stood out for being awful. The Audi commercial spoofing The Godfather was brilliant. I've seen it at least 20 times, so as soon as they showed the establishing shot of Jack Wolfe's mansion I instantly said "The Godfather." But I do realize there are people who can't replay that movie in their head at will who may not find it as amusing. The other commercial that I'm still buzzing about is the trailer for Wanted, starring Angelina Jolie and James McAvoy, and directed by Timur Bekmambetov. That mouthful also directed the Night Watch trilogy, high octane vampire movies.

The worst commercial by far is the incredibly racist Salesgenie panda commercial. I mean, wow, how the hell did they let that on the air but GoDaddy has to tone their commercial down. The only thing that could have made it worse was if they ran a laundromat instead of a furniture store.

The most hyped movie ever?

It's very sad that Heath Ledger, a talented 28 year old actor and father of a two year old girl, passed away yesterday. It's foolish and pointless to provide conjecture over what caused his death, but I'm going to focus on his final project, and the unimaginable buildup that is sure to come. The Dark Knight was already being on it's way to becoming one of the most hyped movies ever, and now there will be this macabre pall over the release, bringing out the curious along with the fanboys.

The Crow would be a forgettable movie, were it not for the accidental gunshot death of it's lead actor, Brandon Lee, son of martial arts legend Bruce Lee. It would have to be considered a box office success, though, as well as in terms of rentals. Other movies associated with tragedy on set are Twilight Zone: The Movie and Apocalypse Now. Apocalypse Now managed to be of enough quality for the production issues to be a footnote, but Twilight Zone is primarily known for the three actors who died during production.

Apocalypse Now is a great movie, despite the difficulties encountered during filming. The Dark Knight hasn't really run into any apparent problems during filming, so Ledger's death shouldn't have an effect on the quality of the film. It will certainly have an effect on the way it is marketed, however. Although Warner would never come out and say it, but it's possible that there will be overtones of "the role that killed Heath Ledger" in advertising, no matter the autopsy findings. Or they could deemphasize Ledger in trailers and print, much like Miramax did in promoting Bad Santa with John Ritter. Ritter played a sizable role in the black comedy, although certainly not a lead like Ledger, but wasn't featured in trailers.

But the billion dollar question is whether or not this movie will gross a billion dollars. This movie was receiving the best promotion money can buy, and just received promotion you can't buy. When the Super Bowl ads roll, and you see however much of an unhinged Ledger that Warner decides to show, there is going to be an atmosphere around this movie that no one has ever seen. It isn't unreasonable to think The Dark Knight beats out Titanic ($600 million domestic). I'll guarantee it beats out Spider-Man for the all time comic book box office haul ($404 million). I will go so far as set the over/under for where it ranks all time in the all time box office at third.

Stone to direct Bush biopic

This one's for real, folks. Oliver Stone is set to direct a biopic about our current two term leader of the free world, starring James Brolin. Stone has already directed to eponymous presidential movies in JFK and Nixon, both of which are decent flicks. This one will obviously have more in common with Nixon on multiple levels.

"I want a fair, true portrait of the man. How did Bush go from an alcoholic bum to the most powerful figure in the world? It's like Frank Capra territory on one hand, but I'll also cover the demons in his private life, his bouts with his dad and his conversion to Christianity, which explains a lot of where he is coming from. It includes his belief that God personally chose him to be president of the United States, and his coming into his own with the stunning, preemptive attack on Iraq. It will contain surprises for Bush supporters and his detractors."