The mo-cap Justice League picture is getting some heavy rumors that seem - well - out of its league.

First IESB.net claimed Smallville star Tom Welling would replace Brandon Routh as Superman in the CGI mo-cap spectacular. But Smallville creator Al Gough personally shot down that very rumor on Superman Homepage.com.

Then the rumor floodgates opened into a fever pitch. Happy Feet, Babe and Mad Max director George Miller is rumored to be the director. Laurence Fishburne, last seen as the Silver Surfer, is being considered for the Martian Manhunter, whose nefarious and genocidal enemies, the White Martians, are rumored to turn up. Also in the villain role, according to a madcap source, are superhero backer-turned-sinister agent Maxwell Lord of the organization Checkmate, Talia Al Ghul (daughter of Batman Begins baddie Ra’s), the One Man Army Corp, OMAC, and Darkseid.

The casting is now apparently including big names like Bruce Willis as Lex Luthor, Leonardo DiCaprio (possibly as Aquaman), Scarlett Johanssen as Talia, Jessica Biel (I’m guessing Wonder Woman) and Jake Gyllenhaal (maybe Barry Allen Flash) and possibly Mel Gibson as Max Lord.

The accompanying plot summary is far too complication and random for my taste, though it does draw from Infinite Crisis and Crisis and Infinite Earths a lot. This is something of a problem though - instead of building the momentum to these events, if the rumors are to be believed, the Justice League could just be trying to jump right into the thick of things.

With the make-and-break June deadline approaching, its tough to tell which of these rumors are clear-as-day developments and which are merely wishful thinking. I’ll tell you when the line becomes indefintely more solid, but at the very least, things are starting to get interesting.

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Ziggy Stardust will turn up on the hit BBC series, Doctor Who. Musician David Bowie will be playing . . . what else . . . but an alien. 

And like his character in Labyrinth, Bowie’s character appears to be at least somewhat morally questionable. Though the British newspaper The Sun held very little details, it did mention Bowie’s character will clash with David Tenant’s titular Doctor Who.

According to The Sun, “Bowie said he’d be interested as long as he’s not subjected to hours of disfiguring make-up.” This is no problem - Tenant’s Doctor Who is an alien as well, and looks completely normal save for his actor-spanning regenerative powers and two hearts-per-chest.

Bowie is far from the first musical muscle to grace the popular science fiction show. Pop singer Kylie Minogue is expected to appear in the series and former pop star Billie Piper gained an extraordinary following which rivaled even the Doctor playing companion Rose Tyler.

The two-part Doctor Who episode is expected to air sometime next year.

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While “Five-O” may have found a place in slang, its found no place in Tarantino’s heart. Apparently thinking the “Grindhouse” director would jump at the chance to do anything remotely vintage, studio execs offered Quentin Tarantino the chance to remake the tropical cop TV show “Hawaii Five-O” - and were immediately shot down.

In his own words, “My producing partner at the time Lawrence Bender was hanging out with some dude from Fox or Warners or whatever, and they said I should stop working on what I was doing, because I’d be so into this. I tried to watch the old TV show, but it sucks. I don’t even like Hawaii.”

What makes the story even more surreal is the fact that Tarantino can’t even remember what studio was. But the fact does show an important precendent for the endless stream of television show remakes - talent isn’t lining up to take the bait.

With the June strike locking up plenty of big names, Tarantino’s refusal definitely striles a blow to the remake production - though I doubt “Hawaii Five-O” would make for a much-awaited remake anyway.

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Now that it is being given a theatrical run, I would recommend taking advantage of seeing Exiled on the big screen. This is not only a terrific Hong Kong action film but easily one of the best films I’ve seen this year. Exiled has confirmed that Johnny To is one of Hong Kong’s best filmmakers with a film that is at least equal to the best of John Woo or Tsui Hark. If Exiled does recall a past master, that would be Sam Peckinpah, combining the elegiac feeling of The Wild Bunch with some of the sheer nuttiness of Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia.

The film is about two pairs of gangsters who use to be friends and now are with rival gangs. One of the pair is trying to kill Wo, another former friend, who had attempted to assassinate a mob boss. The other pair has shown up to protect Wo. After the rivals fail to shoot each other inside Wo’s home, it is suggested that they sit down and talk things out. That there is no furniture in Wo’s home is resolved when the rival gangsters show up with furniture, culminating in a “family” dinner of the five former friends with Wo’s wife and child. Read on »

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The complete list of films playing at the Toronto International Film Festival can be clicked on here. While the Telluride Film Festival takes place this weekend, it is the Toronto festival that is usually considered the launching pad for the award worthy films released this Fall and Winter. Among the more famed films introduced in Toronto were American Beauty and Brokeback Mountain.

Just the first day alone features Persepolis, Neil Jordan’s The Brave One starring Jodie Foster, Carlos Saura’s Fados and Dario Argento’s Mother of Tears. French New Wave veterans Eric Rohmer and Jacques Rivette have new films almost fifty years after leaving film criticism for filmmaking. The Coen Brothers’ No Country for Old Men and David Cronenberg’s Eastern Promises are also scheduled. Among the classic films to be screened are The Flower Drum Song and Jean Renoir’s Grand Illusion. Many of the films will get regular theatrical releases soon, but other films may be harder to see, either to be seen at art and indie theaters, DVD, or only on the film festival circuit. We will keep Screenhead readers informed about the hits and misses coming out of Toronto. The festival begins September 6.

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Its a painfully sparse and simple teaser. Virtually no visuals, save for the Bat-symbol and Joker card. So why does it work so damn well?

A couple reasons. First, I think the dialogue really establishes Dark Knight as a continuation of Batman Begins. Secondly, Michael Caine and Christian Bale sound just like we’d expect as Alfred and Bruce Wayne, and the grim prognosis places the story squarely in the Year One/Long Halloween story arc.

We’ve got a little less than a whole year before Dark Knight comes out, though rumors of a full trailer running in December have spun off clues on the websites. Until then, you can bet your Bat-signal I’m going to be watching this painfully small and simple teaser over and over and over again.

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How fast, you might ask? Well, let’s put it this way: they have no director and no script, and they’re already going before the cameras in March, given them a little over six months to piece together a script, find a director, a cast and then go to work.

The reason being is those infamous strikes we heard about earlier. This is more of a momentous challenge than it seems - scripting itself isn’t a one-shot game. Some might recall the G.I. Joe movie is in its third script incarnation - but Fast and the Furious 4 will have to nail it on the first try, with little or no re-writes, thanks to the WGA strike on the horizon.

There are, thankfully, an abundance of rumors swirling the Internet. Many of them place the action in Rio Janerio, Brazil. The car site Inside Line claims the project with reunite all past leads - Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Tyrese Gibson and Lucas Black.

But let’s think about this in the context of the strike - you at how swamped stars like Matt Damon from the first of next year from the June 31st deal dealine. While it might be relatively easy to get Paul Walker and Lucas Black, high-demand actors like Vin Diesel and especially Tyrese Gibson (hot off Transformers) might not be so easy.

Thus, while the crossover premises guarentees box office bucks and a good premise to work with, it creates another potential fiasco in the actor department. But given that this is one series probably immune to the franchise bubble, its a risk worth taking, especially given the cast of cars apparently slated, which include: a Dodge Charger, a new Dodge Challenger, the Chevrolet Opala and possibly a 1987 Buick GNX.

For better or worse, drivers, start your engines.

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The latest remake news is that Zach Snyder will be making a new film version of Ray Bradbury’s collection of short stories, The Illustrated Man. The film, as currently envisioned, will take several stories as told by a story teller with talking tatoos. There is no announcement regarding which of the short stories will be filmed.

One can only imagine that Snyder’s version will be an improvement over the previous film version made in 1969, and available on DVD. Starring Rod Steiger and his wife of the time, Claire Bloom, Steiger has even said that the 1969 Illustrated Man was one of the worse films of his career. Ray Bradbury’s original collection was published in 1951. It will be a couple of years before we see this new version on the screen as Snyder is currently preparing his production of Watchmen.

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David Goyer is a writer/director whose productions can go both ways. I’ve often suspected he’s a great collaborator, but not exactly a great stand-alone director.

Here’s the rundown of his resume:

The Good: Dark City (w/Alex Proyas), Blade (directed by Stephen Norrington), Blade II (directed by Guillermo Del Toro), Batman Begins (w/Christoper Nolan), Blade: The Series (w/Geoff Johns).

The Bad: Blade Trinity, Nick Fury: Agent of SHIELD, Kickboxer 2, Demonic Toys, Dollman vs. Demonic Toys.

The Ugly: The Puppet Masters, The Crow: City of Angels, Ghost Rider (executive producer).

Goyer has revealed some new facts to Wizard Magazine on more details of both his upcoming Magneto movie as well as the Green Arrow-in-Prison flick, Supermax.

Read on »

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Batman and Robin did more than stink at the box office. It blow the super-bubble. Every in-production superhero movie came to a crashing halt, as the rise of the supes sustained by the first Batman flick by Tim Burton suddenly and completely lost its footing.

For the past couple of years, I’ve been second-guessing myself as to just when that will happen for the current crop of super-flicks. And all my guestimations have passed by the wayside. I first thought Catwoman - a movie which far surpassed Batman and Robin in terms of  sheer gawdiness and took a far worse box office crunch (making only 40 million to its 100 million dollar production budget domestically). Surprisingly, they kept coming - I believe because of Troy, which skyrocketed the average budget and made 100 million dollars look like chump change.

In the wake of the box office record and predictions more sequels and three-quels are on the way, I have to question - if comic book flicks aren’t the fad, are franchises?

Read on »

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