Cross has been an international best seller for writing machine James Patterson and now we have the first trailer for the film adaptation, coming October 19. The film stars Tyler Perry, Edward Burns, Rachel Nichols, and Jean Reno and was directed by Rob Cohen, who conscripted the adaptation with Marc Moss and Kerry Williamson.
The official synopsis reads: ALEX CROSS follows the young homicide detective/psychologist (Tyler Perry), from the worldwide best-selling novels by James Patterson, as he meets his match in a serial killer (Matthew Fox). The two face off in a high-stakes game of cat and mouse, but when the mission gets personal, Cross is pushed to the edge of his moral and psychological limits in this taut and exciting action thriller.
It’s the team of the decade – maybe 1972? Danny Bonaduce from THE PARTRIDGE FAMILY joins with Barry Williams from THE BRADY BUNCH and they set their sights on BIGFOOT. It’s a new SyFy Original movie premiering Saturday at 9pm ET. Barry & Danny talk about the film, the teen years and that famous boxing match from a few years ago. Meanwhile, Marvel’s next movie hopes are in GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY and…THE HUMAN FLY?
Marvel Studios is expected to announce the highly anticipated Guardians of the Galaxy movie at Comic-Con International. The film, according to Latino Review, will be their second 2014 release, completing a roster of films now dubbed Phase Two.
The time- and star-spanning team was first created by Arnold Drake and Gene Colan, appearing in the try-out title Marvel Super-Heroes #18 (January 1969). While never earning a title of their own, they went on to be recurring guest stars in a variety of titles all through the 1970s.
Under writers Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, a new incarnation of the Guardians have been a focal point of their cosmic stories, beginning in the Annihilation: Conquest stories. That particular cycle of stories ended a year or so back, paving the way for a new cycle, expected to be written by Brian Michael Bendis.
The new cycle of stories was teased with the arrival on Earth of Nova in the pages of Avengers vs. X-Men #1 followed by his digital exclusive story.
Meantime, Marvel has been registering domain names and laying claim to Guardian trademarks in a wide variety of merchandise, tipping their hands that such a feature was in development. It was even mentioned as one of several second tier properties being considered for later this decade but clearly it was a feint.
Marvel Comics has mastered the slow news leak, providing tips and nods in a certain direction, leading up to the not-so-surprising news announcement. You can trace this back to Joe Quesada badmouthing Peter Parker’s marriage to Mary Jane Watson at least a year before the eventual One More Day storyline that altered the Marvel reality.
Over the last few months, Marvel has been teasing that things are about to take a dramatic turn as one creative team after another have announced wrapping up storylines and paving the way for a freshening of the Marvel Universe. Several Thanos titles were announced for this September including two by Jim Starlin the character’s creator.
With The Avengers completing Phase One, the second cycle of films begins in 2013 with Iron Man 3 to be followed in November by Thor 2. For 2014, Captain America 2 was previously announced for April 4with a TBA on the books. (Sony, meantime, has Amazing Spider-Man 2 pencilled in for May 2 and Fox has saved July 18 for another X-Men First Class Sequel). IMDB already has a placeholder page awaiting confirmation.
While there’s no word on which members of either version of the team will be used, we’re looking forward to Groot and Rocket Raccoon being a part of the cast. Apparently, Thanos will be the Big Bad to tie things together with his arrival hinted at with a sighting of his Infinity Gauntlet in Thor and his cameo at the end of The Avengers. Latino’s piece speculates Thanos will appear in Guardians which will be the final film prior to 2015’s The Avengers 2.
Meantime, Marvel’s corporate masters, Walt Disney, just revealed this afternoon that they are working on their first Marvel animated property: Big Hero 6. The timing is interesting in that the Previews catalog out yesterday contains a new Big Hero 6 project from writer Chris Claremont.The team was introduced in 1998’s Sunfire and Big Hero 6 from Steven T. Seagle and Duncan Rouleau.
Planned for 2014, the blog says in part, “I promised my Bothans that I wouldn’t reveal much about the Marvel project that Walt Disney Animation Studios was working on, that I would only allude to it until something else broke about it. Well, now a website has let the cat out of the bag. Remember that I mentioned that the property would be unlike anything the Mouse had done before? I also mentioned to some that inquired about it, that Marvel owns 4000+ characters and everyone was thinking it was an animated Iron Man or X-Men or even “Power Pack.” Well, it’s not. It’s not one of the top 100 or 200 characters even. The actual title is much more obscure than most people know. In fact, most comic book fans will not even know the title, or most of the characters. So, what is the title/characters that Disney is adapting into an animated film?”
We got excited about this when the news first broke in March but here are the formal details to keep us interested until this can actually be purchased.
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.(June 26, 2012)– In June of 1981 director Steven Spielberg and executive producer George Lucas introduced the world to Indiana Jones when the unforgettable Raiders of the Lost Ark debuted in theaters. Exploding to instant acclaim, the film has now been carefully restored, alongside remastered versions of the archaeologist’s other thrilling adventures—Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Prepare for excitement, adventure and snakes—why did it have to be snakes?—all with pristine picture and sound when INDIANA JONES:The Complete Adventures debuts on Blu-ray September 18, 2012 from Lucasfilm Ltd. and Paramount Home Media Distribution.
Supervised by director Steven Spielberg and renowned sound designer Ben Burtt, Raiders of the Lost Ark has been meticulously restored with careful attention to preserving the original look, sound and feel of the iconic film. The original negative was first scanned at 4K and then examined frame-by-frame so that any damage could be repaired.
The sound design was similarly preserved using Burtt’s original master mix, which had been archived and unused since 1981. New stereo surrounds were created using the original music tracks and original effects recorded in stereo but used previously only in mono. In addition, the sub bass was redone entirely up to modern specifications and care was taken to improve dialogue and correct small technical flaws to create the most complete and highest quality version of the sound possible while retaining the director’s vision. The result is an impeccable digital restoration that celebrates the film and its place in cinematic history.
The installments in the franchise have won a combined seven Academy Awards®. Relive every heart-pounding thrill like never before as all four films arrive together, for the first time presented in 1080p high definition with English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio accompanied by a collection of documentaries, interviews, featurettes and new bonus features.
Scholarly treatises such as this volume, which examines the film and television adaptations of mystery writer, Mickey Spillane, run the risk of committing the most ironic literary sin of them all; producing a boring book about an entertaining subject. A large part of Spillane’s success, beside devising clever plots, was his gift of writingstories that brought a great deal of joy to his readers. Perhaps no other popular writer of the 20th Century ever connected so powerfully with the American post World War II psyche as did Spillane, which in itself is no great puzzle.Spillane was very much a product of his times, a veteran and every day working stiff who saw returning GI’s with true empathy. He was one of them.
By the late 1940s Spillane was writing about a tough guy private eye with an Old Testament philosophy.Sickened by the horrors of a world war, Mike Hammer, had had a belly full of evil and injustice and wasn’t going to take it anymore.His singular voice was one of righteous indignation unwilling to capitulate to the powerful elite eager to profit from a society weary of conflict.These were the new carpetbaggers whose target of their greed were the innocent, decent people trying to build new lives. Without being asked, Hammer found himself the wolf at the door, protecting the sheep against all the other wolves.
By the time Hollywood came knocking, his books were world wide best sellers and Spillane’s legions of fans were anxious to see his rough and tumble tales brought to the silver screen. Sadly, the results of those adaptations weren’t always pleasurable either to Spillane or his devotees.Some went on to achieve cult status while others drifted into TV late night obscurity barely remembered today. In this extensive and wonderfully presented study, Collins and Traylor set the records straight, giving each Spillane film and television series a thorough and insightful inspection.Their unbiased criticisms of the good, the bad and the ugly are all well researched reports from cast bios to screen writers’ credits.
Some of the surprises contained detail the ideological differences between conservative Spillane and left-leaning producer Victor Saville and his partner director, Robert Aldrich. Both Saville and Aldrich clearly despised the character of Mike Hammer and attempted to paint him in a negative light via their version of “Kiss Me Deadly,” with actor Ralph Meeker as Hammer.Yet, as explained in the book, it was this very antagonism that ironically resulted in perhaps the finest Mike Hammer movie of all time.Go figure.
Another highlight is their look at “The Girl Hunters,” a British blank and white production in which Spillane took on the role of his most famous creation and played him to screen perfection; perhaps the only writer to ever do so in film history.
This and other installments offer long forgotten vignettes from both Spillane’s associates and often relate Spillane’s own documented opinions of these adaptations, pro and con. We especially appreciated their closing the book with reprinting one of the last interviews Spillane gave to Collins, neatly summarizing his own personal and caustic observations on these various teleplays.
“Mickey Spillane On Screen,” is a thoughtful examination of one of the greatest mystery writers in American history and the celluloid treatment of his works.It should have a place of honor in every film and mystery lovers’ library.
This is the first ever documented Spider-Man fan film, and the first (unofficial) live action appearance of Spider-Man from way back in 1969. This was produced by Donald F. Glut, who at the time was writing for Warren Magazines (Creepy and Eerie) and would later go on to write Captain America, The Invaders, Conan, and Kull for Marvel, and what he may still best be known for, writing the novelization for Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.
This was Don’s last amateur film (he had produced many other fan films before this) before moving on to write for classic cartoons like Transformers and Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends.
Few films were as atmospheric and downright scary as Deliverance when it was released in 1972. Director John Boorman made an indelible mark on film history with this film which features amazing performances by Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds, Ned Beatty, Ronny Cox, and James Dickey. Four city men on a weekend canoe trip pit their nerve and muscle against the churning waters of a wild Georgia river — where only three are “delivered” from the heart-pounding experience. These days, most remember the terrific music but forget just how tension-filled the rest of the film was.
A new Blu-ray edition of this seminal film is being released by Warner Home Video on June 26. We have partnered with WHV to host a contest with one copy of the disc to be given away. Please note, we are not able to ship to PO Box addresses and winners must be within the United States.
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In 2008, Deliverance was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” Pick one of these three qualities and tell us why the film deserves these accolades. Post your comment by 11:59 p.m. Friday, June 29. The judgment of ComicMix will be final.
Does it infuriate you to hear about comic book creators, especially the aged ones, struggling to get by financially, without health benefits, and working menial jobs because they can no longer find work in the comics industry while their creations or characters whose legacy they’ve passionately contributed to continue to rake in grotesquely monolithic profits for the corporations that currently own the copyrights and trademarks to them? Don’t you think that anyone should be upset about this, except maybe the soulless, money grubbing powers of the corporate world that have driven the globe into economic crisis? Surely, the average person gets it. You know, the dreaded 99% who feel that we have to live with our hand out just to get by, constantly in debt so that we can live co-dependant on the new staples of life like TVs, cars, computers, and cell phones, not to mention upsized happy meals that make our asses so fat we need therapy because we no longer fit the impossibly ideal image of the perfect body that has been created by the same bastards that sold us the 64 ounce Big Gulp. Ahem.. Maybe people don’t get it because it has to do with the arts. The efforts of creative types, with the exception of those few that rise to the top of the heap and rake in the big bucks, are rarely understood. People expect that the arts are practiced by those that do what they do because they love it, it’s fun, and it’s not really work. This thinking perpetuates the romantic ideal of the so-called “starving artist.” This is true wether it is painting, music, dance, theater, literature, film or comics. The creative community, however, understands that though we all appreciate that our work is a “labor of love,” it is also a lot of hard work that requires great dedication, sacrifice and expense. This work, no matter how much we may enjoy it, has value, especially when it is making gobs of money for somebody else.
So, when I see comic artists struggling and am completely stymied when one can’t even expect a decent burial because of his poverty, it is probably only other artists that I can expect to fully appreciate the knot in my gut. This is why I am wondering where all the support for comic artists is when it comes to the ethical injustice of no compensation for work that was created under the auspices “work-for-hire” at a time when no one could have anticipated the economic power of modern media. Where is the support from other artists, other entertainment fields and their unions, especially those who are benefitting most from adapting comics to other mediums, like film. So I ask. What if the Screen Actors Guild, the Directors Guild of America, and the Writers Guild of America came to the defense of comic creators who have never successfully unionized and, as they do for themselves, show a force of solidarity for the people that created the source material that is creating extremely lucrative jobs for their members? What if the long list of prominent actors that portrayed characters from comic books in films took a stand to support those creators? What if the “A” list writers and directors showed some moral scruples and held a higher ground? I understand that it would be impossible to to fully effect every comic creator that may have participated in making the comic book characters that have become stars on the silver screen the cultural icons that they are today. I also understand that the rights to ownership of these characters are legally embroiled by the federal copyright laws that were lobbied successfully by the big corporations. None of that, however, justifies letting some of these talented creators struggle in abject poverty, living hungry on the streets with no healthcare, doomed to be buried in an unmarked pauper’s grave while others, including other artists, get rich off the fruits of their creations.
The comic industry does not have a union but it does have advocates. The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and The Heroes Initiative are two organizations that have been formed to offer services to protect comic creators. Both organizations could benefit greatly if they were to receive generous donations from those that are currently benefitting the most from the success of comic book characters in film and related merchandise.
It has been reported that “Since its inception, The Hero Initiative (Formerly known as A.C.T.O.R., A Commitment To Our Roots) has had the good fortune to grant over $500,000 to over 50 comic book veterans who have paved the way for those in the industry today.” In contrast, if we were to signal out just Robert Downy, Jr. who is reported to have made $50,000,000 off of his role as Iron Man in the Avengers film and ask him to donate a mere one tenth of a percent of that salary to The Hero Initiative, he would match every penny they have ever spent to support comic creators in need. These stars are a generous lot and, in fact, need to be philanthropists just to write off their taxes. Robert Downy, Jr., himself supports, Clothes Off Our Back, Midnight Mission, and Orca Network. Why wouldn’t he support some struggling comic artists that created the opportunity for him to make his millions?
What if every actor, writer, and director, especially those that reaped the mother load reached out to support these two organizations that protect struggling comic creators? It wouldn’t make certain creators as rich as they could be if the industry was fair, but it would guarantee that comic artists who dedicated their lives to their art and our enjoyment could be a little more secure and might not die penniless like so many before them.
What if everyone reading this blog took it upon themselves to pursue this campaign and contact their favorite actor from a comic book film requesting their aid? What if we all made a difference?
Gerry Giovinco
And now, another added bonus! Those of you that are huge fans of Chris Kalnick’s NON the Existential Extraterrestrial and Depth Charge both featured here at CO2 Comics will be thrilled to find out that our old buddy NON is back in a new installment titled “A Sensory Neuron’s Quandary.” The feature begins today and will be updated every Sunday. Mr. Kalnick will be sure to have you all questioning the true “meaning of life.”
Sideshow Collectibles and Hot Toys are proud to present the Black Widow Sixth Scale Limited Edition Collectible Figure from the smash hit “Marvel’s The Avengers.” The movie-accurate Black Widow collectible is specially crafted based on the image of Scarlett Johansson in the film; highlighting the newly sculpted head, hair implantation, body shape, and highly detailed costume and accessories.
Growing up, I went to plenty of parties, but never one when the parents were out of town. I always felt I missed out on something until I heard the time my younger cousin held such an affair, resulting in $1500 in property damage (in 1980 dollars). Call me uptight or a loser, much as Thomas (Thomas Mann), is in Project X.
Designed to be the ultimate party film, it was based on the recollections of various people who attended outrageous parties while parents were out of town. Cobbling the stories together, Michael Bacall and Matt Drake wrote a script and director Nima Nourizadeh sought out relative unknowns and total unknowns to populate the cast, giving it a fresh feel. Eight different camera systems were used including the main images purportedly shot by an AV studio Dax (Dax Flame) and cell phones given to various extras, who shot moments without others realizing it.
The $12 million film has more than made its money back while inspiring several aborted attempts at recreating the ultimate blowout for real. Coming to home video Tuesday, the Combo Pack contains seven more minutes of raunch in an extended cut along with the featurettes “Tallying up the Damage” and “Project X: Declassified”.
The basic problem with the film is that everything is amped up to the point of ridiculousness, without being grounded in any reality. While some have compared this with the 1970’s Animal House and 1980’s Risky Business, they have missed the point. Those films featured brilliant casting, terrific directing and a rhythm that allowed the really outrageous stuff to occur. This terrible film avoids any pretense.
It also is missing any sense of originality. We’ve seen it all before. Thomas is a loser, his parents are going out of town and tell him they know he’ll have people over regardless of what they say so Dad asks that they be kept out of his office and not to touch his car (telling you immediately that is exactly what will happen). Costa (Oliver Cooper) and J.B. (Jonathan Daniel Brown) decide to turn the party into a birthday bash that will turn all three losers into heroes. The word spreads and people come by foot, car, and bus. Dozens becomes hundreds become thousands. Neighbors call the police, who somehow miss several hundred people in the backyard, and the party escalates out of control until the SWAT team is called in but by then so has the flame-throwing-toting drug dealer. Really.
The footage shows plenty of topless girls, drinking, dancing, and general partymaking. What’s missing is anyone to root for. Everyone attending the party is unlikeable save for the predictable love interest Kirby (Kirby Bliss Blanton). The film also lacks a set piece, the one truly original and memorable moment that gets people talking and makes the film immortal. This is just a wasted opportunity without any merit whatsoever.
Cross has been an international best seller for writing machine James Patterson and now we have the first trailer for the film adaptation, coming October 19. The film stars Tyler Perry, Edward Burns, Rachel Nichols, and Jean Reno and was directed by Rob Cohen, who conscripted the adaptation with Marc Moss and Kerry Williamson.
