Wall●E

Pixar has done it again, Wall●E was everything that I expected it to be and more. The film is about a waste collecting robot, whose only companion on earth is a cockroach. Wall●E does his job of collecting garbage and compacting it, but he often looks for treasures and his favorite is an old romantic/musical film called Hello, Dolly! that teaches Wall●E about love and companionship. Wall●E then meets Eve another robot (albeit a more hi-tech one) who comes to earth looking for samples. After meeting Eve he decides to follow her back into space, and that is where the adventure of his lifetime beings. 

The film does not have a lot a dialogue, but it is still heartwarming and funny. The audience can't help but fall in love with the characters and really get into their story. Voice talents in the film, include, Jeff Garlin, John Ratzenberger, Kathy Najimy, Sigourney Weaver and Fred Willard (who is also shown in the film). This movie is great for children of all ages....including adults.

Wanted

This summer seems to be the season for films based on Comic books. So far Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk have been released, and now there is Wanted. Wanted is based on the comic by Mark Millar and J.G. Jones. The film is about an average guy named Wesley Gibson (James McAvoy) who has a job that he hates, a girlfriend that cheats on him, fake friends and a horrible boss. After being targeted by a mysterious assassin and saved by a beautiful women named Fox (Angelina Jolie), Wesley is introduced into a world of deadly assassins known as the Fraternity, who are led by Sloan, (Morgan Freeman) and Wesley is taught how to become one. 

The film was a lot different then the comic book (which I am a fan of) but there were also several plot elements from the book incorporated into the film. Mark and J.G. were even Executive Producers so it seems that they were somewhat involved in the film. At the J.G. Jones panel at Wizard World Philly, he even mentioned that t

hey were treating them very well. Its good to see the creators involved in the film adaptations (Maybe Alan Moore would like the films based on his books better, if he had more say). The film was directed by Timur Bekmambetov and it was a really well made action film. It had a great story, had some amazing scenes and special effects. 

Also surprising is how awesome McAvoy is as an action star. He was a great choice for Wesley. The film itself had an awesome cast, other cast members included, Terence Stamp, Thomas Kretschmann, Common, David O'Hara, and Chris Pratt. 

I would recommend this film to fans of the comic and people who haven't read them. It is definitely worth seeing.

Upcoming Comic Films

So it seems that every week a new film based on a comic book or a superhero is coming out. The biggest pictures of the summer are based on comics: Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Wanted, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, and The Dark Knight. Also this summer Hancock is coming out, which is about a superhero, or a person with super powers.

After the success of Iron Man, Marvel announced their upcoming film projects, which include: Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger, and The Avengers. Marvel seems to be everywhere right now, and consider they are behind my favorite comics, I am very pleased.

 MTV got the poster below, with the logo designs for the films.

In order news, there have been some posters released for the upcoming Spirit film (set for release at Christmas 2008). The film is based on the comic by Will Eisner, about a rookie cop who returns from the dead to fight against the evil forces in the city. The film stars Gabriel Macht, Eva Mendes, Scarlett Johansson, Samuel L. Jackson, and Jamie King and is directed by Frank Miller (Sin City). 

Robert Downey Jr.

It seems right now Robert Downey Jr. is one of the biggest stars on the planet. He seems to be everywhere. A lot of that has to do with Iron Man being such a hit. But he also has Tropic Thunder coming up in August (which I think has the potential to be hilarious). 

So if you decided to go to the cinema and you feel like you need a bit more Robert Downey Jr. or Tony Stark or Iron Man then check out The Incredible Hulk. Here is a teaser where we get a glimpse of Tony. For more Hulk clips and trailers, click here.

Robert has also been attached to some upcoming films, including Sherlock Holmes (By Guy Ritchie) and Cowboys vs. Aliens (a Dreamworks/Universal film).

Also here is a video from youtube. Its the Tropic Thunder Promo from the MTV Movie Awards. Enjoy!

Movie News

• Dreamworks is looking to break away from Paramount and go back to being its own studio. Spielberg wants to have a more streamlined structure, like he had back in the Amblin days. Spielberg is getting help from Indian's Reliance ADA Group.
• The Incredible Hulk and Transporter director Louis Leterrier has picked his follow-up film to Hulk, called Strays. He is currently in talks to direct the film according to Empire Online, the film is about about a group of young consultants who, while on a business trip to Russia, mysteriously wake up in an abandoned, radioactive city. They’re then forced to struggle for survival, with a number of deadly obstacles blocking the way to freedom. The film is described as an eco action triller.

Casting news

• Sienna Miller is set to play Maid Marion in Nottingham, alongside Russell Crowe. Nottingham will be a new take on the Robin Hood legend and will be directed by Ridley Scott.
  
• Judd Aptows newest film already, Funny People has Adam Sandler, Seth Rogan, Leslie Mann, and Eric Bana. Now Jason Schwartzman and Jonah Hill have joined the cast. Little is known about the film, except for that it is about the world of stand-up comedy and about a comedian that has a near death experience. 
• Christopher Eccleston has joined the cast of Amelia, a biopic about Amelia Earhart. Also in the cast is Hilary Swank and Ewan McGregor.

New Trailers (click on title name for a link to the trailer)

• Death Race starring Jason Statham
• Punisher: War Zone starring Ray Stevenson
• The Transporter 3 starring Jason Statham

A Stargate Update

Being a hugh Stargate fan I just wanted to say how much I am looking forward to the upcoming season of Stargate Atlantis. The past season was great, and the finale left me wanting for more. The new season begins July 11 at 10 pm. 

Also, Stargate: Continuum comes out on dvd on July 29, so look out for that. Ark of Truth was great, and it was a great way to end the Ori storyline. Continuum will be a stand alone film, and hopefully if it does well there will be more films.

Also there should be some big Stargate things happening at Comic-con. I will post any info I see to keep everyone informed at what will be happening at the con. If you won't be at the con, don't fret, I will be posting updates on here from the convention, since I will be attending.

Doctor Who

This season of Doctor Who has been one of my favorites. I love the way this series has been written, especially how Donna and the Doctor interact with each other. That said I can't wait for the finale, it's shaping up to be one of the best ever. 

(Spoilers for Season 4)

This season started out with a jaw dropping ender to the first episode, with Rose showing up and Donna talking to her. The minute I saw Rose (after I stopped freaking out of course) I knew that this season would be amazing. The episodes have been very good, and I love how in every episode someone mistakes the Doctor and Donna for being a couple. I've liked all of the Doctor's companions. Rose was great and I was really sad when she got trapped in the parallel universe, but I think it added more to the Doctor and the pain that he always carries with him. Martha was a great character because she helped the Doctor get over the loss of Rose, and you couldn't help but feel bad for her, because the Doctor did not see her as a romantic interest (and who could blame her for liking him!) That said, Donna is easily becoming one of my favorite companions, she is just hilarious, and I attribute that to Catherine 

Tate. She is so talented and she brings so much to the show, I really hope that she sticks around for next year. Even with all that Donna has seen (Pompeii being destroyed, the pain of the Ood, her granddad nearly being killed by the Sontaran's, etc) she is still cheery and wants to continue traveling with the Doctor and seeing the universe. She is a great companion for him.

I have to mention the wonderful job that David Tennant has been doing this season (He does a great job every season, I know). We have seen a new side to the Doctor. This season had a lot of ups and downs for the Doctor. In Voyage of the Damned he found a new companion in Astrid, only to lose her when she sacrificed herself to save him. He then met up with Donna again, and finally had someone to travel throughout time and space with. Next in order to save the world he had to destroy the city of Pompeii, and in one of his darker moments he refused to save anyone, including the family that he got to know while he was there (until Donna pleaded with him to save one family, and he gave in). Next he freed the Ood from a life of servitude, and could hear their sad song. Later on in the season, he reproduced and had a daughter, only to lose her as well. It has been a hard year for the Doctor and coming up he will once again have to face off against his greatest enemy... the Daleks.

So all of the his brings me to the finale. It appears as those all of the Doctors companions from the past 4 seasons will be involved in the finale, and a few new ones as well. Sarah Jane, Mickey, Jackie, Rose, Martha, Captain Jack, and Donna will all be involved in the finale. Also included in the finale will be Ianto Jones and Gwen Cooper from Torchwood (The Doctor Who spin-off). Also appearing will Harriet Jones Prime Minister or MP for Flydale North (I know, but I couldn't resist doing her title joke). The last time we saw the former PM she was saying that she was fit for office, but we all know that the Master became the new PM. So it will be interesting to see what happened to Harriet Jones.

I am so excited for the finale, I can't wait to see how it all plays out.

Recap - AFI: 10 Top 10

Well of the 100 films I have seen 54 of them. Of the 10 Number 1 films, I have watched 6 of them. Some of the films that made the list are my favorite films. I really thought that the number of films that I have seen would be higher, but I didn't see a lot of the romantic comedies and I didn't see any of the western films except for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. 

One of the big omissions on the list would have to be that the Magnificent Seven didn't make the Top 10 Western films. Another one that I was surprised wasn't on the list was How The West Was Won. That could have easily fit into the western category or in the epic one. I thought it was weird that Gone With the Wind was only number 4 on the list. When I think of the that film, I think of an epic production, and I think that should have been either 1 or 2.

The list had a lot of actors and directors with multiple films, some in the same genre and others crossing genres. Alfred Hitchcock had 4 films in the Mystery genre. The animation list was dominated by Disney films, with only one of them not being a Disney production (Shrek was the only non-Disney film; also two of the films were Disney-Pixar productions.)

Steven Speilberg had 3 films make the list, E.T. in the Fantasy genre and Saving Private Ryan and Schindler's List in the Epic category. Stanley Kubrick also had 3 films on the list. 2001: A Space Odyssey and A Clockwork Orange in the Sci-Fi genre and Spartacus on the Epic list.

Martin Scorsese was also in two categories with Raging Bull in Sports and Goodfellas in the Gangster genre. 

James Stewart had films in 4 different genres: It's A Wonderful Life and Harvey in the Fantasy category; in Mystery Rear Window and Vertigo; A Philadelphia Story in Romantic comedy; and Anatomy Of A Murder in Courtroom Drama.

Tom Hanks was also in four different genres: Toy Story in Animation; Big in Fantasy; Saving Private Ryan in Epic; and Sleepless In Seattle in Romantic Comedy.

Two silent films made the list, City Lights in the Romantic Comedy category and The Thief Of Bagdad in the Fantasy category. The only film from the 21st century to make the list, was Finding Nemo.

It was an interesting show, and it certainly brings up a lot of discussion about errors and omissions on the list. Also it made me reminisce about the films, and think about what they mean to me, and how the films impacted me life. A lot of my favorites made the list, and they are films that I can watch over and over again.

AFI: 10 Top 10

Tonight, CBS aired the AFI's 10 Top 10, The top 10 films in 10 different genres. Here are the 10 best films in each category. The Name next to each section is the host for that particular section.

ANIMATION-Jennifer Love Hewitt

10. Finding Nemo

9. Cinderella

8. Shrek

7. Beauty And The Beast

6. Toy Story

5. Fantasia

4. The Lion King

3. Bambi

2. Pinocchio

1. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

FANTASY-Sean Astin

10. Big

9. The Thief Of Bagdad

8. Groundhog Day

7. Harvey

6. Field Of Dreams

5. Miracle On 34th Street

4. King Kong

3. It's A Wonderful Life

2. Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring

1. The Wizard Of OZ

GANGSTER-Quentin Tarantino

10. Scarface

9. Little Caesar

8. The Public enemy

7. Pulp Fiction

6. Scarface: The Shame Of A Nation

5. Bonnie And Clyde

4. White Heat

3. The Godfather Part II

2. Goodfellas

1. The Godfather

SCIENCE FICTION-Sigourney Weaver

10. Back To The Future

9. Invasion Of The Body Snatchers

8. Terminator 2: Judgement Day

7. Alien

6. Blade Runner

5. The Day The Earth Stood Still

4. A Clockwork Orange

3. E.T. - The Extra Terrestrial

2. Star Wars: Episode IV- A New Hope

1. 2001: A Space Odyssey

WESTERN-Clint Eastwood

10. Cat Ballou

9. Stagecoach

8. McCabe & Mrs. Miller

7. Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid

6. The Wild Bunch

5. Red River

4. Unforgiven

3. Shane

2. High Noon

1. The Searchers

SPORTS-Cuba Gooding Jr.

10. Jerry Maguire

9. National Velvet

8. Breaking Away

7. Caddyshack

6. The Hustler

5. Bull Durham

4. Hoosiers

3. The Pride Of The Yankees

2. Rocky

1. Raging Bull

MYSTERY-Gabriel Byrne

10. The Usual Suspects

9. Dial M For Murder

8. Blue Velvet

7. North By Northwest

6. The Maltese Falcon

5. The Third Man

4. Laura

3. Rear Window

2. Chinatown

1. Vertigo

ROMANTIC COMEDY-Jessica Alba

10. Sleepless In Seattle

9. Harold And Maude

8. Moonstruck

7. Adam's Rib

6. When Harry Met Sally...

5. The Philadelphia Story

4. Roman Holiday

3. It Happened One Night

2. Annie Hall

1. City Lights

COURTROOM DRAMA-James Woods

10. Judgement At Nuremberg

9. A Cry In The Dark

8. In Cold Blood

7. Anatomy Of A Murder

6. Witness For The Prosecution

5. A Few Good Men

4. The Verdict

3. Kramer Vs. Kramer

2. 12 Angry Men

1. To Kill A Mockingbird

EPIC-Kirk Douglas

10. The Ten Commandments

9. Reds

8. Saving Private Ryan

7. All Quiet On The Western Front

6. Titanic

5. Spartacus

4. Gone With The Wind

3. Schindler's List

2. Ben-Hur

1. Lawrence Of Arabia

Sex and the City

Well as a fan of the TV show I was really excited when I heard they were making a film about Sex and the City, so I had very high expectations going into the film, and I was not disappointed. The film takes place 4 years after the series finale. Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) is with Big (Chris Noth), and they are moving in together; Charlotte (Kristin Davis) and Harry (Evan Handler) have their adopted Daughter Lilly, and are a truly happy family; Samantha (Kim Cattrall) is living in California with Smith (Jason Lewis), and managing his career; and Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) and Steve (David Eigenberg) are still living in Brooklyn with their son Brady, but they are having a rough time. The film follows the four girls, through their ups and downs, over the course of a year.

Rounding out the cast was Willie Garson as Stanford Blanch, Mario Cantone as Anthony Marentino, Candice Bergen as Enid Frick (Carrie's editor at Vogue) and Jennifer Hudson as Louise (a new character who is Carries assistant, who is looking for love in NYC.)

The film was a great movie, and I would recommend it to anyone, both fans of the show and people who just want to see a good movie.

Wizard World Philly

Well this past weekend I attend Wizard World Philly. It was a really good convention and I had a fantastic time. I went in thinking that it wouldn't be as good as NY Comic-Con but I really enjoyed myself.

I went on Friday and picked up my badge and did a quick walk through of the convention. There were a lot of booths and a got some good pins at the DC booth. I was pretty tired from spending most of Friday at the King of Prussia Mall so I didn't spend that much time at the con.

I spent all day Saturday at the convention. I started out the day by walking through the convention and hitting up the major booths (DC, Marvel, Top Cow, etc). I got some good free comics. Vertigo gave out the first Issue of House of Mystery and it is very good and interesting. I am definitely going to pick up the next issue, because it has my interest. 

After walking around the booths, I went to the J.G. Jones career retrospective panel at 11 a.m. J.G. was the Guest of Honor, and his panel was awesome. I was surprised that not that many people turned out to the panel, but I think that was because it was so early and people were still getting into the convention. They started out the panel with a slideshow of some of his work. After the slideshow, J.G. discussed what was going on when he was creating different pieces and some interesting facts about the art. It was great to hear his thoughts on his work. After the panel he was nice enough to sign for the fans that where there and he signed my copy of Wanted (which I can't wait for).

The next panel that I attend was for Marvel's Secret Invasion. Secret Invasion is one of my favorite comic series of the season, and it was great to see what was going to be happening in the series in the next few weeks. The cover for one of the upcoming issues was amazing, it was Captain America, Iron Man and Thor and the caption read Reunited. The crowd went wild at the sight of this, and all I have to say is how excited I am. I hope the real Steve Rogers comes back, its just not the same. Another cover has Nick Fury on it, and it will be good to have him finally back. I believe he is on issue 3, which comes out this week. The panel was awesome, Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada was moderating the panel and along with Tom Brevoort answered most of the question about SEcret Invasion. Also in attendance were Brian Reed, Dan Slott, Fred Van Lente, Greg Pak, C.B. Cebulski, and Arune Singh.

During my lunch break I decided to walk around Philly since it wasn't raining. I walked all the way from the convention center to Independence Hall. I really wanted to see the Liberty Bell, but there were no more tickets available, so I walked back to the convention center to have lunch.

The final panel that I went to was Cup O' Joe with Joe Quesada. In this panel they answered the fans questions about anything in the MU. However most of the answers were to keep reading. Some interesting announcements were that: the next Stephen King comic would be The Stand, Daredevils new enemy would be Lady Bullseye, and finally that Marvel zombies would be crossing over into the MU. It's going to be a good year for Marvel comics and a lot of interesting comics are coming out. After the panel, I was able to get Joe Quesada's autograph on Invincible Iron Man Quesada Sketch variant, so that was awesome.

I went back to the convention floor after the panel, I found some great buys. I was able to get the first three Y: The Last Man TPBs for 20% off which was awesome. I already read the books and they are so good, I can't wait to get the rest in the series. I then stopped by the Marvel booth, since they were giving away a bunch of swag, and I got a free comic which was cool, except it was one that I never heard of or that I was interested in. After that the convention ended and I went back to my hotel to get ready for dinner. I went to eat at the Hard Rock with my Aunt, and that was great. I love the Hard Rock, especially since they have the best pins, which I purchased an awesome teal one.

On Sunday I also spend the whole day at the convention, but I was running a little late and didn't get there til close to 12. I immediately went the Marvel: Prize no prize panel. And one lucky fan walked away with the new issue of Secret Invasion. The questions were super hard, and after getting the final one right, the person deserved the issue. I unfortunately still have to wait til Wednesday for my copy. I walked around the Convention a bit, and I went to a J.G. Jones signing at the Top Cow booth. I was able to get him to sign my copy of Final Crisis, a Flash poster, and my TPB of Y: The Last Man. He was such an awesome guy, and pretty funny. He talked about juggling cats, which was amusing. 

I went to 2 more panels, a DC discussion and a Marvel discussion. It was great because the fans were able to talk about what they liked about the comics, characters and reminisce about how comics have affected them. At the end of the DC panel, Batman pins were handed out, and at the end of the Marvel panel, a free issue of X-Men legacy was handed out. I just love free swag. After the final panel, I went back to the convention and got for back issues of Colossus: Bloodline for $1. It was amazing how cheap everything went by the end of the day. After that, I met my Aunt, and we drove home from Philly. It was an awesome weekend and I can't wait for my next convention.