News Bites: Toys, Turtles, and Teachers

It’s Friday morning, and that means it’s time for another weekly pile of news, with just a bit of snarky commentary from myself. This week there’s still more television news — this is the time of year when the big networks start planning their next years’ pilots — and a few more standard film franchise rumors. As well as a few other items of interest. As is becoming the rule, there’s a bit too much for the front page of the blog, so click through to see what’s going on!

News Bites: Minions and Mutants

Another week with a lot of news, especially on the television front once again. A lot of this just came in yesterday and this morning, so it can be considered “hot off the presses” if there were a printing press actually involved here. A lot of this week’s news is science-fiction related, and of course, there are the usual updates on comic book superheroes coming to the big screen — as well as a superhero of a different stripe coming to the small screen. I’ll be out most of the day, so it may take me a bit to respond to comments, but there’s a lot to discuss, so read on!

News Bites: Star Lords and Wars

It’s Friday morning, time for the weekly dose of news bites. Now, normally I’d just list the few tidbits straight in the post without using a jump cut, but this week the press releases have been coming out in abundance. So for those of you seeing this on the front page instead of a direct link, hit the “Continue Reading” link to see what’s new this week. What’s on the docket? Some big time movie plans, and a whole lot of upcoming TV series.

News Bites: Planes, Lanes, and Submersibles

Took a brief break from this last week, but here’s another dose of short-but-interesting news items for you:

First off, some sad news; it was mentioned a few days ago that Charles Durning had died, but sadly he’s not alone (somehow these things always happen in groups, especially at the end of the year). Actor Jack Klugman, star of Quincy M.E. and The Odd Couple has passed away at the age of 90. Additionally, Gerry Anderson, creator of Thunderbirds and other marionette TV shows, has passed away at the age of 83. Both will be missed for their contributions to entertainment.

NBC has officially passed on picking up The Munsters reboot Mockingbird Lane as a series, which really comes as no surprise. The pilot was mediocre, and it’s doubtful a series would have been able to recoup the high costs.

Originally scheduled for a direct-to-video release, Disney’s Planes, the spin-off to Pixar’s Cars franchise which curiously isn’t under the Pixar label, is now being given a theatrical release of August 9, 2013.

After Disney became leery of the project with the failure of Mars Needs Moms, Robert Zemeckis has decided not to do a remake of Yellow Submarine after all. This is probably a good thing — it’s hard to imagine anybody was really looking forward to a Beatles movie without the Beatles.

The Austrian town of Oberburgl is hoping to find Alfred Hitchcock’s lost second film, The Mountain Eagle, which was filmed there.

And finally, Quentin Tarantino is considering a companion piece to Inglourious Basterds, tentatively titled Killer Crow, about disenfranchised African-American soldiers in World War II.

News Bites: X-Men and Extra-Terrestrials

Still figuring out the best way to approach this, but to be honest, a quick rundown of the weekly news might just be the way to go. We’ll see what develops. At any rate, here’s another short batch of entertainment news for you.

Mentioned last week that there was a Michael Hutchence biopic in the works. Turns out there are two. In addition to the already-mentioned Two Worlds Colliding, another Australian company is a film simply titled Michael based on the late INXS frontman, directed by Richard Lowenstein.

Ben Savage and Danielle Fishel are returning to the “world”, for a new Disney Channel series that’s a follow-up on the Boy Meets World series. The series will feature Corey and Topanga as a married couple raising their 13-year-old daughter, Riley; the title is Girl Meets World.

Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen will be returning to the X-Men franchise for X-Men: Days of Future Past. And so is Hugh Jackman.

Could a high-profile cinematic bomb become a new series for Syfy? Network President Dave Howe has mentioned they’ve talked a lot about adapting Waterworld, which has brought in a decent number of viewers for them over the years. So far it just sounds like idle talk, but it would be an interesting turn of events for the maligned property.

Because it was made in the 1980s, it’s pretty much inevitable: The Flight of the Navigator is being remade. It is being written and directed by Derek Connelly and Colin Trevorrow, writer and director (respectively) of Safety Not Guaranteed. Trevorrow reportedly has a lot of love for the original film. Though that’s arguably a good sign, I also recall Michael Bay saying he had a lot of love for Transformers….

And that’s it for this week. Let me know in the comments what you think.

News: Yet Another Looney Tunes Movie

According to the Hollywood Reporter Warner Bros. is moving forward with a third feature-length Looney Tunes film. David Katzenberg and Seth Grahame-Smith of KatzSmith are set to produce along with David Heyman and Jeffrey Clifford. Jenny Slate is writing the script, and so far the only known detail is that the film will be a live-action/CGI hybrid.

As might be expected, I’ve got more than a few qualms about this project.

News: Whedon to Bring S.H.I.E.L.D. to Television

Earlier in the month, it was announced that Joss Whedon, in addition to being on board for The Avengers 2, was also working on a television program for ABC based on a Marvel Comics property. Now Entertainment Weekly is reporting just which property that is: Marvel’s S.H.I.E.L.D., the paramilitary organization run by Nick Fury, as seen in The Avengers. ABC has officially ordered the pilot, which is being written by Joss Whedon, brother Jed Whedon, and Maurissa Tancharoen. Joss Whedon is expected to direct the pilot episode.

To a certain extent, S.H.I.E.L.D. is a logical choice for a television series. It would fit in with the cop dramas that are always popular on TV, but would have a different feel as it would have more of a science-fiction comic book scope. They could reasonably stay within budget by having only a few superhuman elements per episode, such as a supervillain the S.H.I.E.L.D. team needs to track down. And it would allow Marvel Studios to flesh out the organization without taking time away from any of the big heroes on the big screen.

The one question I have is, who is going to be leading them? Nick Fury is in charge in the comics and the movies, but I don’t see Samuel L. Jackson signing on for a television program, and even if everybody involved was OK with the idea of a substitute Sam, I don’t think the audience would go for it.

Weekly Weblinks: Masters and Minions

It’s Friday morning once again, and so that means it’s time for the Weekly Weblinks. There’s a good chunk of variety in the blog posts, with some new reviews, some vintage reviews, and some previews. And the news section is almost bloated, with twice the usual tidbits.

So rather than having me natter on for a bit, let’s just get right to it!

News: But not on CNN

There are days that leave me feeling rather like Howard Beale, days when the news leaves me feeling like the film Network, which has always seemed relevant, was really a documentary sent backward in time. I think most people who are a little culturally aware and versed in critical reasoning and watch the news have complained, at least from time to time, about the quality of journalism today. And a lot of television fans have complained about different themed channels suffering “network drift”, where they abandon the concept that made them household names to begin with, such as MTV dropping music videos, or the Sci-Fi Channel (now Syfy) adding wrestling to their lineup. And I’ve been a vocal opponent to both. But I somehow had never really thought I’d ever have to complain about both at the same time. But that’s where we are. In a move that could have been taken from Sidney Lumet’s 1976 film, CNN is adding “entertainment” to their line-up in order to boost their ratings. The plan is to add a late-night talk show, on the order of The View, a hunt for on-air “personalities” to make the news more “entertaining”, and as many as five “reality” shows.

Hey. CNN. You already have a reality program. You have, in fact, the reality program, the only one that truly reflects reality, at least if you play it honest. It’s called “the news”. That other stuff, that’s the illusion, like Howard Beale said. And if you go watering down your news programming by adding the bullshit, all that’s going to do is make anybody who isn’t already doubting you wonder if the news you’re peddling is bullshit, too. So your ratings are low. You think undermining your credibility is going to help? ‘Cause I’m pretty sure it won’t, and the reality TV market is so over-saturated right now that it’s pretty doubtful your new programs will bring in much traffic anyway. So why not just take your lumps with some integrity, hm? You’re part of Turner, part of Time Warner, you can be a loss-leader for a bit. Because all the journalistic infotainment-like art product (to steal a phrase from Buck Godot) is probably what led you to this point to begin with. There is probably more than a mere 10 minutes worth of news during a day, but it’s been a long time since I’ve seen a news program that felt like it was giving me more than that once all the fluff was cut out. You want viewers, try something novel, something new. Or rather, something old. Like the news.

Weekly Weblinks: Spidey, Scots, and Rocker Snots

It’s Friday morning, and so it’s time for another dose of the Weekly Weblinks. This week’s blog posts include another take on Brave, a review of a film that is coming out soon, and a few reviews of films that range from a year old to a 1960s classic.

In the news, an unlikely TV adaptation, a prog metal group’s demise, Keanu Reeve’s next big thing, and yet more puppet film news. So read on for a Weekly Weblinks that is surprisingly heavy in the Scottish influence. (I swear I don’t plan these things.)