Weekly Weblinks: Linked Lists

It’s time for the Weekly Weblinks! This week, it seems like a lot of people are tackling series of movies, or putting out interesting lists of films. Bloggers are tackling the entire series for a couple superheroes, or picking the most iconic films within a theme.

In the news, more Marvel mayhem as Disney starts work on their first animated Marvel feature, a biopic that doesn’t want to focus on the popular part of its subject’s life, and a list of upcoming sci-fi films that have no connection to existing franchises.

This week’s posts may take a while to read, so sit back and read on for the Weekly Weblinks!

Blog Posts:

In keeping with the United States celebrating Independence Day this week, Kevin Knox at Anomalous Material takes a look at some films about America, but with a twist in the 10 Best Films About America Made by Non-American Directors.

P.G. Cooper is having his own Batman movie marathon, tackling them in chronological order, starting it off with a review of the 1966 Batman: The Movie. Start there, or visit his main page to check out his reviews of the other live-action Batman films.

In preparation for his own viewing of The Amazing Spider-Man Bubbawheat of Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights has been taking a look at Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man films… in reverse order. Check out his reviews of Spider-Man 3, Spider-Man 2, and Spider-Man and see how his viewing experiment turns out.

Joshua Gaul at Film Minion has started listing the 50 movies that defined the 1980s; it starts here with #50-41, and will be continuing on for the next few days. Check it out and see if you agree with his choices!

Andrew at A Constant Visual Feast has a review of Oliver Stone’s new film Savages. Check out what he has to say about this tale of dueling drug lords starring Taylor Kitsch, John Travolta, Benicio Del Toro, Salma Hayek, and more.

News Blurbs:

Ever since Disney acquired Marvel, there’s been some curiosity as to whether they would produce an animated feature film using Marvel characters. According to Collider, it’s finally happening, and the property in question is… Big Hero 6? If you haven’t heard of Big Hero 6, you’re not alone; it’s a relatively recent creation at the house of Marvel, and has been the subject of two comic miniseries. It’s about a team of young Japanese superheroes. Personally, I think it’s something of an odd choice, considering these guys are complete unknowns outside of comic book fans, and virtually unknown among comic fans. But I guess we’ll see how it turns out. Don Hall is rumored to be directing the film, and a release date of 2014 is speculated. Collider also speculates that a movie based on Marvel’s space-faring heroes, the Guardians of the Galaxy, could hit in 2014.

Television legend Andy Griffith has passed away at the age of 86. Griffith starred in his own self-titled show from 1960 to 1968, and as the title role in Matlock from 1986 to 1995. The former introduced Ron Howard to the world, and the latter influenced courtroom dramas to follow, essentially jump-starting the genre after it had started to fall off.

Tired of the way so many sci-fi and fantasy films are parts of established franchises? Check out IO9’s list of upcoming SF&F movies that aren’t remakes, sequels or prequels. It covers about 50 standalone films, ranging from ones being released this fall such as Cloud Atlas with Tom Hanks and Halle Berry to films that are still unscheduled, such as the Summer Glau and Peter Dinklage vehicle Knights of Badassdom.

All Is By My Side is an upcoming Jimi Hendrix biopic… that will feature no Jimi Hendrix music. Instead, the film will focus on Hendrix’s early days, and Andre Benjamin (“Andre 3000”) will be providing the songs by performing cover versions of the same songs that Hendrix covered in those days; Benjamin also is playing the role of Hendrix in the film. By taking this tactic, the producers do not need to pay any licensing fees to the Hendrix estate. They also likely ensure that people will hate the film, as people are unlikely to be happy about a Hendrix film that ends before he becomes famous. Producer Sean McKittrick says that if he were to tell the full story of Hendrix’s life, people already know how that ends… I guess he’s implying that by ending it sooner he can leave it with a happy ending, but we all know how it actually ends regardless. I don’t know, I think a Hendrix movie without Hendrix music is doomed to failure; what do you guys think?

Just For Fun:

You know the IMDb, of course, but are you familiar with the IMFDb, the IMCDb, and the IMPDb? These sites aren’t affiliated with the IMDb (and the IMFDb appears to be unassociated with the other two), but they have a similar ethos in trying to completely cover all the details about a specific area of movie info. Specifically, their names in full are the Internet Movie Firearms Database, the Internet Movie Cars Database, and the Internet Movie Planes Database. If you’ve ever wondered what was being used in a particular film — say, if you were curious as to whether it was historically accurate or an anachronism — these are the sites to hit up for information.