Weekly Weblinks: Avengers and Abominations

It’s Friday, and that means it’s time for new movies to be released tonight, 9-to-5 workers to get ready for the weekend, and me to post the Weekly Weblinks. I’ve got a full slate of both reviews and news for you this week. There are fun reviews of both new movies and old, good and bad. And the news has some information to make you a little sad, to make you laugh, to make you cheer, and to make you curse Hollywood executives and all their ancestors.

Which, admittedly, is pretty common for these news blurbs. So to see what will have you pulling your hair out this week, read on for the Weekly Weblinks!

Blog Posts:

Sometimes the artwork for a movie is as fun as the film itself. Matt at Dinosaur Dracula takes a look at the VHS box art for the Friday the 13th series, and ranks the designs according to his favorites.

Thomas Jane starred in The Punisher in 2004, and though he wasn’t brought back for the sequel, he wasn’t done with the character himself. Jane recently starred in an unofficial short film, The Punisher: Dirty Laundry, and Bubbawheat at Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights has an extensive interview with the actor.

Will Ferrell. Zach Galifianakis. Who would you vote for? The Campaign debuted this last week, and Fogs has his review up.

Unforgiven was one of the best westerns ever made, and almost certainly the best in the modern era. Michael Alatorre at “It Rains, You Get Wet” posts an appreciation of the Clint Eastwood classic.

So, is a movie about a kid that grows out of the garden any good? The Odd Life of Timothy Green is out this week, and Sam Fragoso of Duke & the Movies takes a look at this odd Disney film.

Finally, MovieBuff801 takes a look back, back to the days of the wild west… or at least to the days of Wild Wild West.

News Blurbs:

Mel Stuart, director of the classic Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, passed away August 10 at the age of 83. Thank you for the magic, Mel.

Some most triumphant news has come out about the long-rumored third Bill and Ted film. Dean Parisot, director of Galaxy Quest, has been tapped to direct the film. The original screenwriters have a script for the film, and both Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter are on board.

Some less triumphant sequel news: This Christmas, you will be able to buy a Blu-Ray of A Christmas Story 2. Yes, they’re making a direct-to-video sequel to the Christmas classic. No, nobody involved from the first one is involved. Brian Levant, director of Jingle All the Way, Snow Dogs, and Beethoven directed the film. To quote another Christmas comedy classic, “Hallelujah! Holy shit! Where’s the Tylenol?”

While all of us 80s fans are still reeling from that, here’s another bit to knock us all for a loop. CinemaBlend has a report on the script for the upcoming RoboCop reboot… and it’s seriously not good. It mocks the original film, RoboCop is sent out against Al Qaeda, he goes through several different iterations including a transforming version… oof. Personally, I’m hoping this is on the order of the “Jack Black as Green Lantern” rumors from several years back — a rejected script from someone who didn’t get it, that got into the hands of someone who didn’t realize it was rejected. I hope. Because if this really is the way the reboot is going to be, I don’t think I’ll be buying that ticket for any price, not even a dollar.

When Snow White and the Huntsman came out, a lot of people said that it was a decent film, but Kristen Stuart wasn’t interesting as the lead heroine. Now it seems that the studio agrees: Stewart has been dropped from the sequel, which is being revamped to focus more on Chris Hemsworth’s Huntsman character.

And finally, one small but certainly notable bit of news, in the form of a scheduled release date. The Avengers 2 is due to hit theatres on May 1, 2015. Mark your calendars.

Just For Fun:

Veer.com seems to be a site for buying stock photos and the like. I’ve got no interest in that, and so I wouldn’t normally mention them; this space is not for rent. However, in an attempt to sell their photos, they’ve actually come up with a pretty fun idea. Their game, Clockbusters gives three photos and 60 seconds. The photos are inspired by movies, but are not actually using scenes from those movies. Your task is to guess the film from the photos.