Weekly Weblinks: Munsters, Marvels, and Morons

It’s Friday morning, time for the Weekly Weblinks. Around the blogging network this week, there are a couple reviews of new films and a couple reviews of older horror films, ranging from 1931 to 2010. Plus, a roundtable interview with the cast of one of this week’s new movies.

In the news, there’s a bit of television series news, the next next film from the Wachowskis, the resurrection of a long-dead film, and one nutty intellectual property lawsuit. To find out what it’s all about, read on.

Blog Posts:

The third film directed by Ben Affleck is out; Check out Ruth’s review of Argo to see if it holds up to his first two films!

Eric at the Warning Sign is checking out a bit of horror for the month. Check out his mini-reviews of The Toxic Avenger, The Woman, and Fido.

Did you know that when Dracula was filmed in 1931, there was a Spanish-language version made with a different cast and crew on the same set? Chris of Terry Malloy’s Pigeon Coop knows, and dares to ask which is the better film.

So a couple years ago M. Night Shyamalan wrote, but did not direct, a horror film called Devil. It got a lot derision right from the get go just for being a Shyamalan work. Did it deserve it? Ryan McNeely gives his review.

Seven Psychopaths is out this weekend. Check out Sam Fragoso’s review and his roundtable interview with the cast (warning: possible spoilers in the interview.)

News Blurbs:

TV Line has the first few characters revealed from Joss Whedon’s S.H.I.E.L.D. TV series. No, you won’t recognize any of the names. Casting has not yet been announced.

Former football player turned actor Alex Karras has passed away at the age of 77. Karras made his film debut with what would be his best known role, as Mongo in the Mel Brooks classic Blazing Saddles. Later he played George Papadapolis, the father on the TV series Webster with Emmanuel Lewis. Rest in peace, Mr. Karras.

George Sluizer, director of Dark Blood the final film starring River Phoenix, says the film has now been completed. He states that while it “will always feel incomplete”, due to Phoenix dying before shooting was finished, he has done his best to make the story plausible and understandable. He also talks about the difficulties and legal issues with trying to keep the film preserved. It had a film festival debut in the Netherlands in September, and Sluizer hopes to secure a wide release soon.

NBC’s reboot of The Munsters, entitled 1313 Mockingbird Lane, is in a very particular state of limbo. $10 million has been spent on the pilot, and NBC has doubts that the series is worth it — rumors earlier this week had them canceling it before it began. Now it seems there’s a plan B in the works. In order to at least recoup the money they’ve spent, NBC will be airing the pilot as a TV special on Halloween. Also of note is that the director for the pilot is not available for the series anymore as — get this — he’s working on another TV series for NBC, an adaptation of Thomas Harris’ novel Red Dragon, to be entitled Hannibal. Because we needed another take on Hannibal Lecter nearly as much as we needed a darker take on The Munsters.

Andy and Lana Wachowski, whose film Cloud Atlas hits in a few weeks, are already at work on their next film, a return to action sci-fi entitled Jupiter Ascending. Lana Wachowski says they have an idea for a visual hook that will outdo bullet time, if they can pull it off, but it may be too difficult and/or expensive to do. (Personally, if the first mention of the movie is about a special effect they aren’t even sure they can do, that doesn’t enthuse me a whole lot — I remember them talking about “raising the bar” on bullet time with the Matrix sequels.)

Stan Lee Media is suing Disney over the ownership rights to the Marvel Comics characters. Worth noting is that Stan Lee hasn’t been associated with Stan Lee Media for several years and says the lawsuit is bunk. Considering Stan Lee Media is suing for ownership of characters based on their being created by a guy who isn’t part of their company any more, it seems a bit of a stretch, at least from a layman’s perspective. This wouldn’t be the first time Stan Lee Media has launched strange lawsuits, and it’ll probably go the way the others have — poorly.