Weekly Weblinks: Horror and Heathcliff

It’s Friday morning, and as always it’s time for the Weekly Weblinks. I’m going to be out of town for most of the day, so it may take me a while to respond, but fortunately there’s a lot of reading to do out and about on the web. Got a nice assortment of blog posts, including horror movie reviews and more, and a huge slew of news, including a lot out of Marvel Studios. So read on!

Blog Posts:

Michael Alatorre finishes up his “Versus AFI” series, with a look at the AFI’s top 10 animated films, and his own picks for the same.

Looking for a scary movie to watch in theatres? H.T. Schuyler gives his review of Sinister, out now.

Meanwhile, Mark Walker has a look at John Carpenter’s Prince of Darkness, made in 1987 by the director of the horror classic Halloween.

Will at Silver Emulsion has a look at Nosferatu, the classic 1922 silent film. If you haven’t seen this vampire classic, check out his review and then watch the film, helpfully provided in the article itself.

Alex at Rhoades to Madness looks at Looper with an eye to how it compares to the themes of science fiction past.

Fogs is leading into his Bond month with a top 10 list of the best Bond villain henchmen. Bond fans should definitely check this out.

Paranormal Activity 4 is out this weekend. I checked out the first one earlier this week and wasn’t impressed, but Dan the Man is a fan of the series, and he’s got a review of the new one for you.

News Blurbs:

Ridley Scott had a few brief words to say about sequels. Prometheus 2 is in the works, and according to Scott Blade Runner 2 is still happening, though he doesn’t know if Harrison Ford will be involved or not.

Guillermo del Toro’s Hulk series appears to be on hold according to del Toro. Of course, the head of Marvel’s TV division is Jeph Loeb, and comic book readers are well aware that a year past deadline is timely for Loeb.

Out of New York Comic Con comes a casting announcement for Joss Whedon’s S.H.I.E.L.D. TV series. It’s a potential spoiler, though, so only click the link (or read the text in black by highlighting it) if you’ve seen The Avengers and really want to know what familiar character will be in the show (assuming you’ve avoided the spoiler elsewhere, since the internet at large is being pretty cavalier about it). Clark Gregg is set to reprise his role as Agent Phil Coulson.

Hugo Weaving, speculating on the future of the Red Skull, who he played in Captain America: The First Avenger, suggests the character may not be back for Captain America: the Winter Soldier, but perhaps in The Avengers 2. However, this is just speculation on his part. Unfortunately, it sounds like Weaving, though he had fun with the role, may not want to return to it himself.

Some somewhat surprising news out of Marvel Studios; the long-in-development Ant-Man now has a release date. The film, which has not yet started shooting, will be released November 6, 2015. Edgar Wright is still set to direct.

Tina Fey and Amy Poehler will host the 2013 Golden Globe Awards.

The Super Bowl halftime show is lined up as well: It’s Beyoncé. Can’t say I’m enthused, personally.

Bad news just keeps piling up for the RoboCop remake: Now it’s been delayed. Originally slated for release on August 9, 2013, it’s been delayed until February 7, 2014. From the height of summer to the dead of winter… that does not speak well for the studio’s confidence in it. Taking its place in August is sci-fi film Elysium, moved from earlier in March, with Cloudy 2: Revenge of the Leftovers being moved up from RoboCop‘s new date to September 27, 2013.

It doesn’t matter what decade your childhood was in, Waterman Entertainment wants to plunder it. The company has already picked up the movie rights to a Mister Ed film, a decision which is triply perplexing considering a: nobody who watched the show, even on Nick at Nite 20 years ago, is in the age group for such a film now; b: nobody in the target age group has any clue who Mister Ed is; c: movies with live-action talking animals have historically done poorly even with the boost that children’s movies usually get. Their other recent announcement? Heathcliff, based on the comic strip cat. The movie will be live-action/CGI, because that worked so well for Garfield. It will also get a 13-episode animated series… for those who need reminding, this would be the fourth time Heathcliff has headlined a cartoon; the other three times were all in the 1980s, and most 80s kids will remember only one of them, because only one was any good. This was largely due to the second acts… the Catillac Cats were cool, Marmaduke and Dingbat were not.

The latest in the perpetual yo-yo trick of Ghostbusters 3 is that it’s on again with Ivan Reitman supposedly clearing his schedule to film in 2013.

Reportedly, Justice League is moving forward, with a planned release date of summer 2015. Seems mighty early and optimistic to me. If it does, it’ll be going head-to-head against Avengers 2, which is probably not the best idea for a film franchise that will essentially be new. Nevertheless, it’s natural that Warner Brothers is moving ahead with this now, as they just won their case against the heirs of the Shuster estate over ownership of Superman.