It’s Friday morning, and once again I’m on my way out of town. Not for a fun trip this time, though; I need to go have a broken tooth repaired. Hooray. So while I’m up at the Indian Health Services center getting my tooth drilled out and fitted with a cybernetic support structure (that is what they do, right? Tell me that’s what they do), here’s your regularly scheduled dose of the Weekly Weblinks.
There’s some more Halloween horror in the blog posts, along with a couple of active agents and some film festival coverage. And in the news, some word on just how long Peter Jackson will have you in your seat for The Hobbit, plus some people possibly making unexpected returns to franchises that made them big stars. Read on to find out what’s going on.
Blog Posts:
Ruth at FlixChatter has been attending the Twin Cities Film Festival. Here she reviews a few of the final films she screened, and gives her top five favorite films from the festival.
Can a modern horror movie be scary without jump scares? Dan the Man checks out The Orphanage from 2007.
A forgotten 1987 film, Miami Connection, has been making the rounds of bargain theatres thanks to an acquisition and re-release from Drafthouse Films. Nick at Another Plot Device has a review of this campy martial arts film.
You knew Fogs wasn’t going to have his James Bond blogathon without throwing his own contribution in. Movies That Everyone Should See: Dr. No.
The Exorcist has been considered a horror classic since it’s release. Michael at “It Rains, You Get Wet” shares some of his experiences as a fan of the film.
Tyler Perry stars in Alex Cross, one of the few times he’s not in a self-produced comedy. Terrence the Focused Filmographer gives his review of the film.
News Blurbs:
Some changes and mutations are going on in the driver’s seat for X-Men: Days of Future Past, the sequel to X-Men: First Class. Director Matthew Vaughn has decided to depart, leaving Fox looking for a new director. Their first choice, if they can get him? Some guy named Bryan Singer. Pfft. What’s he ever done?
Conan the Barbarian is back. So is Arnold. Schwarzenegger is returning to the character after 30 years in The Legend of Conan, which will pick up the story with Conan’s later years; producer Chris Morgan says to think of it as “Conan’s Unforgiven“.
Ming-Na Wen has been cast as Agent Melinda May in the S.H.I.E.L.D. television series. The character is reportedly the lead role.
The oft-delayed sci-fi Gravity may be nearing completion, as it has just been awarded a PG-13 rating from the MPAA — a move that usually indicates the film is pretty near its final form. The film is tentatively planned for a release sometime in 2013.
The run time for the first Hobbit film has been revealed to be 2 hours and 40 minutes, putting it roughly in line with the (non-extended) Lord of the Rings films. It’s about what I would have expected… had they been putting the whole novel into one film. With Peter Jackson splitting it into three films, he’s going to have to be using every last scrap of the novel and a lot of supplemental material to fill it all. Hopefully it doesn’t wind up feeling like filler.
Morgan on Media 
I’m still kinda stunned to hear Schwarzenegger is returning as Conan after 30 years. Oh, boy. And I have to admit I’m not surprised the first Hobbit film will be that long — Jackson and the studios have milked Tolkien’s work for all their worth.
Again, some great links to read through, Morgan. Thank you so much, once more, for your generosity in sharing my link, my friend. You are a gentleman and a scholar :-).
You’re welcome as always, Michael. And I was really surprised to hear about Arnold’s return as well… I knew he was getting back into acting, but I wouldn’t have called that one. Pretty cool, though… and makes me want to watch his original Conan movies since I have never seen them.
Nice post. Wow! Schwarzenegger’s movie career is now over; reprising Conan after 30+ years – really silly. So sad.
I don’t know that it means his career is over; after all, it was kind of in a holding pattern for several years while he was Governor of California. Done poorly, this will be a legend of unintentional comedy. Done well, it could actually be pretty awesome.
You’re right; the jury’s out- we’ll have to wait and see.
I just don’t understand adding anything to such a beloved franchise at this point in time.
Non-franchise roles(aka new movie characters) could have success for many years.
I too am hoping we don’t see a comedy, as you put it, rather a surprising epic.
– Cheers. 😉
I can definitely see the concern in adding to a franchise this far after the fact… certainly other much-belated franchise additions don’t have a great track record. But since they seem to be acknowledging the passing of time, this gives me just a little bit of guarded optimism.
Oh sweet, another review for Miami Connection! Thanks for sharing that, Morgan!
Hope you enjoy it!
Thanks for the link Morgan. sorry for the tooth trip. I’ve been forced to sit in the dentist’s chair a lot more lately too. best of luck my friend.
I am glad that The Hobbit will be that long. I really hope that it is great and puts to silence all those who are already complaining about it being a trilogy without even seeing the movies yet.
Thanks. Tooth trip was a bust, going to have to go back to have it dealt with at a later time.
I hope The Hobbit is great, but I don’t think it’s at all premature to be irritated about it being a trilogy. The book simply doesn’t have enough material to support more than three hours, so three movies of that length each is obvious padding. It may turn out to be great padding, and hopefully it is, but it’s still a clear case where the length of the movies is being determined by a factor other than the original narrative.
i def remain interested. now more so than ever. I hope it is so good. 🙂
btw, same thing happened for me with my most recent tooth trip. gotta end the cycle
Hey, belated thanks for the link love, Morgan. I hope you’re not in a lot of pain after your tooth repair procedure. Feel better soon!
Sadly, no repairs made yet. Going to have to wait a while, they couldn’t do anything right away. But I’m doing all right; it’s manageable with ibuprofen, so it’s not too bad, all things considered. Thanks for the good wishes, though. Hopefully I’ll get it taken care of before the year is out.
In Jackson I trust on the Hobbit.
Meanwhile, I’m saddened by Arnold’s return to Conan. I dont even want to see it. Seriously makes me a little ill at the awful possibilities ahead….
Meant to circle back and thank you for the linkage this weekend, but it wound up being busy trying to get ahead of the storm and all.
Hope your tooth is bearable until it can get attended to again
Concerns about the length aside, I’m still pretty optimistic on The Hobbit. It’s just not the 100% slam dunk it started out as.
On Arnold… OK, I haven’t seen the originals. And I’m aware that this is quite likely the pulp fiction fan in me speaking out… but this is an idea with some potential. It isn’t necessarily going to be one of those 20-year-later sequels that tries to pretend it’s the next day.
Fully understand trying to stay ahead of the storm — wouldn’t have wanted MTESS: Halloween to be delayed another year! 😀 My tooth isn’t too bad; I’ve been able to manage it with ibuprofen, and they gave me something a little stronger for really bad moments.
They CANT have Conan pick up the next day. LOL. If ever there was an Ahnuld movie that showcased the physique, that was it!
Glad your tooth is cool…
Nice links and news. Very interesting about Bryan Singer (not so much about old Conan). It’s great that Gravity is nearing a release date 🙂
Yeah, hopefully that will get a firm date sometime soon.