Thanks to last week’s delayed post, this Friday’s edition of the Weekly Weblinks is perhaps just a bit lighter than usual (or maybe it just seems that way to me), but there are still several good blog posts and news articles to read. Some fun semi-obscure films are reviewed, and some movie franchises have new information being released. So read on for this week’s batch of the Weekly Weblinks.
Blog Posts:
Chico & Rita was a Spanish film nominated for the 2012 Best Animated Feature Academy Award. Alexander the Cinemaniac takes a look at the film here.
Ryan McNeely reviews Stone, a 2010 film starring Robert De Niro, Edward Norton, and Milla Jovovich.
Will at Silver Emulsion has a positive take on this year’s Prometheus, a film that’s been somewhat divisive.
Surrounded by Idiots has a fun look at the wisdom of George Peppard, selecting profound or witty quotes from his films.
News Blurbs:
Amped, by Robopocalypse author Daniel H. Wilson, has been optioned by Working Title Films. The story is about a war between ordinary humans and people who have enhanced themselves through nanotechnology. Alex Proyas is attached to direct. Further rumors have Chris Hemsworth and Anne Hathaway being sought for the lead roles in this… which considering Hemsworth is in Robopocalypse and Hathaway is reportedly being sought for that as well would be a trifle odd as the titles are on somewhat similar themes but are not directly connected to each other (and the film rights have been purchased by different companies). Seems to me that if you’re adapting a futuristic cyber-war story by an author whose other futuristic cyber-war story is coming out earlier, you’d want to at least have different stars.
The sequel to The Muppets is set for a release date of December 20, 2013. It will be a comedy caper set in Europe, with Christoph Waltz as an Interpol inspector. James Bobin will direct, and Bret McKenzie is writing more songs for the film.
Latest 3D re-release? Jurassic Park, coming out in April.
Dwayne Johnson is confirmed to star in Hercules, which will be a supernatural-free look at the mythological figure. Brett Ratner will direct. Personally, I think a Hercules movie that removes the supernatural elements rather removes the point….
With Shia Labeouf stepping out of the Transformers movie franchise, who will take his place? Michael Bay has recruited his star for the film, and it’s Mark Wahlberg, who is also starring in Bay’s upcoming Pain & Gain. I’m not the biggest Wahlberg fan around, but overall I’d have to say he’s probably at least a bit of an improvement, since he’s a bit more of an action movie actor than Labeouf. Maybe this time we won’t have a character who’s supposed to be a kid hanging around with the ‘bots.
Morgan on Media 
I stopped by that George Peppard link and was SHOCKED to find no mention of Colonel Hannibal Smith, the man’s greatest role. How dare they!!
They actually did mention The A-Team (though somewhat disparagingly… 😦 ) in the opening paragraph. But I’m willing to let that slide since they were specifically doing a “wisdom from films” thing.
Thanks for the mention, Morgan! It means a lot to me.
You’re welcome!
Thanks for the link! I’m curiously optimistic about the Muppets sequel, and the idea that it’s a European comedy caper with Christoph Waltz sounds great. Reminds me of Great Muppet Caper a bit, which is always a good thing.
That it reminds me of the Great Muppet Caper actually has me just a tiny bit concerned — I’d hate for the new wave of Muppet movies to echo the originals so closely in theme, you know?
Yeah, you’re right that it is a bit troubling. I hadn’t thought of it like that. I just heard Christoph Waltz and got excited!
Hopefully the Muppets themselves will get some songs this time out, and they better not be remakes of Great Muppet Caper songs!
Agreed. While I enjoyed the songs in The Muppets, the Muppets themselves need to get a larger share of them.
Nice links and very interesting news. The Muppets sequel sounds promising. Agree about Hercules. And I’m a little sad about Wahlberg stepping into the Transformers franchise as a Shia replacement. He’s such a good actor and shouldn’t be doing that crap.
I don’t know if I’d go so far as to call Wahlberg a good actor… decent, perhaps, but he hasn’t really wowed me in anything. I do agree that the Transformers franchise, at least in Michael Bay’s hands, is beneath him, though.
Haha, that’s ok. I’m just a huge Wahlberg fan and think he’s very underrated. Maybe he’ll never really put “Marky Mark” behind him for good, haha.