There are a few types of Summer blockbusters out there these days. Of course, you’ll have the big “tent pole” films that cost $200 million and make triple that. You’ll also get the ones that cost a fortune and fizzle out fairly quickly. But every once in a while you’ll also get a film that comes virtually out of nowhere and leaves your mouth agape. District 9 is that film.

District 9 takes place in Johannesburg, South Africa, where aliens landed nearly 30 years ago. Since then, they have been subjected to living in slums while their defunct mothership hovers above the city. On the macro level, the world is split between people who wish to embrace the differences of the aliens and people who discriminate against them and wish to kill them. On a micro level, an MNU field operative, Wikus van der Merwe (Sharlto Copley), contracts a mysterious virus that begins changing his DNA, making him neither human nor alien.

At it’s core, this film is many things. It’s not just a sci-fi action film. It has some serious undertones from oppression and bigotry to the evil things that man is capable of. It is many things, but if one were to stand out, it would be “smart.” From the first moments of the film where a collection of news and documentary footage helps introduce us to this world where aliens are real and have been inhabiting the planet for some time all the way to the conclusion, this film delivers.

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Though we try to keep things fresh here at the site, especially with our features like Fan Film Friday, sometimes it’s hard to skip over things that are quite well done, even when they aren’t really topical anymore. Though G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra is already week-old news, we felt that this week’s fan film needed to be a little musical number from our friends at Funny or Die called The Ballad of G.I. Joe.

Continuing the trend of filling their skits with a who’s who of Hollywood, the Ballad includes names that will pretty much blow your socks off. Names like Alexis Bledel as Lady Jaye, Billy Crudup as Zartan, Zach Galifiankais as Snow Job, Tony Hale as Dr. Mindbender, Vinnie Jones as Destro, Chuck Liddell as Gung Ho, Julianne Moore as Scarlett, Henry Rollins as Duke, Alan Tudyk as Shipwreck, Olivia Wilde as The Baroness, and even a little Sgt. Slaughter thrown in as well.

There are a few other names thrown in, so be sure to keep an eye out. Check out the Ballad of G.I. Joe after the jump.

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For yesterday’s The Pull List, go here.

The Marvels Project #1 – Marvel – $3.99

Score: 7.5

Retroactively changing continuity, or “retconning”, can be a tricky feat. And trying to recon an entire universe’s continuity from the start can be an even bigger feat. This is what the focus of The Marvels Project is. Going all the way back to the very first days of the Marvel Universe to the creation of the first Human Torch, this story looks to bring readers an insight in to the relationships that helped forge the current Marvel world. The issue begins with Dr. Halloway, the man destined to become The Angel (though it isn’t mentioned yet in this series) working with a dementia patient known as Matt Hawk back in 1938.

Hawk tells Halloween about the heroes, villains, gods and monsters that will soon rise and how it all begins in New York City. Coming in one morning, Halloway finds out that Hawk died in his sleep but before he passed on, he had left something for the doctor. Upon opening it, Halloway sees a gun and a note that reads, “From One Hero to Another-” only to realize that Matt Hawk was the Two-Gun Kid, a masked western hero that the doctor had read about for years.

He wonders if the future that Matt told him about could be real. From there, the story examines the origins of Namor’s appearance to surface dwellers as Nazis begin to drop depth charges to acquire Atlantean “samples” and FDR’s involvement in the funding of the first Human Torch. When the Torch is first revealed to the public, there is a huge backlash of man made monsters on American soil. Knowing that the American government will need all the support they can garner with the upcoming hostilities with Germany, the President orders the Human Torch disposed of.

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Jared Hess is a name that doesn’t normally ring a lot of bells with people over 30, but is certainly known by the younger film goers for writing and directing a movie called Napoleon Dynamite back in 2004. Since then, Hess has had only one other film under his writer/director belt: 2006′s Nacho Libre starring Jack Black. The film was welcomed with mixed responses from both the audience and the studio.

Three years later, Hess is now coming back out of the woodwork with his third film, Gentlemen Broncos. The film stars Forbidden Kingdom’s Michael Angarano as Benjamin, a loveable loner who has a passion for writing. Benjamin joins a writer’s camp, lead by Flight of the Conchords star Jemaine Clement. Things take an interesting turn when Clement’s Chevalier steals Benjamin’s book and bastardizes the premise for a film.

The film utilizes the same off-beat aesthetic as the Hess’ previous two films, along with the punchy dialogue and fantastic plot devices. Also starring Jennifer Coolidge, Sam Rockwell, Halley Feiffer, and Michael White, Gentlemen Broncos hits theaters on October 30.

Click through to check out the new trailer.

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When originally announced, this title had a lot of buzz behind it. After the massive success of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles re-released on the Xbox Live Arcade as a $5.00 download, everyone began asking when Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time would come out.

Hoping it would get the same treatment as the original players were rewarded when they found out it would be getting a “Re-Shelled” treatment with new 3D graphics. But then came the bad news. The game was going to be priced at $15.00.

Immediately, this lead to a massive outcry from fans who did not want to pay $10.00 more than they did for the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles just because it was getting updated graphics. Before the game was released, the price was lowered to the more reasonable 800 Microsoft Points ($10.00) price tag. Part of the love for retro games is keeping the original graphics as games like Gauntlet, Robotron and Smash TV have shown.

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With X-Men Origins: Wolverine opening as one of the biggest box office films of the Summer, it was completely inevitable that a sequel was on the way. We are now getting word that Christopher McQuarrie, writer of films such as The Usual Suspects and The Way of the Gun is now taking on the writing duties for that sequel.

McQuarrie has worked in tandem with Bryan Singer, who directed the first two X-Men films. Singer and McQuarrie both worked on Valkyrie and The Usual Suspects, and the Oscar winning writer even did an uncredited rewrite on the first X-Men script. When it comes to the story, The Hollywood Reporter says that fans should remember the source material:

Hugh Jackman is set to return as the Marvel Comics character, a mutant with healing powers and a skeleton laced with the indestructible metal known as adamantium. Jackman is also producing via his Fox-based Seed shingle along with Lauren Shuler Donner.

The movie’s story line will take its cue from the early 1980s Chris Claremont/Frank Miller miniseries, which is set in Japan and features Wolverine dealing with ninjas as he struggles whether to follow his animal killer instincts or the life under a samurai’s code of honor and respect.

X-Men Origins reportedly brought in $180 million in the domestic box office, and $363 worldwide. With a predecessor like that, there is no doubt a sequel will do well, especially if word of a Deadpool spinoff is still happening.

For those of you who thought this day would never come and you were relegated to using Entourage at your Microsoft Exchange equipped offices, you’re in for a treat because Microsoft, or at least their Macintosh Business Unit, feels your pain and is going to do something about it. What, you may wonder? Well, they’ve announced today that you’ll be able to get a brand new, improved, feature packed version of Outlook for your Mac once the new version of Microsoft Office ships next year.

Can’t believe what your reading? Well, this official Microsoft press release should convince you. Check it out:

REDMOND, Wash. — Aug. 13, 2009 — Microsoft Corp.’s Macintosh Business Unit (MacBU) today shared details about the next version of Microsoft Office for Mac, announcing that a new application, Outlook for Mac, will replace Entourage for Mac. MacBU is providing this early information to meet the planning needs of enterprise customers. For current Entourage users, Microsoft Entourage 2008 for Mac, Web Services Edition is available today, providing performance and reliability improvements and enabling users to sync Tasks, Notes and Categories.

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With Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th getting remade and rebooted these days, it’s only inevitable to hear about a remake of arguably one of the scariest horror films of the 1980s in Tobe Hooper’s Poltergeist.

About two years ago, it was announced that MGM Studios was working on the remake, and then a year later they announced that House of Sand and Fog director Vadim Perelman would take the helm. Even later, MGM picked up  Stiles White and Juliet Snowden, the team behind 2005′s Boogeyman and this year’s Knowing, would be penning the script.

It has now been announced that the film will have a release date of November 24 of next year. Not a terrible draw, being Thanksgiving weekend, and also one week after the first part of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. You can expect to see more November releases in the coming years after the success of the Twilight franchise and it’s positioning.

No word yet on casting, but it has to be asked whether or not the studio is worried about the legendary Poltergeist Curse, which allegedly took the lives of several cast and crew members over the years. With a release date only 14 months away, we are sure to hear more about casting and when shooting begins in the coming weeks.

Pull of the Week:

Blackest Night #2 – DC – $3.99

Score: 8.0

As mentioned yesterday in Dave Press’ Weekly Comic Book Recommendations,  this was a big week for DC’s Blackest Night event between Blackest Night #2, Blackest Night: Batman #1 and Green Lantern Corps #39. A previous Pull of the Week with issue #1, Blackest Night #2 continues the eerie first chapter of this horror tale.

After Hawkman and Hawkgirl have been attacked and killed by the Black Lanterns Elongated Man and Sue Dibny, the Atom desperately begs for Hawkman to pick up the phone unaware of his fate. Over in Gotham, Commissioner Gordon stands atop the police headquarters next to the Bat-Symbol with his daughter Barbara awaiting sunrise before Hal Jordan lands on it as a result of his fight with Martian Manhunter.

In Amnesty Bay, Mera and Tempest, the wife and son of Aquaman look to move their king’s remains to the sea only to find the grave desecrated. Thinking they are witnessing a graverobbing, the duo along with guards from Atlantis are attacked by the resurrected Black Lantern Aquaman who has retained his control over the creatures of the sea as seen in a bloody attack on the guards.

Blackest Night #2 feels a lot like it is the part of a movie where the team is being formed. The foundation has been laid out in issue one and now the Black Lantern corps is being built. While the biggest reveals happened in the first issue, these other players are obviously going to be key components to the story moving forward, especially since writer Geoff Johns took the time to give so much attention to their Black Lantern reveals. A perfect example of this is Deadman who already appears in Blackest Night: Batman (which will be reviewed on tomorrow’s edition of the Pull List). Along with that, the two major fight scenes are great glimpses of just how powerful the Black Lanterns can be.

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The impressive crew of turntable legends bringing mixes to Activision’s DJ Hero continues to grow. PR Newswire announced today The Scratch Perverts and DJ Yoda will be joining the list of contributors to the game, which includes DJ Shadow, DJ AM, DJ Z-Trip and Daft Punk. The Scratch Perverts have spun five mixes including M.I.A.’s “Paper Planes,” while DJ Yoda has created two mixes that will appear on-disc when DJ Hero drops this Fall.

Expanding upon the revolutionary easy to pick up/challenging to master gameplay mechanics found in Guitar Hero, DJ Hero delivers an all-new interactive music experience that allows players to experience and hear music in an all-new way. With over 100 individual songs, highlighted in 93 unique never-before-released mixes that blend genres of music, including hip-hop, pop, rock and dance, DJ Hero delivers the most diverse and international collection of music ever assembled in a music game.

Created exclusively for DJ Hero, the turntable controller allows fans to utilize various techniques including scratching, blending, cross fading and sampling, while leaving room for creative expression with a variety of effects and player chosen samples and scratches.

DJ Hero will be available on October 27. Until then, check out this video of DJ Yoda doing his thing after the break.

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Delayed for years due to studio shuffles, MTV Splashpage is now reporting that Rob Zombie’s adult-oriented, animated adaptation of his Haunted World of El Superbeasto comic book, originally tagged for straight-to-DVD release, could enjoy a run in theaters.

According to the musician/filmmaker, the project started “as a really cheap direct-to-video project, and then it kept ballooning over the years and the budget kept getting bigger and bigger, and the project kept getting bigger and bigger, and bigger names kept coming on to it, and then it seemed like, ‘Well, now it seems theatrical.’”

The adult-only film has had a tricky path to distribution, as “the company kept changing hands. We started with one company, they got sold to another, and they got sold to another company,” Zombie explained.

“I’m actually glad it happened that way,” Zombie stated. “The movie went from costing $1 million dollars to $8 million, and we got to make an awesome movie, so I don’t really care how it gets out there. Theatrical would be great, and I think they’re talking now about doing a limited theatrical run, so that would be cool.”

Featuring the voices of Paul Giamatti, Brian Posehn, Danny Trejo and Rosario Dawson, El Superbeasto is scheduled to arrive on DVD and Blu-Ray September 22.

If you’re one of the millions waiting impatiently to catch a glimpse at James Cameron’s Avatar, then you may want to clear your schedule. Starting next Monday (August 17th) you’ll be able to get a free ticket for an 16-minute IMAX trailer on August 21. From The Hollywood Reporter:

The extended trailer, featuring an on-camera intro by director James Cameron, hits 101 Imax venues in the U.S. and Canada on Aug. 21 in a promo push announced at the recent Comic-Con International confab in San Diego. On the same date, theaters worldwide will begin showing more conventional 2D and 3D “Avatar” trailers.