Remakes and sequels are a dime a dozen. While Repo Men is neither of those, it bears incredible similarities with Repo! The Genetic Opera, a rock musical released in 2006. The films are very much the same in content and style, while the stories that they tell are very, very different.

Remy (Jude Law) seems like a normal guy. He’s got a wife and child, lives in a house in the suburbs, drives a fancy Volkswagon SUV. What isn’t so normal is Remy’s job. He repossess people’s artificial organs when they can’t afford their payments to The Union, the company that makes and finances the organs to people in need.

Anyone who becomes late with their payments is hunted down by The Union’s “repo men” and their artificial organs are repossessed, usually resulting in their immediate death. Remy and his partner Jake (Forest Whitaker) don’t mind being repo men, in fact they quite enjoy it. But when Remy’s wife decides maybe her husband should consider a career change, everything changes.

It’s hard to discuss this film’s plot without giving away the two major twists that make this film interesting, but I’ll just say that the Remy you meet in the beginning of the film is very, very different from the Remy at the end of the film. Think of Christian Bale’s character in Equilibrium as a comparison. Jude Law does a great job with this transformation, and Whitaker isn’t too shabby either.

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Over at the terrific Boy Genius Report, they’ve got /18/motorola-droid-update-schedule-detailed/”>the reported details on the upcoming update to the Motorola DROID. This update will bring the DROID to Android Software version 2.1.

Sadly, as exciting as that is for DROID owners, the rollout details are somewhat underwhelming, especially if you’re not a an of waiting. Check ‘em out:

• At noon EDT on 3/18, 1,000 users will receive notification of the update
• At 11:59 PM EDT on 3/18, 9,000 more users will receive the update notification
• After the first 10,000 users receive the update on 3/18, there will be a 24-hour period when no additional upgrades will be delivered
• On Day 3 (3/20), 200,000 users will receive the update notification at 11:59 PM EDT
• This schedule will continue each day thereafter until the update has been delivered to all users
• And here are a few conditions needed for the update to be applied:
• An OTA download requires 40% or more power availability
• If the device is not connected to an external power source or 20% or more power if it is connected to an external source
• If roaming, the customer will not receive the update

So it seems those of you getting the update the “legit” way will have some time to wait. Those of you who can’t wait that long and will acquire the update by other means, well, you’re wait won’t be as long. Happy updating.

This week On the Radar George Lucas seeks to capture the minds of even younger viewers, Image Comics takes a shot at Marvel, and one of the most famous music videos of all time may go 3D.  All that and whole bunch of other fun stuff!

Crispin Glover talks Back to the Future controversy

Personally, I didn’t realize Back to the Future was mired in any kind of controversy, but it is.  Speaking at a promotion for Hot Tub Time Machine, Crispin Glover, who played Marty McFly’s (Michael J. Fox) Dad spoke about the raw deal he was dealt after the first film came out:

“On the DVD to the Back to the Future trilogy, Bob Gale has said something that’s totally fabricated,” Glover told a group of reporters at this weekend’s press junket forHot Tub Time Machine. “He said I asked for twice the amount of money that Michael J. Fox asked for in the first film. In the negotiation for the second film, they offered me less than half of what any of the actors that were being asked to come back in the film—Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson and Tom Wilson. They had all done studio films, and they’d made a lot more money. I was being penalized.”

Interesting stuff.  Mind you, considering the somewhat lackluster opinions of the second and third film maybe Glover got off easy by not being in them.

Jamie Foxx to star in Kane & Lynch video game adaption?

There hasn’t been a lot of talk about the film adaption of video game Kane & Lynch other than it could star Bruce Willis as Kane.  Now, another big name is being tossed around to play opposite Willis, Jamie Foxx.  Developed by IO Interactive Nu Image/Millennium is set to finance with Lionsgate distributing.  While I’m confident in the actors involved, video games are not well known for the best of translations to the big screen.

George Lucas bringing Galactic Heroes to TV

Ask any “real” Star Wars fan and they will probably tell you that The Clone Wars cartoon is pretty childish.  Well, prepared to consider that more mature entertainment.  Looking to draw in even younger viewers to the Star Wars universe, George Lucas is working on a cartoon adaption of the Star Wars: Galactic Heroes toy line.  You know, those chunky figures with a whopping two points of articulation (usually the arms).  Worse yet, this problem means more screen time with the one Star Wars character that can relate best to 3 year olds-Jar Jar Binks.

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Today begins the official one week countdown for the release of potentially one of the funniest movies of this year, Hot Tub Time Machine. We’ve been gearing up our coverage of the film, with some great clips and a review of the official iPhone App, now we’ve got an even better goodie for you.

Straight from our pals at MGM, we got our hands on a restricted (or “red band”) clip from the film, starring the four main characters played by John Cusack, Rob Corddry, Craig Robinson, and Clark Duke. The clip is restricted for some shouting and violent dialogue, but nothing that you should be timid about if you plan on seeing the movie next week.

We don’t want to spoil it for you, so check out the hilarious clip after the jump, and be sure to catch our coverage of Hot Tub Time Machine all next week, leading up to the film’s national theatrical release on March 26th. By clicking through, you certify you are 18 years of age or older.

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I’m probably not alone in this, but the moment I saw “New Leads” listed as tonight’s episode, I was half-expecting, half-hoping for a Scrantonian send-up of Glengarry Glen Ross. Who’d be Shelly? Stanley? Or Phyllis? Would Michael perform his own version of Alec Baldwin’s monologue? Heck, Baldwin’s on 30 Rock, at the very least he could make a guest appearance…

Well, for fans of David Mamet’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, the only resemblance is that there are new leads in, they’re gold, and the sales staff can’t have them—and it’s probably for the best because parodies are like Betty White hosting SNL bacon-wrapped Peeps: in the end, never as funny as the idea.

Also good because it would’ve weighed an otherwise very good episode down.

The titular new leads are $50,000 worth of names Sabre has spent to be doled out to the sales staff as per the corporate office’s new “Sales is king” policy.  Naturally the power’s gone to the salesmen’s heads—Phyllis refuses to answer Angela’s e-mails; Andy (while on the phone, no less) flaunts his supposed dibs to everything in the office, including Darryl’s pencil; and Dwight believes he’s in the same company as Jesus (“If sales is king, and I’m the king of sales, that makes me the King of Kings).

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Twisted Pixel has done a fantastic job so far on their past two XBLA titles, The Maw and ‘Splosion Man. Now, after keeping quiet since its September announcement, details are finally starting to pour out about their latest title Comic Jumper. With a sneak preview from SXWS this past week and more press coming out of PAX East, Twisted Pixel is ready to show the gaming world what they have in store for us this time in this comic book inspired action adventure.

Taking the role of Captain Smiley and his chest attached sidekick Star, players travel through comic books instead of levels, each with unique art style as they take on Smiley’s arch-nemesis Brad and a slew of other villains. From what we’ve seen so far, the game goes back to a simple 2D side scrolling brawler with added shooter elements. While its very early to tell, it looks like a lot of the game’s charm will rest under the dialog and comedic elements which it already seems to have begun locking down.

Take a peek at the first 10 minutes of actual game-play from Comic Jumper after the jump, as well as a bunch of artwork and character concept sketches which helped wet our appetite even further for this much anticipated downloadable title.

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In the past week, I got a chance to sit down and talk to Mark and Jay Duplass about their movie Cyrus with a handful of journalists at the SXSW Film Festival.  Cyrus stars Jonah Hill, Marisa Tomei, Catherine Keener,  and John C. Reilly.

How long had you guys been working on the script?

Mark Duplass: Good question. You know, we normally write our scripts pretty quickly when it’s just us producing them, because we know we’re going to improvise the dialogue a bit, so once their structure is rock solid, we are production ready. But you know, this was a script where you have to write it well and make it attractive to writers and to the studios so that they want to green light it. So we did spend a little time making it look pretty. I think we worked on it maybe a year or so.

Do you have any experience as children of single parents dating again or knowing people in that situation?

MD: None, really. We are good little Catholic boys and our Catholic parents have been married for 42 years and they are still together.

Jay Duplass: What we do have a lot of experience with is desperation.

MD: and interpersonal dysfunction, we’re good at that.

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Last week during Austin’s South By Southwest film festival, producer and co-writer Robert Rodriguez unveiled the first footage from his upcoming film, Predators. We got to see lots of chatter from the cast, including stars Adrien Brody and Laurence Fishburne. Unfortunately, there was very little seen of the titular alien race.

Now, a brand new trailer has hit the web, this time giving us just the right amount of violence, Predators, and Danny Trejo that we could possibly ask for. The new film is set as a reboot/prequel to the original Predator franchise, which first gave geek-cred to stars like Schwarzenegger, Danny Glover, and Gary Busey.

Check out the official trailer after the jump, and be sure to catch Nimron Antal’s Predators, starring Topher Grace, Adrien Brody, Laurence Fishburne, Danny Trejo, and Alice Braga, in theaters on July 7th.

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Earlier this week at New York City’s Museum of Modern Art, Syfy held its annual Upfront event in which they previewed some of their exciting programming for the upcoming seasons. Some of the news that our favorite shows such as Caprica, Warehouse 13, Sanctuary, Stargate Universe, and Eureka would be returning was received with open arms.

Meanwhile, the channel that dubs itself as the leading network for the imagination announced nearly a dozen new series to start in the coming year. Shows that range from original scripted television to a new take on reality TV, each of the new programs should fit right into the “Imagine Greater” theme over at Syfy.

Check out the complete list of the new and upcoming programming coming to Syfy after the jump, and be sure to keep it here for any and all information about these titles as they come to us!

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The offbeat, swirly, Gothic-lite, snow-filled reign of Tim Burton will never let up. According to Deadline Hollywood Daily, Universal’s Illumination Entertainment has snagged the rights to Charles Addams’ original The Addams Family cartoons with an eye to letting Burton direct a stop-motion feature out of them. Why yes, the term “3D” is also being tossed around. Yay.

I love The Addams Family. I was unhealthy obsessed with the Barry Sonnenfeld film as a pre-teen, and I used to hang out at the bookstore reading the original cartoon collections. It was the closest I got to becoming a Goth.  While I’ve enjoyed a lot of Burton films over the years, I’m not sure I want to see the Addams sent through The Burton Factory, and made out to be a family with a penchant for swirls and black and white stripes.

DHD notes that Burton will ignore the previous films and television show, and return straight to the source.  Apparently, he’s quite drawn to the sharp wit of the original comics. And they are funny. Much funnier than Burton’s Addams imitation, The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy which is just kind of gross and painful to read.

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