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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We talk quite a bit about narrative feature films here at The Flickcast. You know, the ones that exist in a fictional world full of characters and situations contrived to tell a story. There are also these other films known as documentaries where actual, real people relate the experiences of their lives and also tell a story.

And yes, some of them are quite good, even if they’re not directed by Michael Moore or Morgan Spurlock (although, they do make some good films). Case in point, the SXSW documentary premiere film American Grindhouse.

Narrated by Academy Award-nominated actor Robert Forster, the feature-length documentary “boasts exclusive interviews with filmmakers Herschell Gordon Lewis, Joe Dante, Larry Cohen, Jack Hill, Fred Williamson, John Landis and many more. Not only that, quite a few of these actors, directors and writers are speaking out in their first-ever on-camera interviews.”

In addition, the film features “clips and scenes from more than 200 of the most jaw-dropping movies ever screened, American Grindhouse is poised to be the most comprehensive motion picture ever made on the subject of Exploitation Cinema. Shameless ballyhoo or certifiable fact? Watch the film and see for yourself.”

I’m going to go on record right now and say “certifiable fact.” See for yourself and check out the trailer after the jump.

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There hasn’t been much news about lately a new Twilight Zone movie, based on Rod Sterling’s original TV series. But now that Leonardo DiCaprio’s production company, Appian Way, has decided to pick up the film in conjunction with Warner Bros, there is finally some movement on the project. It was recently announced that Rand Ravich will be penning the script for the film, which will be a fresh take on the classic sci-fi show.

Ravich only has a few things under his belt, and coming into a project like this, they are surprising. He had both written and directed 1999′s The Astronaut’s Wife, along with a sequel to Candyman, and his latest work was writing for NBC’s Life. No other details have been released about the film’s writers or director, but with Appian Way, who produced 2004′s The Aviator and this year’s Public Enemies, you can believe that DiCaprio takes his producing job seriously and will have inut on the director.

Twilight Zone has been in and out of the public eye on TV for decades, with resurrections in 1985, 1994, and 2002. Many recall the 1983 film as well, which was an anthology (very big at the time in movies), consisting of several old Zone storylines, re-imagined by the likes of John Landis, Stephen Spielberg, and George Miller.

The film was also the focal point of some controversy as actor Vic Morrow  and two children died on the set while shooting a scene. No word yet on when production will begin on the new film, but with a writer now attached, more details are sure to follow.

The reboot/remake train just keeps on roiling along. Now we can add John Landis’ 1981 horror/comedy An American Werewolf In London to the list of movies getting a “refresh” — at least according to a tipster who dropped some info over at Bloody Disgusting. In the article, the tipster reveals that writer/director Landis himself may be responsible for setting the wheels in motion on the reboot by selling his remake rights to Dimension Films.

Producing the film for Dimension will reportedly be the Weinstein brothers, who are currently about to launch Halloween II into theaters and are also hard at work on a reboot of yet another horror franchise: Clive Barker’s 1987 film Hellraiser. In case you’re not familiar with Landis’ original film, it concerns two friends traveling in England who are attacked by a werewolf.

One of the friends is killed but the other survives and begins to change and become a werewolf himself — much to the dismay of his new girlfriend, a nurse he met while recovering from the attack. In truth, this movie is one of my favorite horror/comedies of all time and I was actually discussing and recommending it to some friends just the other day. This particular reboot seems like a very bad idea.

The original film was great and achieved just the right mix of horror, action, suspense, romance and gore making it a very tough act to follow — as evidenced by the abismal sequel An American Werewolf in Paris. I know reboots and remakes are inevitable but I also know, especially in this case, there’s pretty much no way a reboot will ever live up to the original.