Originally titled Guardians of the Ga’Hoole, Zack Snyder’s next directorial work, Legend of The Guardians has been picking up quite a lot of steam lately. This is the first thing that Snyder has worked on since he’s finally settled down after the epic task of adapting Alan Moore’s Watchmen last year.
Originally based on the young adult series by Kathryn Lasky, it’s basically an epic adventure of heroism and wonder, but with owls. The book series ended in November of 2008, topping it off at 15 books, and now Snyder and Warner Bros. are planning on taking that success to the world of film.
The film has a pretty huge cast list, as most big-budget CGI films do these days. Sam Neill, Hugo Weaving, Emilie de Ravin, Ryan Kwanten, Jim Sturgess, Geoffrey Rush, and Helen Mirren round out a pretty well known list of players.
USA Today recently got their hands on the first images from the upcoming film, which is currently set for a September 24th release date. Check out the pics along with the very first trailer after the jump, and be sure to keep it here for any new info as we get closer to the release date of Legend of The Guardians.
With the SXSW Film/Music/Interactive Fest starting next week, the deluge of info about films being screened during the event is starting to increase. One film that caught our eye is director Chris D’Arienzo’s comedy Barry Munday, which features Watchmen’s Patrick Wilson in an atypical comedic role, the always funny Judy Greer and a great supporting cast.
And now, courtesy of the folks doing PR for the film during the Fest, we can share a trailer and some stills with you today. Also, here’s more on the story of the film from its official synopsis:
Barry Munday, a suburban wanna-be ladies man, wakes up in the hospital after being attacked in a movie theater, only to realize that he is missing one of his most prized possessions… his testicles. To make matters worse, Barry learns he’s facing a paternity lawsuit filed by a woman he can’t remember having sex with.
With this being Barry last chance to ever be a father, Barry reaches out and embraces the journey of parenthood and the onslaught of bumps that face him along the way.
Check out the new trailer and some stills from the film after the break. Barry Munday premieres at SXSW on Saturday, March 13.
The Internet was abuzz last week with reports of a possible Watchmen sequel. There was some suggestion that in the wake of DC President Paul Levitz stepping down Senior VP Dan DiDio was championing a sequel to the “unfilmable” film directed by Zak Snyder. Further, speculation had DiDio planning multiple spin-off projects based on one of DC’s most profitable comic book runs.
Adding to the confusion, and controversy, was the somewhat untimely use of art by comic book authority Wizard magazine. A portion of the picture depicted Batman laying some smack down on resident Watchmen psychopath Rorschach.
Let me say at this point I loved Watchmen. In fact, I loved it so much I never want a sequel to be made. Thankfully, it seems, that will never happen…at least from what we’re hearing now.
Deadline.comlooked into the Watchmen 2 rumor and a well placed insider stated: “There is no truth to anything related to a movie sequel. Not a chance by a long shot. With regards to the comics, well, I guess anything is possible. I’ll keep my opinion to myself as to whether it’s a smart idea to do so.”
Here’s a list of some of the new movie and TV shows coming to DVD and Blu-ray this week that we’re looking forward to seeing. Also, there’s some classic, and not-so-classic, movies hitting Blu-ray for the first time this week as well.
Of all the new releases, we’re particularly interested in the Blu-ray versions of movies and TV shows such as Michael Mann’s awesome film Heat (shown above with Robert De Nero and Val Kilmer), Logan’s Run, Up, Monsters, Inc. and the Watchmen “Ultimate” Cut. Plus, there’s the second volume of Batman: The Brave and the Bold coming out this week as well.
Check them out:
Movies
The Accidental Husband ~ Uma Thurman, Colin Firth, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and Sam Shepard (DVD and Blu-ray)
The General (1926) (Silent) ~ Buster Keaton (Blu-ray)
Heat ~ Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Val Kilmer (Blu-ray)
Logan’s Run ~ Michael York (Blu-ray)
Love Finds a Home ~ Patty Duke, Jordan Bridges, Haylie Duff (DVD and Blu-ray)
Monsters, Inc. (4-Disc Edition) ~ Billy Crystal, John Goodman, Bonnie Hunt (DVD and Blu-ray)
Near Dark ~ Lance Henriksen, Adrian Pasdar, Bill Paxton, Jenny Wright (Blu-ray)
Haley is probably best known at this point for playing Rorschach in Watchmen which came out last April. However, as notorious as Rorschach seemed he’ll be getting upstaged soon enough. When next we see Haley he’ll be wearing the hat, sweater and razor glove made infamous by Freddy Krueger in the Nightmare on Elm Street reboot. Unfortunately, as deadly as Krueger was as a nightmare serial killer can he really compare to a villain feared throughout the galaxy? Hopefully we’ll get to find out.
In conjunction with this comes a hint that Superman may also appear in the Green Lantern film. While no details have emerged regarding this, it makes sense that DC would emulate Marvel’s efforts to integrate their various comic book films. Further, given the legalities DC has been facing regarding the Superman property this may help prove they are making efforts to reinvigorated the character after lackluster reviews of Superman Returns.
Little Big Planet is one of those games that PS3 owners love to go gaga for, but anybody who doesn’t own one, doesn’t understand it’s allure. It has been called one of the top adventure games of the year, and easily one of the highest grossing PS3 exclusive games to date, and news like today’s is only further reason.
For those unaware, Little Big Planet is about an 8-centimeter hero who travels through a world we never see, due to the fact that it’s so small. The sack-boy gets into side-scrolling adventures left and right and with your help, makes it out alive. One of the most intriguing things about LBP is the how deep you can customize your character. there are thousands of costumes and add-ons in the game, with more and more being released through downloadable content.
It was just announced that a new, geek-friendly set of costumes will be coming to PS3 this Thursday, in a set of Watchmen costumes. From here, you can choose to dress as lil’ Roarschach, lil’ Ozzy, lil’ Silk Spectre, and lil’ Night Owl. No word on whether we’ll see tiny Doc Manhattan, but this is still a pretty cool add-on to an already in-depth game. Those who follow the developer blog at littlebigplanet.com know that the creators are such big fans, that they even created a level based on San Diego Comic-Con this year.
Check out the full picture of the Watchmen costume kit after the jump, along with a super brief intro video showing you what they look like next to giant-sized Manhattan.
Wilson delivered a great performance as the second Night Owl. Not only did he convey a sense of mundane self-deprecation but in complete contrast brought some serious action scenes to the film as well. All that and he still found the time for a pretty good love scene with Silk Spectre II (Malin Ackerman). That range of acting should help Wilson craft a worth ally, or adversary, for The A-Team.
Now that all the dust has settled, and San Diego Comic-Con is slowly becoming a fading memory, we wanted to bring our readers a look at some of the things we saw, people we talked to, and stuff we did during what we like to call NerdiGras.
We put together this little video to show you what we all went through last week, so check it out, and be sure to stay tuned for all of the interviews, specials, and news we have to offer you from The Flickcast team!
Not many directors will go down in history being considered a faithful comic book film adaptor, and not many even want the title. Zack Snyder not only earns that moniker, but makes it his own. With his first major adaptation being Frank Miller’s 300 back in 2006, he was immediately up for the idea of taking on another project, one that many called “Unfilmable”.
Last year, he took on Alan Moore’s Watchmen, which was, as the trailer stated, the most celebrated graphic novel in history. Last week, his director’s cut of the film, which had an extra half hour of footage, hit DVD stores, and select theaters, across the country.
We were able to speak with the “legendary visionary” himself at Comic-Con in San Diego. In the interview, Snyder discussed what had to get cut from the original film and why, where the franchise could go from here, and what he and Frank Miller have planned for a sequel to 2006’s 300.
Check out the full video after the jump. Watchmen: The Director’s Cut is now in stores everywhere.
The release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince has reopened discussions about what makes a good book to film adaptation. The Potter series often divides fans, and the latest chapter is no exception. I’ve heard from a number of fans of the book series who are disappointed with the current film’s adaptation, while I’ve also talked to fans who are satisfied. Brad Brevet from RopesofSilicon reflected on some of the more negative fan reactions and he asks, “how faithful should film adaptations be?”
Adapting a book into a film is not an easy process. Squeezing a 300-page novel into a 120-minute film is difficult, especially if the book has lots of exposition or other elements that are not easily cinematic. For books that are rich and deeply characterized, like the Potter books, adaptation is almost always going to mean losing some characters or the minute characterizations that many fans hold dear.
That said, making an adaptation that is too close to the original work can often be just as problematic as making an unfaithful adaptation. Brevet mentions this spring’s Watchmen as an example of a film that while remarkably true to its graphic novel counterpart, still didn’t end up endearing itself to even diehard Watchmen fans. I would argue this was because despite getting the character and plot details correct, Watchmen didn’t effectively bring enough of its own cinematic virtues to the project. In contrast, Frank Miller’s Sin City was a tremendous adaptation of various vignettes from the graphic novel series, and it managed to be both accurate and bring in its own voice.
Originally titled Guardians of the Ga’Hoole, Zack Snyder’s next directorial work, Legend of The Guardians has been picking up quite a lot of steam lately. This is the first thing that Snyder has worked on since he’s finally settled down after the epic task of adapting Alan Moore’s Watchmen last year.
While news about the upcoming 
Not many directors will go down in history being considered a faithful comic book film adaptor, and not many even want the title. Zack Snyder not only earns that moniker, but makes it his own. With his first major adaptation being Frank Miller’s 300 back in 2006, he was immediately up for the idea of taking on another project, one that many called “Unfilmable”.
The release of 
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