DR. STRANGE (In Development)

•  DR. STRANGE IS MOVING FORWARD

Marvel studios are finally in the process of moving forward with Dr. Strange!!!

Conan and Sahara writers Josh Oppenheimer and Thomas Dean Donnelly have turned in their long-awaited script to Marvel, and it's clearly been judged successful enough to be worth pursuing. The current word is that it's now out to a short-list of directors, one of whom will, obviously enough, "oversee continued development".

Stephen Strange is a key player in the Marvel universe, although he represents the slightly more mysterious magical and supernatural corners rather than the ones that deal with mutant superpowers and military super-armour. A surgeon whose hands were ruined in an accident, he turned to the mystic arts to become the world's Sorcerer Supreme.

We had heard in the past that Marvel was or is (not quite sure if they still will be doing it) planning on attaching short-films to there future projects, in the way Pixar have been doing for a while now. Just that there Short-films will be used to introduce their smaller characters to the mainstream audience. Now we did know that Dr. Stranger was to be made into one of these short-stories but now it certainly looks like Marvel feel that they have strong enough story, to allow this Strange to stand on his own.

"He's one of the best characters we have," Marvel's Kevin Feige said a couple of years back. "He represents this fantastic cosmic universe that hasn't yet seen life on screen, and I think he'd be amazing to play with."

GREEN LANTERN 2 (Talk of Development)

• GREEN LANTERN FLOPPED BUT THERE IS STILL HOPE FOR THE FRANCHISE

While Green Lantern still has 22 more countries to open up in, the box office results for the comic book adaptation have been less than astronomical…. No actually the film has been a major flop.

The film cost about $200 million to make, and about another $100 in marketing costs, the Martin Campbell-directed film has earned $114 million domestically and $40 million internationally, for a worldwide total of just $154 million so far. And with the film released in all the major territories, that bring in the majority of films money coupled with the fact that reviews from critics and audience a like is leaning towards the negative. We really think that this film can be labeled a flop now.

According to Warner Bros. film group president Jeff Robinov, however, they are still thinking about moving ahead with a sequel. He tells the Los Angeles Times "we had a decent opening so we learned there is an audience. To go forward we need to make it a little edgier and darker with more emphasis on action…. And we have to find a way to balance the time the movie spends in space versus on Earth."

The newspaper adds that the studio would like to go with another director for the sequel, though they say that Campbell has an option for the second film. This means that if the studio were going to move forward without him, they would have to work something out.

Robinov added that they have "a solid script" for The Flash and he is also still interested in a Justice League movie

CICERO (Tom Hardy speaks)

• TOM HARDY ON BEING AL CAPONE

IGN recently had the chance to briefly speak with Tom Hardy about how he felt about being in the upcoming film Cicero, which will be the first of a series of films that will be based on Al Capone.

Tom Hardy as Bane in the Dark Knight Rises

Question from IGN: What's the big draw for you in wanting to play Al Capone, because there's a lot of history there. The more you read about him, you get a sense of a lot more complexity to him than people have seen.

Tom Hardy: It's a case file that I'm really excited to open up on many levels. I relate it with Bronson... I mean, Al Capone is dead. With Charles Bronson, I could meet and talk to him regularly. So it's that same excitement that I have for that to go and do a character study on a human being that exists... or existed. So that's the draw, to open up an investigation on the man and to show and tell that as I'm doing it in real time. Does that make sense? So yeah, I'm excited about that. Realistically, the kind of work that I want to do with him, I don't want to rush on that, that especially. And that's Warner Brothers. David Yates is attached to direct that. It's a great script. He's such an important iconic character, American character. It's such a tremendous honor to be given an opportunity to open up a case study on these guys, all these people. So I take it very seriously. That's why, that's the draw. It's a very serious thing to do

FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS (In Development)

• FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS FROM MOVIE TO TV TO MOVIE

Something quite unique is happening in Hollywood right now, we will be seeing a movie that got turned into a TV series, gets turned back into a Movie!! This doesn’t happen all to often…

But, Friday Night Lights will be returning to the big screen!!

Executive-producer Peter Berg has confirmed that he's planning to bring the beloved TV show back to the big screen where it all began (the show was, of course, reproduced from the 2004 film directed by Berg himself).

"We're writing a script," he said at the Television Critics Association's. "We've been meeting with [fellow FNL executive-producer] Jason Katims for the last couple of weeks. We have a real good script idea. We want to do it. We're very serious about doing it. We intend to do it."

The film would see Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton reprising their roles as Coach and Tami Taylor.

"The goal would be to focus the film around Kyle and Connie and bring [in] some new characters and then bring in some of our familiar faces," says Berg. "We have, I think, a really fresh, very original take on it. We're very serious about wanting to do it… If all goes well, we would shoot it next year at some point."

BOND 23 (Daniel Craig Interview)

• COWBOYS & BOND

Jon Favreau & Daniel Craig 

Cowboys and Aliens director Jon Favreau recently interviewed Daniel Craig, and they talked about Bond 23.

When Favreau asked about the involvement of Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes, Craig responded:

"I think it's a kind of great choice. I think Sam has a fervour and energy to really direct a 'Bond' movie with a capital 'B'. He's just completely feet-first thrown himself into it. He's read every book, and soaked up everything about it. I mean, I've read the script the other day, and I'm more excited about this than I was about Casino [Royale] because we've kind of got a classic 'Bond' movie, plus lots of other things."

The Untitled 23rd Bond movie is due for release in the UK on October 26, 2012, and in the US on November 9, 2012.

You can see the full interview here…

DIE HARD 5 (In Developement)

• DIE HARD 5

Looks like Bruce Willis might Die Hard in Russia.

According to Twitch, the story will revolve around McClane heading east with his son, where the two become drawn into a conflict with local forces.

The site also reports that due to his involvement with 300 prequel Xerxes, Noam Murro is no longer attached to direct. Max Payne helmer John Moore is now apparently in pole position to take charge of the flick.

So it certainly looks like we will be seeing John McClane take on some Russians in the next installment.

SUPER 8 - REVIEW

• Super 8 Review

Super 8 is a film that will really grab your attention as it gets going… Yes it might feature an alien, but the film is much more then just the alien!! Which is a good thing!!

It's about a young kid realizing that grief isn't something you get over, it's something you learn to live with. It's about fathers and sons, and the conflict that comes when the former struggles to relate to the latter. It really goes through the emotions and it brings you a sense of forgiveness, but its done in true Spielberg fashion. Yet, this time the director’s chair was giving to his “prodigy” JJ Abrams.

But the film does mess up by not being able to bring these two genres or origins seamlessly together. The end product is mash-up between films like ET and The Thing.

The biggest success of the film is definitely our Abrams was able to capture the feel of the Smalltown in 1979 and tell the story of a group of friends that’s just trying to make a film, when there lives are turned upside down when they witness train crash.

It's a testament to Abrams' direction that we fall for these young teens as hard as they do for each other. Abrams gives each character the right amount of personality to make them endearing.

The only other problem that the film had was that, Abrams spends the majority of the film trying to hide the Alien instead of developing its character, which inturn would of led the film to have a much better and effective arc along with our main character, making it a great classic film, and not one that just had great moments.

When Super 8 works, though, it really works, earnestly and without manipulation. It's a love letter to a certain type of genre filmmaking; it's an original idea, inspired by the original ideas of others, with a strong emotional core that's hard to find in current Hollywood movies.

Our Rating 7/10

M1 & M2 With The Review