Spider-Man 3 Teaser Trailer

Sony Pictures has released the Spider-Man 3 Teaser Trailer.

This summer may belong to the Return of Superman, but next May the Man of Steel will be long forgotten if this trailer is anything to go by.

2IGTV Episode 20

We mourn the death of Aaron Spelling in this battery-powered episode of 2IGTV. Also: Dallas, Magnum P.I., Ultraviolet, Stargate, Apple, Tom Cruise, Uwe Boll goes nuts, Paramount's screwing about with the Tom Clancy franchise and much more.







Get it all here.

Eddie R.I.P.

The true star of the TV sitcom Frasier, Eddie, has died at 16 years old. The mutt's real name was Moose and his rise to fame to became a star was unmarred even after unremorsefully killing a neighbours cat as a young pup.

Moose played Eddie for an extraordinary 10 years, where he garnered a reputation for stealing scenes even from the shows main star Kelsey Grammer who allegedly even threatened to leave at one point unless they got rid of the animal.

In 2003, Animal Planet ranked Eddie the Dog fifth in its 50 Greatest TV Animals special, behind only Lassie, Kermit the Frog, Flipper and Mr. Ed.

"He was extremely mischievous, always escaping, chewing up things and running off." his trainer, Mathilde Halberg told People magazine.

Iron Man gets release date.

Variety has confirmed that Marvel has set a release date for the big-screen debut of Iron Man and that day is May 2, 2008.

Director Jon Favreau said the story will be contemporary, although it will pay homage to the character's 1960s roots. "We're gonna have it take place in the present day, but there will be an origin story that has the old, gray Iron Man suit; eventually it will progress into more of the modern look," he revealed. "That's the fun of doing the first one."

The filmmaker also said that Iron Man will not deal with Tony Stark's alcoholism, at least not in the first film. "I think we're going to lay the groundwork for it, but the first one's going to explore him taking on this alter ego of Iron Man, and developing the suit, and what happens politically within the Stark Corporation."

Favreau also advised fans not to expect a big-name star like Tom Cruise to play the Armored Avenger, citing the example of casting lesser known thesps like Tobey Maguire as Spider-Man or Brandon Routh as Superman.

Two sets of screenwriters are busy working on drafts for shellhead' big-screen debut: Matt Hollaway and Art Markum (Convoy), and Mark Fergus and Hawk Otsby (First Snow).

One problem facing the movie is that no one has figured out yet who's paying the bill. The deal for Marvel's much discussed $525 million warchest (for funding films to be distributed via Paramount) did not include Iron Man or the sequel/reboot The Incredible Hulk, which is set-up at Universal.

Marvel can attach new characters to the loan but must receive permission from Merrill Lynch. Marvel general counsel John Turitzin said the company expects to start talks on Iron Man soon and hopes to secure permission in the fall, sometime before the pic is officially greenlit and starts production late this year or early 2007.

Damon as Kirk; Genius or Insanity?

...I'll let you, the readers decide on the latest revelation that J.J.Abrams wants Matt Damon, to play the legendary Starship Enterprise commander, Starfleet Captain James Tiberius Kirk in the forthcoming Star Trek movie.

Abrams is said to be so eager to cast Damon that he even reportedly sought out and received the blessing of the original (and some might say only) Captain Kirk, William Shatner.

More Snakes Muthafuckas'!

Sam Jackson has something to say over at snakesonaplane.com. The excitement is building now!

Simon Pegg finally immortalised as action figure.

A Shaun of the Dead 12-Inch Action Figure with Sound will be released in September.

Have some flesh-eating fun with one of the best selling and most popular cult classics figures to date gets the deluxe treatment in the 1:6 scale format. Shaun comes complete with his cricket bat and base strewn with broken records as well as an interchangeable left hand with flower bouquet. The figure also "speaks" key phrases from the film.

Goodbye Charlie

While some focus on the negative aspects of his life, one cannot deny the value of the achievements that Charles J. Haughey made to the state during his many tumultuous years in office. The Succession Act, The Extradition Act, The reactivation Special Criminal Court, the end to the IRA's border campaign and free travel and subsidised electricity for OAP's and tax exemptions for artists and the disabled. His budget cutting measures after 1987 transformed the economy and paved the way for an unprecedented decade of economic boom and the Celtic Tiger era of the late 1990s and he was also responsible for one of the greatest economic benefits to the country, the International Financial Services Centre.

On Friday June 16th 2006 the country said goodbye to one of it's most loved and famous political figures in a state funeral attended by thousands of mourners. I myself mourned the passing of a man, to whom the invasion of Northern Ireland by the Irish Army was his proposed solution to the Northern troubles in the late 1960's.

Goodbye Charlie.

2IGTV Episode 19

In this hilarious instalment: Duke Nukem 4Ever, Age Of Conan, Project 880, Transformers and more!
Now available at 2IGTV.com

Black vs Seagal

Jack Black is so impressed with his own wrestling prowess after training for new movie Nacho Libre he's keen to try out his fighting skills on martial arts action man Steven Seagal. The movie funnyman trained with a real-life Mexican wrestler to play the Spandex-clad hero of the new film - and how he fancies his chances against Seagal. Black tells American magazine Sports Illustrated, "I should take down someone who is strong, so Steven Seagal (would be perfect) - with his ridiculous Indian gear, ponytail and swagger. He's the best fighter in the world in his own mind, so I'll take him down two notches with my Anaconda Squeeze and Face Melter." Black also quips he has developed his own unsavory wrestling move: "The Wind of A Lion is basically a submission hold. You get the guy down, you sit on his face and then you release the lion's wind. That usually spells complete defeat."

Zimmer being sued

The prince of modern film scoring, German born Hans Zimmer is being sued by the Holst Foundation over claims that the Oscar-nominated score for Gladiator is a copy of the late Gustav Holst's famous "Planet Suite."

If the foundation win their claim for infringement of copyright they could make millions of dollars, because sales of the film's soundtrack have gone platinum. Despite Zimmer admitting on the album sleeve that he uses "the same language, the same vocabulary, if not the same syntax" as Holst, the music publishers who hold the copyright in Holst's works, J. Curwen & Sons have decided to take legal action.

A Curwen spokesman says, "After a considerable period of discussion between the two parties it has become necessary to ask for the assistance of the courts." The defense lawyer says, "Mr. Zimmer's work on Gladiator is world-renowned and is not in any sense a copy of Mars. Just listening to the two works is enough to tell any listener this claim has no merit."

As for me, I'm intimately familiar with both Holst's magnificent "The Planets: Mars, The Bringer of War" (as I listened to a lot of Classical music before embracing exclusively the music of film scores) and Gladiator which is Zimmer's magnum opus, (thus far) but I can say with certainty that while he has used all the instruments Holst composed for and has them playing as loudly and bombastically as Holst did, the tempo is completely different and is almost alien in difference. The case should be thrown out.

Transformers

Website on line now.

Got 'im!

Was a bit busy yesterday. Target neutralized.

Bond 22

It appears that Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson are moving full-steam ahead with the untitled 22nd James Bond film, a follow-up to Casino Royale, by hiring a new screenwriter and director. Oscar-winning screenwriter Tom (The Bourne Ultimatum) Stoppard is "in talks" to pen the screenplay and Neal Purvis and Robert Wade were previously confirmed as working on the script. For Casino Royale, Purvis & Wade fleshed out the basic story and structure before Oscar winner Paul Haggis was brought in to polish dialogue and character.

Eon Productions are also "in negotiations" with South African-born director Roger (Changing Lanes) Michell to helm Bond 22. Michell is in keeping with the kinds of directors the Bond franchise has recently been employing: notable but hardly A-list non-American filmmakers, such as Roger Spottiswoode and Michael Apted, who are better known for character-driven dramas than they are for big action movies. Royale director Martin Campbell is an exception, whereas Lee Tamahori gained attention for films such as Once Were Warriors before tackling Die Another Day. (Then gained a different sort of attention by dressing up as a woman and hiring himself out as a prostitute).

Daniel Craig will return for Bond 22 which it has been long suggested will lens either later this year or early next year to cash in on the irresistible "007 in '007" release date. The next two sequels will reportedly follow a story arc established in Casino Royale.

2IGTV Episode 18

Episode 18 of 2IGTV is now available. Go to 2IGTV.com for details.

Axl's got a saber!

He may shoot pigs for no reason other than getting attention, but Guns 'n' Roses front man Axl Rose owns a Power FX lightasber which he brandished onstage and outside a recent concert when this photo was taken.

Must get me one of those...

Newsflash: Civilians die in war!

The chairman of the US military's Joint Chiefs of Staff said today: "it would be premature for me to judge" the outcome of a Pentagon investigation into the killing of as many as a dozen Iraqi civilians by Marines.

Marine General Peter Pace said he believes its critically important to make the point that if certain service members are responsible for an atrocity there, "99.9% of our guys and gals are doing the job exactly the way they should be."

He also told FOX News that Gen. Mike Hagee, commandant of the Marine Corps, is going to reinforce the idea with the Marines "that that's what American fighting men and women do, they perform their mission with honor and dignity.
"And we'll let this investigation take its course and see where it goes and make it public," Pace said.

Pace's interview came a day after Rep. John Murtha, a prominent critic of Iraq policy, said that this incident last November in Haditha, Iraq, could undermine U.S. efforts there more than the Abu Ghraib prison scandal did. "I will not excuse murder, and this is what happened," he said. "This investigation should have been over two or three weeks afterward and it should have been made public and people should have been held responsible for it."

Pace added: "This investigation is ongoing. It would be premature for me to judge the outcome."

Colonel Creedon, of UNETIDA said: "Personally, I can say that this class of cover-up doesn't often happen in the military (unless it's an Area-51 situation, but that shit is done for your own good) and I'm sure there'll be a reasonable explanation for these events. It is an unfortunate fact of war that "innocent" people will die, that's how war gets a bad name. Most civvies that get shot, do so because they get in the in the way at an inopportune moment, but most get shot because they're running, don't run dammit! What are you running from? That'll get you shot; they even shoot you on the London Underground for that nowadays so why don't they think it'll happen in godammn warzone?"

Coppers confiscate Bat'leth

British police have seized a replica Klingon bat'leth during a raid on a home in Gloucester.

The Sun Online reported that "this five-foot martial arts sword capable of beheading a man was recovered by shocked cops" and put on display at the start of a national knife amnesty program, encouraging owners to turn in illegally owned blades.

It was not reported why the bat'leth was taken, nor whether it was ever used in any sort of combat or criminal activity, but I'd assume the owner was involved in nefarious activity as opposed to a harmless Trekkie who thought that Worf's sword was cool and was using it as a decoration over his mantlepiece.

Blade Runner: Final Cut

Warner will soon issue a new remastered director's cut of Blade Runner in September now that it has cleared up rights issues, followed by a theatrical release of a version promised to be truly director Ridley Scott's final cut. Warner's rights to Blade Runner lapsed a year ago, but the studio has since negotiated a long-term license.

When Scott ran overbudget, completion bond guarantors took control of it and famously fucked it up (Highlander II style). This was replaced by Scott's superior director's cut in '92, but he (much like God with the Star Wars Trilogy) was unhappy with it as he was rushed and unable to give it his full attention. He began work on the newest version at the turn of the century, but it was shelved by Warner soon after, due to them being unable to secure rights from executive producer Jerry Perenchio.

In a very un-Hollywood fashion, Warner have revealed it's plans for all forthcoming versions of the film on DVD so that people won't make the mistake of buying one, and then getting a better one in a years time: The restored "Director's Cut" will debut on home video in September and will remain on sale for only four months, after which time it will be placed on moratorium. Blade Runner: Final Cut will arrive in 2007 for a limited 25th anniversary theatrical run, followed by a special-edition DVD with the three previous versions offered as alternate viewing. Besides the original theatrical version and director's cut, the expanded international theatrical cut will be included. The set will also contain additional bonus materials.

Libya comes in from the cold

Three years after Libya renounced terrorism and abandoned its program to acquire weapons of mass destruction, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has announced that the United States is restoring full diplomatic relations with the North African country and soon even reopen it's embassy in Tripoli after 27 years. Rice said that the United States intends to remove Libya from the list of designated state sponsors of terrorism. Libya also will be omitted from the annual certification of countries not cooperating fully with U.S. anti-terrorism efforts.

Now, I've no doubt that this renewed diplomatic "association" with Libya will sit well with the families of the victims of the Lockerbie disaster, the German disco and those killed during the invasion of Chad, but I will say from personal experience, that now that sanctions are lifted that it's far easier to "monitor" any potential threats from inside a country expecially in the guise of enterprise, commerce and industry, than it is from outside (or clandestine insertions into) countries like Iran, China or North Korea.

While the garishly dressed Gadaffi (the original nutter Colonel) probably won't win the Nobel peace prize any time soon. I think that the current political climate that has now been engineered will only benefit the world in the long run.