Scotty is Pegged, Kirk may be Pined

Chris Pine a former chick-flick actor could be playing Captain Kirk if he accepts as he's apparently been offered the role over the aforementioned Mike Vogel. I think Pine would be a better choice than Vogel as it was Pine who breathed life into Darwin Tremor, one of the Neo-Nazi assassins in the superb slick action movie Smokin' Aces (he's the guy that used his hands to manipulate the mouth on a dead Ben Affleck to have a conversation with him! Shit-Cool!).




In other news John Cho has been cast as Mr. Sulu. He's Asian so he's obviously going to work right? And now also it seems that Paul McGillion won't be the most famous Science Fiction engineer ever.

I'll admit I would never, if given a million guesses have thought of Simon Pegg as Scotty, but he is now. Pegg is one of the funniest men on the planet but even though he was the tech-guy Benji in the magnificent M:I-3, I wouldn't have gone so far as to cast him as Scotty.

Well at least we know that he can do the accent and that's all that really matters. Check this out.

Sources: AICN, Trek Today, Trekmovie, Youtube

Steve Rogers Staying Dead but Captain America Returns

If you thought there was never going to be another "Captain America", then shame on you! You're an idiot.

If you thought that Captain America/Steve Rogers was going to return right-as-rain after I personally buried him a few months ago, then you're in my boat actually, I thought that was going to happen.

No. There's a new Sentinel of Liberty coming; written by Ed Brubaker (who guaranteed Rogers' status of being food for worms forever) and drawn by Alex Ross one of the most talented painters (I will not use the word artist when talking about this man) on the planet (Note to Mark: I keep forgetting to give you back your Kingdom Come - remind me!). Ross has created a new Captain America uniform for the as-yet-unknown character who will take up the mantle.

What excites me is the fact that he'll CARRY A GUN - yes!! Look it's in the picture!!! Jesus Christ he has a big fucking knife too!!! Now that's what I'm tallking 'bout Momma!! Shit I'm dribbling on my shirt! So will the new Cap be a slightly unhinged Republican? A paid up member of the NRA? Let's hope so, I like this development.

Fill details and artwork at Marvel.com Captain America #34 is currently scheduled to arrive in stores on January 16, 2007.

Source: Marvel

Sizemore Gives Interview From Jail

I had previously thought the Tom Sizemore news would have dried up, but apparently he's been giving interviews from prison.

He says this week that he's done with drugs. "I'm not trading my whole life for some powder."

Sizemore is currently serving time in Kern County for violating probation in a drug case after he was arrested in a Bakersfield hotel in May for methamphetamine found in his car. He'll be released in November.

The actor tapped to play the title role in a Colonel Creedon movie was charged with seven drug-related counts, but pleaded no contest to a charge of transporting drugs for personal use. He was sentenced Wednesday to treatment in a drug therapy program.

Sizemore, 45, said getting busted may have been good for him. "God's trying to tell me he doesn't want me using drugs because every time I use them I get caught," he said. He said he understands the punishment could have been worse. "I got another chance, some people might think I don't deserve one, but I'm glad the judge thought so and I mean to make the most of it."

WAR! Exploding Dog!

War was originally going to be titled Rogue as I previously reported but they changed the name for some reason but not the concept: pitting Jason Statham against Jet Li in a slightly more realistic setting than The One.

In this movie, Statham is the commander of the FBI's Asian Crime Task Force who is determined to get revenge on an infamous skilled assassin Rogue (Li). His efforts are somewhat hampered by a sudden escalation of hostilities between the Chinese Triads and the Japanese Yakuza.

The movie has excellent action-oriented performances from both Statham and Li but I was hoping for a bit more from them considering their recent performances in Crank and Fearless respectively. However as there's no shortage of automatic weapons fire, edged weapon dismemberment and fragmentary explosions; (including a suicide bomber dog!) I can't really fault the movie too much. This is surprisingly the feature film directorial debut of Philip G. Atwell formerly a music video director whom you would not think would be able to craft such very clever production which gives us plenty of gang shootouts, assassinations, motor cycle and car chases, and enough over the top violence for the most hardened of viewers. One blood bath takes place in a Japanese tea house in San Fran's Chinatown where a room full of Yakuza and their kimono clad waitress are reduced to an unnecessary amount of pure dead meat - sublime!

Once I heard there was going to be a twist greater than anything that Shyamalan could've pulled off at the end of this movie, I set all the details to "go dark"; a total blackout. I didn't want to know anything else about this movie and it paid off, as unlike some other brilliant movies this year- the climax of this one will blow you away physically and emotionally- well that's if you can get emotionally vested in characters from an action movie that is.

Final verdict: Sometimes awful dialog and restrained acting couldn't take away the adrenalin rush from this superb action flick, but I was expecting something a bit more from these two.

Colonel Creedon Rating: ****1/2

General Pace Retires, Admiral Mullen Sworn In

“We have an enemy who has declared war on us. We are in a war. They want to stop us from living the way we want to live our lives." Marine Corps General Peter Pace said during his sun-splashed retirement ceremony Monday on the parade field at Fort Myer, Virginia. “We will prevail, there’s no doubt about that.”

Gen. Pace, who ends a 40-year career that began as a rifle platoon leader in the Vietnam War and ended as the first Marine to be CJCS, addressed a standing-room-only crowd that included President Bush, Vice President Cheney, SECDEF Robert Gates, Gates’ predecessor, Donald Rumsfeld, the service secretaries and the JCS.

Pace deliberately blurred the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, although it is the Iraq war that appears to provoke the most national anger and most of the calls for the withdrawal of troops. His comments aimed at acknowledging both that anger and what officials have said is the fragile depth of the nation’s ground forces, which are wearing thin from the strain of fighting the two wars — a situation that some critics say has significantly weakened the military’s ability to respond elsewhere around the world if called upon.

The officer sworn in Monday to replace Pace, US Navy Admiral Mike Mullen, expressed a similar desire to rebuild during his own remarks. “I’m ... eager to work closely with our service chiefs, our combatant commanders, as together we develop and execute a strategy to support our national interests in the Middle East; we reset, reconstitute and revitalize our armed forces, especially our ground forces; and we properly balance our risks around the globe,” Mullen said. “The fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan will one day end. We must be ready for who and what comes after.”

Getting to such a point, Pace said, will require thoughtful dialogue, not partisan bickering. While he didn’t mention Congress, the fights over war funding and calls for immediate withdrawal from Iraq that have marked the past year on Capitol Hill were clearly on his mind as he spoke his parting speech "What worries me is that in some instances right now we have individuals who are more interested in making somebody else look bad than they are in finding the right solution,” he said. “They are more interested in letting their personal venom come forward instead of talking about how do we get from where we are to where we need to be.”

Adm. Mullen said “We owe it to the American people and to all of you, our men and women in uniform and your families, to provide you with clear direction,” after being sworn in, as members of every branch of the armed services looked on. With honor guards and a flyover by fighter jets, it was a day of high ceremony for Mullen and the chairman he replaced, Gen. Pace.

Mullen was SECDEF Robert Gates’ choice to replace Pace, who had been vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs when the Iraq invasion was launched in 2003. Gates said he decided to replace rather than reappoint Pace because he feared the escalating debate over the Iraq war, particularly between the president and a frustrated Congress, would have triggered a bitter confirmation process that could have undermined the country.

A Marine still occupies the second biggest chair in the armed forces, the Vice-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Of Staff is now General James E. Cartwright formerly Commander, United States Strategic Command.

Source: Marine Corps Times

7307 Takei

George Takei Gets His Own Asteroid!

Star Trek (and now Heroes) star George Takei has been honored with his very own asteroid. A huge rock floating around between Mars and Jupiter has been renamed 7307 Takei.

"I am now a heavenly body. The honor came out of the clear, blue sky - just like an asteroid," he said.

The asteroid, which was discovered by two Japanese astronomers in 1994, was formerly known as 1994 GT9. The renaming has been approved by officials at the International Astronomical Union's Committee On Small Body Nomenclature.

Down in Africa - Far Cry 2

With Uwe Boll post-producing his movie-version of Far Cry, and Crytek, the original Far Cry developers are putting the finishing touches to Crysis; It's now time to see who or how the Far Cry will continue as a video game - Thankfully Ubisoft are crying far again, only this time; In Africa.

In 2004, Ubisoft shook up the PC first-person shooter genre when it released Far Cry. The game's dazzling visuals earned it high critical praise. The accolades translated into income, with the game selling nearly 425,000 copies in the US alone. Far Cry's success launched a whole franchise for Ubisoft, with Far Cry Instincts hitting the Xbox in 2005, its expansion/semi-sequel Far Cry Instincts Evolution the following year, Far Cry Instincts Predator arriving in 2006, and Far Cry Vengeance tackling the Wii last December.

Unfortunately, Far Cry's success also led to some unwelcome developments for Ubisoft. Just months after the game's release, its German developer, Crytek, formed a "strategic partnership" with Ubi rival and part-owner Electronic Arts. The first project to emerge from that deal is the PC shooter Crysis, heralded as the most important game for the PC with visuals surpassing all Next-Gen consoles.

While disconcerting, the EA/Crytek deal didn't stop Ubisoft from buying the Far Cry IP last year and they recently announced its Montreal studio is developing the first proper sequel to Far Cry, imaginatively titled Far Cry 2 (well they are French). "Far Cry marked the beginning of a new era for shooters. An era of gorgeous graphics and of advanced artificial intelligence," said Tony Key, Ubisoft's vice president of marketing, in a statement. "We are confident that Far Cry 2 will have the same impact again on the FPS genre landscape."

Obviously created for the PC, it's not a sequel in so far as Jack Carver isn't there. Neither are there Trigens or tropical island. Instead, you're on the sprawling plains of the African Savannah, and enemies are angry humans and hungry wildlife. Far Cry as you knew it is dead: long live Far Cry 2.

According to Louis-Pierre Pharand, Far Cry 2's producer "Our research with consumers showed that there was more interest in the earlier parts of Far Cry - the highly realistic parts where you were raiding mercenary encampments using planning, infiltration and then explosive action to win the fight. Many people seemed to feel the game suffered a bit with the introduction of the Trigens, and the fantastical story that they brought with them."

The different focus is clear. There are no nanosuits in Far Cry 2, and no mutant, alien or magical powers. "Neither the player nor the enemy have any 'powers' other than those that any individual human can summon up in extreme circumstances," says Pharand. "The game takes place in two fully open worlds that are five kilometers on a side, with the second world 'unlocking' roughly one-third of the way through the game," he explains. "This gives a playable area of 50 square kilometers, through which the player is allowed to freely travel at any time. The story's also non-linear, dynamic and procedurally assembled using a simple drama-management engine to populate the story with key characters and facilitate the convergence of the story toward major climactic events."

The story charges you with killing a man who's allegedly responsible for selling arms to both sides of a conflict in a failed state. As you go, you'll become embroiled in other stories and conflicts, while you either accept missions provided by the game's principal factions, or play both sides against the middle to further your own selfish ends. The idea is to create a world in which you can plough your own furrow while the story shapes itself to enhance the drama of your actions. "Ultimately," says Pharand, "while several major climaxes will take place for all players, the characters involved in those events, the locations where those events occur and ultimately what they mean, is up to the player."

Far Cry wouldn't be Far Cry without a heavy dose of jungle. While you will be crawling on your belly through the forest, it's not all-consuming like before. The canopy opens up and there are large expanses of open ground where there's hardly a piece of bark in sight. "It was an absolute requirement that Far Cry 2 maintain the exoticism of the original game," explains Pharand. "The African savanna was a natural choice because there are several different kinds of plain in Africa. The grasslands are only one, and allow long draw distances, off-road vehicle pursuits and long-range shooting and sniping.

"Savannah woodlands, on the other hand, actually come to approximate the levels of density you saw in the jungles of the original Far Cry, but in some ways it can feel like urban fighting with small but dense clusters of trees behaving like small buildings. Of course, you can't typically shoot through buildings, while if you think the enemy is on the other side of a stand of trees you can hose it down with a light machine gun to find out."

Ubisoft are hoping that the game will satisfy those looking for the originals jungle combat, while still allowing the series to cover new styles of play. Yet large outdoor expanses feel empty unless you have the people and wildlife to inhabit them, which is where the game becomes yet more ambitious. "Our AI is needs-driven, and the main needs are Rest, Duty and Social," explains Pharand. "Scattered all around the world are what we call SmartTerrain Points - locations where NPCs can perform actions that fulfil those needs. For example, a Sleep point will fulfill the Rest need as long as the NPC is sleeping." As an example: Gazelles will trek to watering holes each morning, drinking water before heading out to eat and sleep in the plains in the afternoon. Enemy patrols, meanwhile, will converge upon their base-camps at night, which means that the experience of raiding a camp at night or during the day will be drastically different. Planning your assault is now about more than just spotting your enemies. It's about choosing your moment, too.

Pharand isn't worried about Crysis. "From what we know Far Cry 2 and Crysis are virtually incomparable, which is great. We expect PC gamers will be more than happy to have two incredible titles to play instead of only one." And I certainly will. Just so long as they can pull this off. Expect it Spring 2008 (for the moment).

Source: Gamespot, CVG.com

Hopefully not a Far Cry from the game

Uwe Boll, one of the most hated non-French people in the world apparently bought the rights to the Far Cry movie before the game was created. He has spent the last couple of months months since completing Postal filming the adventures of Jack Carver.

Those of you who have known the (mis)fortune of experiencing an Uwe Boll film know that while it is possible to create a movie from a video-game, the results are often quite different to what you'd expect. Most video games hare built on a wafer-thin plot, something that Boll appears to like and he has turned House of the Dead, Bloodrayne (****)(and he's just made a sequel), Alone In The Dark (**), Dungeon Siege and Postal into movies and is filming a sequel to Alone In The Dark right now. Far Cry is another of his movies and that's currently in post production.

The movie will hopefully follow the plot of the PC version of the game (with some degree of expansion - but hopefully not the attempted level of expansion that Boll did for Alone in the Dark and avoid the stupid "animalistic powers" angle that Carver was given in the Far Cry console versions). Jack Carver (Til Schweiger) is a retired Special Forces Officer who now is transport for hire, by people and cargo. On one particular trip Jack ferries a photographer 'Val' (Emmanuelle Vaugier) who wants to photograph old Japanese WW2 bases on some of the Micronesian islands. He goes through hell when his boat is attacked and destroyed by an unknown party while Val is away. Surviving by the skin of his teeth, he must now find her and uncover what is truly happening on these dark and mysterious islands.

Schweiger and Vaugier will be joined by the legendary Udo Kier (above left) as Dr. Krieger, the giant German bodybuilder Ralf Moeller and Craig Fairbrass who always plays a bad guy. I'll admit, I'm not expecting much, but I'll certainly watch it. I'll let you know...

God talks Star Wars on TV

George Lucas has given some more details about his upcoming Star Wars television series.

God reiterated the the animated series, The Clone Wars, will take place between Episodes II and III and feature many of the characters central to those movies, including Yoda, Anakin and Obi Wan Kenobi. The live action series will take place between episodes III and IV, a period of time after the Empire has taken over. Though he still won't talk about the characters the show will center on, as Lucas puts it, "It's like Episode IV in that the Emperor and Darth Vader are heard about — people talk about them — but you never see them because it doesn't take place where they actually are. There are stormtroopers and all that, but there are no Jedis. It's different, but I think it's very exciting because I get to explore a part of that universe that I haven't been able to explore."

God is taking an unusual route for his TV series, something few filmmakers or TV producers are able to do. There are currently no networks involved and Lucas is self-financing the production while Lucasfilm produces a number of episodes and they will then turn around and try and sell them. God said they have produced 40 of a planned 100 episodes of the animated series already. As for the live action show, he said "we'll do it just the same way that we're doing the animated series, which is we usually write a whole year first, and then we'll start shooting, and then we'll shoot the whole year and then once we've got something, we'll see where we can put it. We're going to do a hundred of them, too." He also said that they plan on beginning the writing of the live action series next month.

Lucas hopes to have the animated series on the air "about a year from now." As for where it will live, he said "Right now, we don't know. It's out there to people, and people are talking about it, but so far, everybody's got the same conundrums — "How do we program it? Where does it live? Where can we put something like this?" You know, it has to go after 9 o'clock and it can't be on a kiddie channel."

Usually a network will commission a pilot, then pick that up and give an order of 13 episodes and go from there. Asked if he was afraid that he was putting the cart before the horse by producing so many episodes before getting any kind of commitment from a network, Lucas said "I have enough confidence that this is good, and I'll make it really good, so I'm not too worried about that part of it. And if worse comes to worse, I'll end up with a lot of library product."

The full TV Guide interview with God here.

Sources: TVGuide, IGN

2IGTV Episode 50!!!

Prepare yourself for the 2IGTV 50th Episode Extravaganza!!! Well actually it's pretty much a normal episide, just with a milestone number, nothing to get more excited about than normal.

In addition to our mailbag, we talk about Heath Ledger, James Spader, Rose McGowan, Mike Bay and even Chris Crocker. On TV we mention Family Guy's tribute to Star Wars and some news for Battlestar Galactica fans. In Movies we have The Dark Knight, Thor, Iron Man, Magneto and Southland Tales.

To celebrate our 50th Episode and the release of John Woo's Stranglehold game - you have a chance of winning The Colonel's very own copy of Woo's magnum opus: "Hard Boiled" (Region Free in Chineese with English Subs).

What the fuck are you waiting for? Grab it now!

Obituary: Lois Maxwell

Actress Lois Maxwell, most known to millions of fans for her role as Second Officer Jane Moneypenny or simply Miss Moneypenny in most of the James Bond movies, has died in Australia aged 80.

"She passed away on 29th September at 11:40 pm," said a spokeswoman for Fremantle Hospital in western Australia. The Canadian-born actress had been living in Australia for several years because her son and his family are based there. She first played the character, with whom the ever-charming 007 constantly flirted, alongside Sean Connery in Dr. No in 1962. She continued to play the role for more than two decades, starring in her final Bond movie, the 1985 A View To A Kill, with Roger Moore.

"She was my lucky token," Moore said today. "People who remember the Bond films with Moneypenny will remember her with great affection. She certainly will be missed by me and I'm sure by millions of fans around the world."

Already an experienced actor before she took on Bond, Maxwell said in 2005 that she accepted the Miss Moneypenny role at a difficult time in her life. "I had a husband who was desperately ill, with two small children and no money, so I called producers I had worked with before and said 'help me,'" she said. Bond director Terence Young offered Maxwell two Bond roles and she chose Moneypenny, insisting that the director not "put my hair in a bun and horn-rimmed glasses on me."

Asked which was her favourite Bond movie, Maxwell nominated On Her Majesty's Secret Service, the only one in which Australian George Lazenby played 007. "I think it's the best film, I mean I think it's an excellent film," she said in the 2005 interview. "Had it not been a Bond film, had it just been a film, it would've been a fabulous film."

Source: Yahoo

3:10 to Yuma: Exploding Horses

This movie's idea is simple: After notorious Arizona outlaw Ben Wade (Russell Crowe) is captured, it's up to a handful of locals, including down on his luck rancher Dan Evans (Christian Bale) and bounty hunter Byron McElroy (Peter Fonda), to bring him to justice. Their mission is to transport Wade to the town of Contention where he will be put on the 3:10 train to Yuma prison. While this journey entails a trip through dangerous Apache territory, the greatest threat to the posse comes from the prisoner himself and his murderous henchmen.

Even though the other recent Western Seraphim Falls was rather good, I wasn't enthused too much going to this movie. However if you had told me that there was much death & gunplay with Gatling guns and even an exploding horse, I'd have been first in line.

While a major part of this movie, the action isn't all this is about. There's a deep performance from both leads, Bale and Crowe who at first appear stereotypical good-guy and bad-guy roles but reveal much complex sides to their characters as the movie moves on. In fact by the climax of the film you're left wondering whose side you're rooting for but Cop Land director James Mangold, understands the story’s moral code and it clearly shows. It also lends much to the exceptional supporting cast.

3:10 to Yuma is a thoroughly enjoyable Western with a slightly disappointing ending (but not a strange as Seraphim Falls') but I guess they needed to make it somewhat different from the original - still I don't like this trend, I'd like to go "Wow" at the end as I would with the rest of the movie. Still highly recommended.

Colonel Creedon Rating: ****

Thunder Chickens Deployed

The USMC has finally deployed the first combat squadron of V-22 Ospreys to Iraq.

Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 263 better known as "The Thunder Chickens" with 10 Ospreys left Monday from New River Air Station aboard the USS Wasp. In April, the Commandant, General Conway said the squadron would deploy to Al-Asad Airfield, the second largest air base in Iraq.

The military plans to eventually operate 458 Ospreys, with 360 for the Marine Corps and the others used by the Navy and Air Force, said Major Eric Dent. Of the negative press and teething problems of the revolutionary aircraft he added "Since it resumed full flight operations more than six years ago, aircrews have logged more than 27,000 safe flight hours."

Lt. Colonel Creedon said of the Thunder Chickens' and the Osprey's deployment "Was there ever any doubt?"

Source: Military.com

WORLD EXCLUSIVE*: MIKE VOGEL as CAPTAIN JAMES TIBERIUS KIRK! ***UPDATED***

After months of speculation, it may be that that 28-year-old Pennsylvania native Mike Vogel (Poseidon) is the front runner to play James T. Kirk in the 11th Star Trek film.

Paramount had no comment and neither did Vogel's agency, which means it's most likely true. Interestingly Vogel will be seen in the J.J. Abrams produced Untitled Monster Project (Cloverfield or what ever-the-hell-it-is).

An intresting choice folks. He was good in Poseidon but plenty of room to grow yet. Here is a quick photoshop effort. No news yet on The Shat appearing.


***UPDATE***
Stargate Atlantis' Dr. Beckett (Paul McGillion) could be playing Scotty as he's just been for an audition. Intrestingly McGillion was actually born in Scotland, but lives in Canada where James Doohan was from - wierd eh?

*Is not an exclusive
Source: IESB, IGN, Trektoday, Sci-Fi, Rotten Tomatoes

Shoot 'Em Up: Eat your carrots!

It's difficult to review this movie because it was just so awesome. The sheer amount of automatic weapons fire from it's opening scene to it's finale put the movies of Woo to shame and thus earned it one of the highest ratings of the year. It's thin on plot and doesn't get bogged down in its conspiracy led story much like a good video game shooter would not be. All you need to know is that Clive Owen is the mysterious Smith, a down and out with fondness for carrots and a dead shot with an array of weapons (including carrots), Monica Bellucci plays a hooker with big lactating jugs and Paul Giamatti is an over the top comedy-relief villain after them both.

Just so you know the audience that this is aimed at: A poster for this was placed in "billboards" in levels of the console game Crackdown and an update for Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas. Other marketing ploys included the hilarious http://bulletproofbaby.net/ which brought outcry from "responsible parenting" groups worldwide.

Verdict: I think in all honesty this formulay just may have been a wee bit "over-the-top" for the 5-Star-Plus masterpiece rating but is still one damn fine brainless action movie. One thing's for sure: you'll never pick up a carrot without grinning again.

Colonel Creedon Rating: *****

Family Guy: Blue Harvest **UPDATED**

Family Guy have done a Star Wars episode!

Everyone knows Blue Harvest was the name God used when creating Return of the Jedi to keep obsessive fans from flocking to the set during production.

The Family Guy season six premiere was shown on Sunday in the US was a retelling of Star Wars Episode IV with characters on the show portraying those in the film.

I prefer American Dad as a series but I was in stitches at this FG episode, I suggest you seek it out now.

**UPDATED**
From AICN:
Sunday night’s Star Wars edition of Family Guy was the series’ highest-rated installment since returning to Fox in 2005, and a parody of The Empire Strikes Back seems likely,” a Fox source tells says.

Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem

It's quite obvious with the dedication to the R-rating (or 18 Cert) by the Strauss Brothers, the directors of the sequel to the so-so Aliens vs. Predator movie, that any misgivings about this being another "sanitised" battle between the warrior Predators and their lethal fearsome prey, the Aliens are laid to rest.

At least in this movie we'll finally get to see a true Predalien fight (pictured). A Predalien is an Alien borne from a Predator.

Hopefully it will be a more simplistic plot than last time (no sense in screwing up a movie like this with some sort of explanation is there?) as we all know the Predators seed the planet with Aliens and then hunt them. I'm sure most of the time it works out pretty well on other planets but when Earth is involved you have a load of humans (the stupid kind who walk around in dim light without adequate military support) thrown into the mix as well and there's all sorts of screaming, blood and death everywhere.

Well there wasn't enough blood last time round but there's more screaming, blood and death in this fuckin' 2 minute trailer then there was in the original film in it's entirety and this time it looks like there is military support; Hoo-Yah!

It makes me salivate for what's in the movie.

AvP2s IMDB Page and Wikipedia Entry.

1408 - 1406 reasons not to bother

I'm not a horror-movie fan. I never was and I never will be. The people in them tend to be more stupid than the average person to completely unrealistic proportions. Take this Mike Enslin (John Cusack) for instance. A skeptic and author who debunks supernatural occurrences.

After his latest successful book, Enslin receives an anonymous postcard of the Dolphin Hotel in New York City bearing the message "don't enter 1408." Viewing this as a challenge, he attempts to book a reservation in room 1408, but the hotel will not rent him the room. However that won't deter him, after some legal wrangling he arrives at the Dolphin but is pulled aside by the hotel's manager Gerald Olin (Samuel L. Jackson), who warns him that no one has lasted more than an hour in 1408. Olin offers Enslin an upgrade to the penthouse suite, access to documents regarding the deaths in 1408, and an $800 bottle of cognac. Enslin accepts the documents and the cognac but insists on staying in the room. Olin gives him the key, warning him that "It's an EVIL fucking room."

Okay when Sam Jackson invades your personal space, stares you in the face and says "It's an EVIL fucking room," you should leave the hotel and never come back. But as I said, horror-movie characters are immensely stupid and Enslin goes into 1408 and experiences all sorts of supposedly spooky shit. Note the use of "supposedly". While the SFX are rather good, there's most disappointingly almost no blood or gore. This is a "psychological horror" a genre of movie so banal it would drive you to sleep (which I probably would have if it was later in the evening and the cinema sound wasn't so loud).

Verdict: The director isn't too competent, Cusack is nowhere near his performances in Con Air or Grosse Pointe Blank, so practically the only good thing in this movie is Sam Jackson who is unfortunately only on screen for a few minutes. Without him (and the good SFX) I'd have classed this is a waste of time and money.

Colonel Creedon Rating: *1/2

The cold vacuum of space just got a hell of a lot hotter

I was waiting for final confirmation before posting this: All Major Hollywood publications are reporting that Zoe Saldana will indeed play Uhura in the upcoming Star Trek feature film.

(Left: Artists impression of what Saldana could look like in Star Trek)

The Hollywood Reporter stated that Saldana was in final negotiations for the role originated by Nichelle Nichols in J.J. Abrams' upcoming movie. On the original series, Uhura was the Enterprise's chief communications officer, though since the new film is reportedly a prequel, it is not yet known what her role will be.

Saldana, who had a role in Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, will also star in James Cameron's upcoming science fiction drama Avatar.

Star Trek is scheduled to be released on Christmas Day in 2008. The roles of Spock (Leonard Nimoy & Zachary Quinto) and Chekov (Anton Yelchin) have already been cast; no word yet on who will play Kirk.

It makes this Youtube clip taken from The Terminal where Saldana plays a Trekkie deeply prophetic:

Sources: All major entertainment networks.

Breach - Chris Cooper forgiven

Breach is a dark drama based on the story of Eric O'Neill, an young FBI operative working under Robert Hanssen, an agent convicted of spying for the Soviet Union then Russia for 15 years.

The story follows O'Neill, hoping that his surveillance work on counter terrorism will earn him a promotion to agent when he is given a special assignment to undercover as a clerk and monitor Robert Hanssen, a senior agent whom he is told is suspected of being a sexual deviant. At first, Hanssen insists on a strict formality between them but as time goes by he opens up to the young man and becomes quite involved with his personal life. O'Neill has a growing respect for Hanssen and can fond no evidence of a secret double life.

Breach is directed by Billy Ray (writer of the excellent screenplay of Hart's War) and stars Chris Cooper as Hanssen and Ryan Phillippe as O'Neill. Phillippe has come a long way since his idiotic "teen" roles, not as far as DiCaprio has come in recent years but when I saw Phillippe as "Doc" Bradley in Flags of our Fathers I was hoping he wouldn't go back to his old ways and from his performance in this movie it seems that he won't. The true excellence in this movie however is from Chris Cooper who is thoroughally convincing as Hanssen a man of seemingly political and religious zealotry whom yet has ideals that are the complete converse of his beliefs. His performance is so magnificent that I must "forgive" him for playing an unrealistic homosexual Marine Colonel Fitts in American Beauty. Other cast members include Laura Linney, Gary Cole and the great Dennis Haysbert.

I believe this movie is a case study in ultimate deception and shows what happens when so much trust is put on the shoulders of one man. It can be somewhat slow moving at times but the payoff is worth it.

Colonel Creedon Rating: ****

The Wild Geese Fly Again

One of my favourite movies, the 1978 The Wild Geese will be remade by Gianni Nunnari's Hollywood Gang Prods., the same outfit behind 300 and the in-development Frank Miller graphic novel-to-film Ronin.

Rupert Sanders will direct. Warner Bros. may be the studio behind the project. Euan Lloyd and Craig J. Flores will serve as exec producers.

The original film starred Richard Burton, Richard Harris, Roger Moore and Hardy Krüger as British mercenaries who are hired to liberate an incarcerated African ruler Julius Limbani. Things get hairy for the mercs once they're in the bush.

"It has it all: great characters, action, plot twists and revenge," Sanders said. "We are making a tough film, taking ex-British soldiers from the murky London underworld to the battlefields in Africa."

I just hope they keep the same script:
Col. Faulkner: I'm dry when I work.
Matheson: Yes, so I've heard.
Col. Faulkner: There's a separate clause in my contract that says my liver is to be buried separately with honors.
Matheson: I'm not a very humorous man.
Col. Faulkner: So I've noticed.

Source: Variety

2IGTV Episode 49

Once we get through the mailbag we have news on Dr.Who, Battlestar Galactica and Bionic Woman. We reveal details of the Transfomers DVDs and discuss NBCs migration from Apple to Amazon. We'll have a Kane and Lynch movie sooner than expected as well as Punisher: War Zone. We have news on Thor, the Justice League and a sequel to one of the greatest Disney adventures of all time.

It (and much more) is all here.

Project: MAXXIMUS is complete

Well it wasn't quick but it was painless. I have successfully constructed Maxximus and amazingly it works! It functions quiet and cool under a full load which were my main issues with its predecessor Bellerophron. The only issue is that system temperature is a high at 42°C when idle but strangely it doesn't rise much under strain.

Tested so far with Super-Pi, Prime95, Benchmarked Half-Life 2: Episode 1 @ 1920x1200 with 8xAA & 8xAF at 61FPS and I've played some Medal Of Honor: Airborne and the World in Conflict Demo without issue.

As you see from the photo it gives off a blue glow from both the front and the back which is a bit daft but not as bad as some other cases available. Unfortunately the only way of disabling the glow is also disabling the fans which would no doubt cause some flames.

I must also share this picture below of Maxximus' screen, an LG 24" HD monitor displaying my first 1080p download, the new IRON MAN trailer (now available in all flavours here) certainly worth a 200Mb download.

Full specifications for Maxximus can be found at VerTecX21.com.

Project: MAXXIMUS

As mentioned in 2IGTV Episode 35 I think it was, it's time for me to upgrade. As you can see from my list of pre-ordered games on the bottom of the right hand sidebar there is only now an incentive to upgrade as opposed to then. Stranglehold, Blacksite, Crisis and some others that have caught my attention will be winging their way to me to experience them on MAXXIMUS.

Maxximus is currently under construction (see picture) and will include features of an Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 CPU, 2Gb PC6400 Corsair RAM, an XFX 640Mb GeForce 8800GTS GPU and 2x 500Gb (1Tb) Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM SATA2 drives, output to an LG 24" 1920x1200 HD LCD.

Provided of course I can find my magnetic screwdriver.

And if it doesn't explode when I turn it on first :D

Expect a comprehensive update to the somewhat neglected VerTecX21 in due course.

G.I.J.O.E. - Global Integrated Joint Operating Entity

Yes that's right. I have good news and bad news. The good news is that it looks like Action Man is out and it'll be just the G.I.Joes. The bad news is that they've shoehorned the acronym G.I.J.O.E to fit the mouthful Global Integrated Joint Operating Entity.

Variety offered this new description of the Joes "G.I. Joe is now a Brussels-based outfit that stands for Global Integrated Joint Operating Entity, an international co-ed force of operatives who use hi-tech equipment to battle Cobra, an evil organization headed by a double-crossing Scottish arms dealer. The property is closer in tone to X-Men and James Bond than a war film."

(Pic right-) Flint was one of my favourites. A pity Bruce Campbell is too old to play him now, he'd have been perfect.

Does this mean Destro is the bad-guy not Cobra Commander? Dunno, but it seems that Paramount and Hasbro don't need the Americanised G.I.Joe- they'll have what is basically Action Force with the name G.I.J.O.E. It could be worse - it could have Action Man. Thank heaven for small miracles. This time in the form of Stuart Battie, the new writer.

It appears Battie, whose previous credits include Collateral and 30 Days of Night will be starting from scratch and might be setting the Joe team in the near future around a major military conflict but will stay away from any recent real world terrorist events. It is expected to be ready in four to six weeks. Following that: Pre-production to start by November and production to start early next year.

Hell I'll take anything so long as there's no Action Man!

The Invasion: It looks like Spidy 3 is NOT the worst movie of the year

I know I'm a week behind in my movie reviews, but I don't think this one will matter. It's for Nicole Kidman's new movie The Invasion which also stars Daniel Craig, based quite loosely on the sci-fi classic; The Invasion Of The Body Snatchers. Oh, and it's complete rubbish.

I think to comprehend how bad this movie is, you must understand something of it's haphazard development. In early '04, Warner Bros. had someone write a remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. A year later, Oliver Hirschbiegel was attached as director. Production began in October with Nicole Kidman (receiving a salary of close to $17 million) in the lead with Daniel Craig. The film had retained the original title Invasion of the Body Snatchers but was shortened due to the different concept created by the writer.

Instead of any Visual Effects (more than necessary for an Extra Terrestrial Invasion movie these days), the director tried to compensate by shooting from weird camera angles and in claustrophobic spaces with the intention of increasing tension. Warners eventually decided that they were somewhat unhappy with the original story's results on screen and hired The Wachowski brothers to rewrite the film (yes The Matrix Revolutions, V-For Vendetta Wachowski's). Later Warners hired James McTeigue to perform re-shoots that would cost $10 million. After 13 months of inactivity, re-shoots took place in January 2007 to increase action scenes and supposedly add a twist ending. During the re-shoot, Kidman was involved in an accident, while in a Jaguar that was being towed by a stunt driver and was taken to a hospital briefly. She had broken several ribs, but she was able to get back to work soon after being hospitalised.

Right Daniel Craig examines his paycheck for the movie and thinks "They may not have hired a real writer but at least they hired a production accountant".

It's all on screen folks. No special effects, ridiculous nonsensical scene transitions, cuts in the middle of scenes, continuity blunders, obvious scenes shot by different directors and Daniel Craig sees this and just "phones in" his performance with the look of "just give me my money and I'm off to be James Bond".

Just to give you an example of the complete lack of thought in this film (and this example doesn't detract from the non-existent plot if any of you are reading this and still intend going); In one scene Kidman is talking to her Ex-husband (Jeremy Northam) and having an argument about visitation rights for their son, obviously in Kidman's sole custody. She is so adamant that he will not see their son - she hangs up the phone at one stage. Three scenes later following only a quick conversation about it with Daniel Craig where he simply says: "He's his Dad", she's ready to hand over the child to the Ex-hubby (who's already infected with the virus naturally) which is sure to be an attempt to get the audience to react in a pantomime fashion "No, don't do it you silly twat!" But to be honest even though this was only 13 minutes into the film, I already couldn't give a shit.

Final word: This movie has nothing going for it whatsoever. Kidman's career should be over now for choosing to appear in this. It's a colossal pile of shit. It's as if someone urinated onto celluloid and handed it to the distributer. Microsoft has more quality control than is evident here. To make matters even worse: it's also little more than bleeding-heart liberal propaganda.

Colonel Creedon Rating: No Stars. Not even a half.

2IGTV Episode 48

A spanner has been thrown into the works of the HD format wars. Mark has the details. Learn about Windows 7, 64bit computing and Second Life. Yes I said Second Life.

In the world of movies we have word on The Day The Earth Stood Still, Dallas, Star Trek XI, Bubba Nosferatu and the JLA movie.

On the small screen we have some info on the Battlestar Galactica: Razor DVD release, 30Rock, South Park, The Prisoner, Painkiller Jane, 24, and a yet another new Bruckheimer show.

We also discuss poor Owen Wilson and we have some interesting news about the greatest British comic book character of all time DAN DARE.

Download it now.

Giant Alien Arachnids Invade Texas

Sith Apologist sent in this link to a story from the Telegraph about a Giant spider web (right) at Lake Tawakoni State Park, TX.

The article reports that experts suspect it's the work of "social cobweb spiders" working together.

Bullshit!

It's obviously the work of Giant Alien Arachnids. UNETIDA has been tracking the progress of several unidentified Extra-Terrestrial craft that have been making overt recon passes over the planet in the past few months.

Four hours ago. Lake Tawakoni locals spotted an impressive military convoy approach the administration centre of the state park. It is now confirmed that they were UNETIDA, called in to deal with the crisis and have just set up a command post at the parks conference centre.

Lt. Colonel Creedon, (above) the agency's commander on site is reported to have said "Well get those damn bugs, we'll kill 'em all!"