Terry Gilliam Returns to 'Quixote'

To Hell with the latest sequels, reboots or comic-book properties, this is film-news to be excited about, folks!

After years of promises and reassurances, director Terry Gilliam (Brazil) is finally getting back to work on The Man Who Killed Don Quixote.

For those who don't know (or remember), the Time Bandits helmer began work on the project back in 2000 with Johnny Depp as the lead where damn-near everything that could possibly go wrong on a film set did. After just five days of filming, the project fell apart.

A film-crew was there to document the entire ordeal, and Lost In La Mancha came as a result - a great documentary, and (for my money) required viewing for anyone who wants a career in filmmaking.

Now Gilliam and his writing-partner-in-crime Tony Grisoni have (finally) gotten back the rights to their script and just recently got back to work on it:

"[We] finally got the script back. I re-read the greatest script ever written and realize we gotta get rewriting! I really wanna knock that one out in the next month or so."

Gilliam seems to be going through a real creative second-wind with the release of his upcoming film The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus and now this.

And we can only assume Depp will return for Quixote as well. I mean he's said quiet a few times he would were it ever to resurface.

Reshoots Confirmed on 'Wolverine'

The good folks over at Collider have received word from sources that director Gavin Hood, Hugh Jackman & Co. are currently underway on extensive reshoots for X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Of course, the fact that this is happening mere months before its May 1 release doesn't bode well in the "quality department!"

Granted, the X-Men prequel's quality has been in question for quiet some time - what with reports of Hood having issues with the studio for not letting him make his film, producer Richard Donner being brought on set during production, negative script-reports, and well...that awful looking trailer from last month.

Then again, this is coming from the same studio that rushed a third X-Men film into production as a "Screw you!" to Bryan Singer for jumping ship to make Superman Returns and who were ready and willing to delay (if not possibly out-right kill) Watchmen!

Personally, I think Wolverine will either under-perform (compared to the $234 million box-office of X-Men: The Last Stand) or possibly even bomb.

Warner Brothers and Fox' Watchmen War Is Over

After much fanboy sweating and a great deal of negotiating, the convulted drama between Warner Brothers and Fox over the rights to 'The Watchmen' movie is finally over.

Full disclosure on the exact details of the settlement will not be forthcoming but it is believed that Fox recieved a large cash payment and will get a share of the box office, however they will not be a co-distributor and it will not have any ownership rights of the property from this point on.

Warner Brothers will now pursue producer Larry Gordon to reimburse the cost of the settlement, as he had not secured the rights properly before embarking on making the movie at the studio.

This news will come as a great relief to Watchmen fans that feared a delay of the movies release amid the battle between the two giant studios.

Everyone can now look forward to seeing 'The Watchmen' on March 6th in both regular cinemas and IMAX.

Soource: The Hollywood Reporter

New Trailer for Crank 2: High Voltage, Jolts Online!

IGN has posted the new trailer for upcoming Jason Statham ADD fest 'Crank 2 High Voltage', it is the implausible sequel to the equally implausible 'Crank'.

It looks even more crude and insane than the first, essentailly GTA in movie form but slightly more over the top, however it also looks fairly creative and while it certainly isn't for everyone, that creativity is to be applauded.

You can see the Trailer here

Crank 2 hits the big screen on April 17th

New Terminator Salvation Image

The Los Angeles Times has a new article up taking a look at Terminator Salvation and it's director McG's current promotion campaign, likening it to the one Jon Favreau embarked on with 'Iron Man'. Included in the article is the image above, I think it is very evocative of another James Cameron Sci/fi war movie 'Aliens'.

McG was a much ridiculed choice to direct the 4th installment in the classic sci/fi franchise but bought himself some time and faith when he cast fanboy favourite and highly respected actor Christian Bale as John Connor. From there through his candor and the quality of the footage shown he has seen the fanbase do a 180 on both him and the movie, here's hoping the movie can deliver on that new found faith when it opens on May 22nd.

*Special thanks to fceeviper of the SHH boards for bringing the pic and article to my attention.

Keanu Reeves Lined Up for 'Cowboy Bebop'

Don't you just love it when the film-news sites break a story and then it takes months for the "official" trades to catch up?

Case in point: Alex Billington from First Showing ran with some info he got from an insider that Keanu Reeves was attached to star in a live-action film version of the Cowboy Bebop anime series.

So when we heard nothing from 20th Century Fox (the studio behind the film) or Reeves' reps in regards to said rumor, most of us assumed the story was crap.

Well, it wasn't. The folks over at Variety have officially confirmed that indeed The Matrix star (who just recently sleep-walked his way through The Day The Earth Stood Still remake) will headline as the space-traveling bounty hunter Spiegel.

Now personally, I don't give a damn about Cowboy Bebop - just never into the whole anime scene, to be honest.

Let's just hope this doesn't turn out like the upcoming Dragonball Evolution - which not coincidentally was also made by 20th Century Fox.

Sweet Jesus, does that look God-awful!

Rob Cohen Takes To The High Seas For Modern Pirate Movie!

Rob Cohen has not had the best of runs lately, after his success in the early 2000's with 'The Fast and the Furious' and 'xXx' he has not really had a hit since, his summer 2005 offering 'Stealth' was a critical and commercial bomb, and last years 'Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor' failed to make it's budget back domestically but had a strong international run.

Well despite this /film is reporting via 'Production Weekly' that he has a new film in the pipeline, from a script by Tony Puryea called 'The Sea Artist'. It's a tale of modern pircacy and is apparently picking up good buzz. Personally I think this has potential, Ive liked a few of Cohen's movies (The Skulls, Daylight. The Fast & the Furious) and I am sure this will be in the action thriller mould, there hasn't been a modern pirate movie of any note so this is a fresh chance for Cohen.

No word on a start date or casting yet, or even what studio may pick it up, but Cohen gets his projects made so bank on seeing this one at some point.

Emily Blunt to play Black Widow In Iron Man 2 ?

She's the front runner for the role according to Variety, the English actress who starred in 'The Devil Wears Prada' and 'Charlie Wilson's War' heads the list of female hopefuls for the role of the Soviet spy Natasha Romanova AKA The Black Widow, in the much anticpated Iron Man Sequel.

In the comic books Romanova is a skilled sniper and martial aritst who has an advanced suit of weaponry, she has at times been a foe of top Marvel heroes as well as alligned with them, mainly the Avengers.

If Blunt lands the role she will most likely join comeback king Mickey Rourke and Sam Rockwell, along with original cast members Robert Downey Jr and Gwyneth Paltrow.

Iron Man 2 is set to start shooting this spring for a summer 2010 release.

Memory Lane: Super Fuzz

I remember sitting in the family room and flipping through the dials of the television looking for something to watch, and yes I really mean dials. You know the ones that read "VHF" and "UHF", I actually had to use those. The reason, remote controls didn't exist yet. Not only that, the television I was watching at the time was surrounded by wood like an old Buick.

Before this turns into a "Back in my day" style rant let's focus. One glorious day while turning the dials on my ancient television I came across the most wonderful movie. It featured a cop with super powers whose only weakeness was the color red. He walked on water, talked to fish, could run like the wind. If anybody still hasn't gotten it yet I am talking about "Super Fuzz", synopsis and trailer below.

After being accidentally exposed to radiation, a policeman develops super powers. However, whenever he sees the color red, he temporarily loses  his newly acquired abilities.

Fast and Furious Trailer Screeches Online!

Yahoo Movies has debuted the full domestic trailer for Fast and Furious, the film reunites Vin Diesel and Paul Walker from the first movie. It starts out quite interestingly with a musicless foot chase that has a different feel to the gloss of the other movies, however it soon descends into cheesy dialogue and cars flipping and crashing everywhere, the end "Money shot" is an incredibly shonky piece of CGI. Ive gotta say it's a bit of a disappointment after the teaser, which made it look like a return to the dumb but fun with a bit of charm original.

See cars randomly fly all over the screen at the link below. Fast and Furious hits screens on April 3rd.

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809989992/video/11537903