FF Reboot Casting Rumors

Unfortunately, FF doesn't stand for Full Frontal or Freshly Fucked, although the latter may still be used to describe Fox's relaunch of its film version of Marvel's Fantastic Four.

It wasn't that long ago, 2005 to be exact, that we got the campy release of Fox's first attempt at turning the Stan Lee created super team of Reed Richards (Ioan Gruffudd), Sue Storm (Jessica Alba), Johnny Storm (Chris Evans) and Ben Grimm (Michael Chiklis) into the next big comic book movie. it didn't quite work out the way they expected, and I still don't know how Jessica Alba stripping down and going invisible on the bridge helped Mr. Fantastic and The Human Torch get by everyone. I'm literally rolling my eyes right now. Up and slightly to the right while access the memory banks of how Alba looked just before going invisible. Anyway, that crapfest surely didn't warrant the equally awful sequel that plagued the screens just two years later. But now, Fox is going for the hat trick and creating a third Fantastic Four film within a decade. Their hopes and dreams of a mega-hit rest on the fact that they're going to use a completely new cast and crew, much like Sony is doing with the Spiderman franchise. 

At this point, I don't want to add too much validity to this, because, as the title states, these are just rumors right now, but COMIC BOOK MOVIE, you know, THAT website, where opposable thumbs aren't a prerequisite to post articles, reports that the studio may be going after big names like Bruce Willis and Kiefer Sutherland to star as the movies new THING. They would only have screen time in the first segment of the movie as Ben Grimm, and then step aside for the all CGI THING and doing only the voice over. 

It seems strange to me that the one character that would get the least screen time would be the biggest hollywood name in the cast. 

It was said a few weeks ago that Adrian Brody (Hollywoodland) may be tapped to play Reed Richards in the reboot, opposite Vampire Bill himself, Stephen Moyer (True Blood), who Fox has reportedly sent an offer to play Doctor Victor Von Doom. I'm a fan of True Blood, but I have to say, its not because of Moyer's acting. Maybe its the character, but his delivery has been really the only thing I've ever mentioned about that show in the ways of a complaint. In all fairness, though, I've never seen him in anything else. Alice Eve and Kevin Pennington have also been suggested to be the frontrunner for Sue and Johnny Storm respectively. 

So, if any of this holds true, and I tend to lean more toward the more cheaply priced, young actors, I'm going to have to call bullshit on the Willis and Sutherland rumors. I just don't see them tossing the cash for a voice, when they're cutting corners on the rest of the main roles. 

Personally, I don't think it matters if you have Robert Redford in his prime acting opposite Glenn Close. No talent is going to be able to keep a sinking ship of this magnitude afloat. Fox is "polishing brass on the Titanic. Its all going down, man. "

First Pics of Co...Wait, That's Not Conan!

Apparently it is. I haven't been following production of the new Conan film, because, I actually love the original. I can't tell you why. Its unlike anything else in my DVD collection, but AH-nold's Conan will forever be the staple of the franchise for me. 

If you don't share a passion for the nostalgic like me, you may be excited to see these photos of Jason Momoa in the upcoming reboot of the character created by Robert E. Howard. No offense to the young actor, but I'm just not feeling it. But see for yourself.  More photos are available at LATINO REVIEW

The film is said to focus more on Conan's days as a young man, which loosely follows a story arc currently being ran by Dark Horse Comics. With respect to the character, I'll put my differences aside with the casting and start trying to gather more information as its available and keep you guys in the loop. Who knows, they may create a great film. From these pics, it looks like Conan will be rampaging through forests instead of deserts. 

Rourke May Get Whiplash from All the Offers.

If Robert Downey Jr. is on fire in terms of being cast for upcoming films, his Iron Man 2 co-star Mickey Rourke is about to go supernova.

Deadlinehollywood reports that, along with playing Iron Man’s physically equal villain, Ivan Vanko, in this week’s Iron Man 2, Rourke has also completed the filming of two other movies and is set to start production on two more.

Rourke has a starring role in Passion Play, working opposite of Megan Fox and Bill Murray, and, as I reported earlier this week, plays part in the 80’s action flick tribute The Expendables.

2008 marked the debut of his Hollywood comeback, when Rourke starred as Randy, the main character of Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler. In all honesty, you’d be lying to yourself if you call it a comeback. The guy’s been steadily working for 30 years. We just don’t hear about most of it, because he doesn’t get to eat strawberries off of Kim Basinger in all of his movies.

Back to the point, he has Passion Play and The Expendables in post, Immortals filming, and Pretty Baby Machine, Posdamer Platz (which will likely have a title change due to the story being taken from Germany to Puerto Rico) and Broken Horses either announced or in pre-production.

The most interesting, however, is what’s not listed on his IMDB rap sheet. Working again with members from Potzdamer Platz, Rourke would play Sonny Barger, the biker, who created an Oakland chapter of the Hell’s Angels and ultimately aided in bringing the clan together as a national organization. The real Sony Barger sold his rights to his memoirs to Fox 2000 ten years ago.

Tony Scott, who has been pondering on the idea for Hell’s Angels for quite some time, would direct the film, which Fox is having rewritten by Scott Frank. The basic idea for the movie, thus far, is to follow a young cop, who would attempt to join the club under false pretenses in order to expose the Angels’ alleged criminal affairs. Its rumored that Shia LaBeouf has taken a meeting with Scott, but no deals have been secured.

Although, I wasn’t a big fan of The Wrestler, you’ve got to like Rourke. If you’ve never really paid attention, I’d recommend going back to 1987 and see who Harry Angel is searching for in Angel Heart. That’s a good one in my book. If not, you can check out Iron Man 2 on May 7.

Which Team Will You Be On?

Over all, I’m a pretty cynical guy. I admit it. I come over as abrasive and rude, even in the rare occasions when I’m not necessarily trying to be. Along with that, I’m heavily critical about other people’s ideas. That goes especially for movies, which, honestly works in my favor, because I can take a comedic approach to ripping a new one into everyone’s favorite films. Its as close to my heart as opening day of Major League Baseball is to many of you. You know, America’s Past Time and all of that. With that said, I’m gonna’ vent a little.

Hollywood, as it does, is taking an idea, and hammering it into the ground like Uncle Ronnie putting the stake in the lawn for the bad mitten net at every family reunion. The problem is, they’ve yet to prove that this is a good idea. Hopefully, they won’t smash they’re thumbs like Ronnie. It hurts and leaves a lingering problem for later down the road.

Yes, I’m getting to a point. Apparently, the studios are loving this idea of mercenary teams ravaging the silver screen. There’s a certain delicate mesh of all things needed to make a film with multiple lead characters work. Of course, the same standards apply. Good material for the talent. Good talent. And, for this type of film, I think brand recognition is important. You also need a decent balance of characters and a well integrated sense of chemistry between them.

So far on the slate, we have the appropriate titled The Losers, which, as Jen pointed out in the Box Office Report, has tanked since opening weekend. Next will be The A-Team. This is where brand recognition comes into play. Even if you never watched the 80’s hit TV show, you can’t go to the local five and dime and not run into at least one person that knows the phrase “I pity the fool”, and another person to laugh at it. That’s a foundation upon which you can build. Plus, you have the draw of names like Liam Neeson for quality acting and Bradley Cooper for the ladies. No offense Brad. We’ll have to see how well MMA star Quinton “Rampage” Jackson does in the role of B.A. Barakus. But speaking of star power, the third, yes third similarly plotted film of the same summer will probably get some attention, mainly from the older crowd, because of its cast made up of a whole slew of 80’s action stars mixed in with a few name actors, who have more recently been in the spot light. The Expendables, co-written, directed and starring Sylvester Stallone, finds a team of aging mercenaries being hired to over throw a dictator in a South American country. A lot of people grimace at the mention of Stallone’s last directorial attempt, when he reemerged as John Rambo. I actually enjoyed that flick. I’m interested to see how well he tackles a more dynamic film, with other guys who are as eager to not be forgotten as Sly himself. Let’s just go down the list. Along with the HGH enabled Stallone, we have Eric Roberts, Mickey Rourke and…<snicker>…Dolph Lundgren working together along with Jason Statham and Jet Li. They one-upped The A-Team by not only having their own MMA star in Randy Couture, but also certified redneck WWE wrestler Steve Austin. Good job on dropping the “Stone Cold” from your resumé sheet. Then, making cameos we have The Govern-ATOR Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis. I should also mention that the recently deceased Brittany Murphy is also listed on the cast, although I don’t have info on what part she takes within the film. Mix equal parts of past and present, shake well and serve over ice. No, the ice isn’t a metaphor for Lundgren’s acting abilities. It just cleverly worked itself out that way. In any case, Sly and the folks over at Lionsgate must have faith in the success, as its been said that Stallone has dropped plans for another Rambo sequel in order to prep for a part deux of The Expendables.

So, given the possibilities for success that the two latter mentioned films possess, what happened to The Losers? Honestly, I haven’t seen the film, but I’ve read that Chris Evans stole the show, which pretty much wraps it up for me. I’m sorry. I know he just landed the role of the decade with the Captain America gig, but I just can’t be excited about a movie, in which Evans is the premiere talent. However, again, without seeing the movie, I think the real adversary was timing. If WB had been smart, which they actually can be at times, they would have pushed back the release date until at least the A-Team had hit theaters. If you’re going to go head to head in The Box Office, you might want to somewhat ride on the coat tails of a better established group of, well, mercenaries. If The A-Team lands big, and carries well for several weeks, you can make a pretty safe bet that audiences want to see more of the same. So you get the rollover fans. If it ends up being The F-Team, which actually works pretty well for a Jenna Jameson flick, you can always take the cheap shot marketing approach that The Losers did it bigger and better. It might at least get you a bigger opening weekend. Maybe Warner Bros. was looking at it bass-akwards. I don’t know.

The Losers is in theaters now. You can catch the A-Team on June 11 and The Expendables is set to release on August 13. I’ll probably see all three when they come out on DVD.

It's Going to be a Super Holiday Season!

Hopefully the Mayan’s were just a bunch of quacks that were so concerned about their predictions of earth’s destruction that they failed to see themselves falling into extinction. And in doing so, they missed the real event that was going to happen in December in the year 2012. A good Superman film will hit theaters…which to a lot of us, may in fact signify the end of the world.

That’s right folks. Sources from inside WB have told our friends over at IESB.net that things are swiftly moving ahead with The Man of Steel, and the projected date of release is going to be Christmas 2012.  

This news, although expected, is somewhat of a surprise considering the fact that its always been the plan at DC Entertainment to release the still untitled Batman 3 before The Man of Steel. In fact, as we've reported before, the writing team of David S. Goyer and Jonah Nolan were working out problems with the Batman script, when Goyer pitched his idea of a Superman film to Christopher Nolan. This is not to say that the plans have changed, but I think its a little odd that we hear about this release date before any news on Batman. Either way, this is good news, because we not only know now that they're swiftly moving along with Superman, but that, with a release date less than two years down the road, we're going to be getting more detailed news soon. Casting maybe. Do you guys remember the fiasco that was the casting of Superman Returns? Now, with this film shaping up to be a much more anticipated rendition with the involvement of Chris Nolan, I'd expect for the internet to be ablaze with every fanboy's wish list of hopefuls. 

Word is, though, that those same fans are going to have even more reason to wring out their super hero under-roos. Even as I'm writing this, IESB is breaking with news that the aforementioned films (Batman and Superman for those of you ADD sufferers) will be compiled with Ryan Reynold's upcoming Green Lantern flick, much in the same style that Marvel has created their cinematic universe for The Avengers movie. However, WB is doing it with a slight twist.

If you'll remember, Chris Nolan made mention awhile back about the only way he knew to approach Superman was to use the same formula that he had for Batman, meaning that each characters would exist as the only super hero in their world. Well, it seems he's sticking to that notion to a certain extent. Where Marvel has neatly woven their films together, sources say WB is, just as strategically, using a chronological time line for their films. Think of it as a comic series. (Because that's exactly how they're treating it) Batman Begins is actually being referred to as "Action Comics No.1". That puts The Dark Knight as "Action Comics No.2" and Green Lantern will be the third issue. Ironically, Superman, or The Man of Steel, will be No.4 instead of 1. Confused yet? You're not alone. How do they tie them together to form the JLA? I don't know yet, but there are rumors that there may be some references within Green Lantern toward  Gotham City if not directly toward Batman. And remember, in the time that the Green Lantern film takes place, Superman doesn't yet exist. However, there is a young man by the name of Clark Kent living in Smallville Kansas. No, not THAT Smallville. Please, don't get me started.

So, we have to assume, that using this time line formula, that the Superman film would have to be a year one story, since, due to the court rulings, WB can't touch the Superman origin again. Oh man, I think my eyes are going crossed.

Then, on top of that, where does Flash and Wonder Woman come into play? Rumblings have been in play for awhile about those two characters getting the treatment, too. So, would they be addressed before the JLA film, or perhaps developed later and then introduced to the team in a JLA sequel? Only time will tell. But, this is exciting stuff to hear. Now, on with the casting, damn it!

You Might Want to Stick Around After Iron Man 2

I remember, when Iron Man came out, I was given the heads up by one of my associates to stay through the credits for an additional scene. As we all know now, that was the first scene in the launch of the ever growing campaign of The Avengers movie, in which Nick Fury meets with Tony Stark for the first time.

They did it again at the end of The Incredible Hulk, using Stark as the contact for S.H.I.E.L.D. when he approached General Ross. So, with two other Marvel features being filmed (three if you count the Avengers being shot back to back with Captain America) it only makes sense that they would do it again with Iron Man 2. And so they have.

LATINO REVIEW.com reports that there is in deed a lead in to one of the next films.

WARNING: The following contains spoilers….Oh, you’re still there? I knew you would be.

Apparently, in the film, S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Coulson makes mention of something he has to take care of in New Mexico. Nick Fury, perhaps in the scene with Iron Man sitting in the giant doughnut, also alludes to something in the southwest that he can’t dicuss.

So, at the end of the film, again, after the credits, a black car drives through the desert. We know its in New Mexico due to the 8RE 2Z1 New Mexico tag. Agent Coulson emerges from within the car and approaches an enormous crater, which has trucks driving around a hole within the crater itself. Coulson clicks on his cell and…well, it gets a little fuzzy here due to sound quality, but it appears he says “Sir, we’ve found him.” He could have also said “Thor, we’ve found him”, but the next shot is of Thor’s hammer lodged in the ground in the middle of the crater. So, it would make sense to me, that they were looking for Thor. You know, unless the Hulk stole Thor’s hammer. 

Iron Man 2: The Good, The Bad and...well, that's pretty much it.

We’re in the final countdown weeks of the May 7 release of, what I, along with a lot of you, consider to be one of the year’s most anticipated films. Marvel, intelligently, has moved right along with the production of their slate of superhero movies with the sequel of the Jon Favreau directed Iron Man. Peeing in your pants yet? Me either.

Let me start by saying that, while I was never a big fan of the character, I was a huge fan of the Iron Man movie. That was in most part due to the spot on casting of Robert Downey Jr. as the super smart and equally sharp tongued Tony Stark. In my opinion, there are few people that can rival RDJ in the quick wit category. Maybe that guy that played Sherlock Holmes. Oh…wait.

Anyway, I was completely happy with the first film until the last line, where, in front of the members of press, Stark blurts out “I am Iron Man”. What do you do with that in a follow up film? You have a superhero with an exposed identity, which just happens to be one of the most well known men in the world. How do you hide from that? Apparently you don’t.

In the previews dealt out thus far, we’ve seen more shots of Tony flaunting around in the suit with his mask off than we have a story. So, my question is, what should we expect going in? A comedy about a rich man parading around in his metal suit like a circus attraction or a great story, which has been brilliantly hidden by marketing. Let’s hope for the latter.

You wanna do the pros and cons? Nah, me either. But let’s do it anyway. Fortunately, there are a lot of pros from what I’ve seen. The cast is loaded with them. They even made an upgrade in the Rhodey department, dumping the squeaky Terrence Howard for Don Cheadle. Good move. Gwyneth Paltrow returns as Pepper Potts and Jon Favreau plays on both sides of the playground, serving not only as the director for the film, but also as Tony’s driver Hogan. Expect a little more from Samuel L. Jackson and his pirate patch (does that sound dirty to you, too) as he finishes off the roster of good guys as Nick Fury. I’m not entirely sure which version of the Black Widow we’re going to see, but Scarlett Johansson will be donning the skin-tight black suit. This could be oh so good in so many ways. I just hope she’s done extensive work with the choreographers. I may be wrong here, but she just seems clumsy to me. Then we have Mickey Rourke as Ivan Vanko…or Whiplash. Rourke is, well, Rourke. You either love him or hate him. Personally, I think he’s going to do great. Sam Rockwell, who’s underrated in my opinion, plays Justin Hammer.

Okay, who the hell is Justin Hammer? Again, I’m not married to the Iron Man character, so I had to do a little research. Yeah, we do that every now and then to supply you with good intel. Basically, Hammer is a more ruthless version of Tony Stark, although not quite up to par with our red and gold clad hero. He’s an industrialist competitor for Stark Industries, who also deals weapons to not only military organizations but to crime syndicates as well. In comic history, Hammer had the Iron Man technology and sold it to several beings, who would become members of Iron Man’s rogue gallery. The most famous being The Crimson Dynamo. Hammer also devised a way to remotely control the actual Iron Man suit. A skill he used to assassinate an ambassador.

That makes for a pretty impressive story, if they use it. It also appears, just from the previews, that Hammer wants to engage in a tech war with Stark, creating an army of, what I’m assuming are robots to battle Iron Man and Rhodey, who we’ll see in the War Machine suit.

Now the cons. I’m going to be picky here, because to be honest, I’m really looking forward to seeing this, and its hard to be critically objective about something that you WANT to be good. But, I did see on IMDB that there are a couple of cast members slotted for the roles of Howard Stark and a young  Tony Stark. Do you know what that means? DING DING DING…flashback. God I hate flashbacks. Hey, I told you I was going to be picky. There’s a fine line between making the F word work and having it F up a movie. Maybe Favreau has the Midas touch on it. We’ll see. Then, as I mentioned before, you have Stark exposing the identity of Iron Man to the world. Its just not good business, Tony! Oh no. You’ve got to have an ace in the hole. Finally, I’ve seen a few iffy CGI shots in the limited video I’ve seen. I saw this crap happen with the Spiderman franchise. They make a decently seamless original, where the special effects really make you believe and then its like they just don’t care as much about the second one and rely too heavily on the CG shots. I felt like I got kicked in my left one, when I heard about Green Lantern’s suit. But that’s for another day. You’ll hear a lot of people out in internet land say that previews sometimes contain unfinished shots, which is a load of crap. I’m going to blatantly steal Hugh Jackman’s analogy for the leaked incomplete Wolverine movie and say that no one wants to show you a Ferrari without a paint job. Although, after seeing that adamantium cluster, I’m pretty sure he meant to say Fierro. The message is true enough, though.

In any case, Iron Man 2 is bound to rake in the dough for the studio, and do what its intended to do, which is serve as a vessel for the Avengers movie. I’ll touch on that, and how I think Joss Whedon may actually be the right guy for that gig later on. But for now, you only have a few more weeks. I might even come back with a review.

Casting Couch: Super Edition

Yes, the casting couch, in its most original design, was supposed to be a weekly article, in which I gave my opinion, and possibly that of TMT as a whole, of whom should be cast in upcoming epic movies. Unfortunately, due to swaying changes both in and out of the TMT world, we had an obvious lapse in our intended continuity. And I missed the opportunity to give my thoughts on Captain America before Chris Evans was announced for the role. (I would have used Thor’s little brother Liam Hemsworth)

So, in an effort to somewhat make amends, I’m tackling the big one. The queen mother of casting dilemmas. Today I cast Superman.

This edition is going to be a little different than the previous, because, one, I’m going to provide three hopefuls for the lead character with a nod to my personal favorite, although it’ll never happen. Then, two, with such an important supporting cast, I’ll give ideas on who should be slotted in those places as well. So, without further ado…

Scott Porter: Most of the masses know him as Jason Street from television’s Friday Night Lights. A few others might have seen him as Rex Racer in The Wachowski Brothers’ Speed Racer. Okay, you’re right. No one saw that. He even did some work on As the World Turns, but we won’t count that against him. Even George Clooney did his time in the soap opera world. Okay, bad analogy. I just remembered that ghastly performance as Batman that Clooney crapped out for us. Anyway, if you’re still not familiar with Porter, you can check out the rest of his acting resumé HERE.

Travis Van Winkle: Funny name. Serious look. This guy’s face is almost too chiseled, but I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt. I have to admit that I caught Meet the Spartans on HBO awhile back, and it was then that I noticed Van Winkle for the first time. Well, that and the mediocre performance as that dickhead in 2009’s remake of Friday the 13^th. I think that was the actual name for that character. Looking over the rest of his work, which you can do as well HERE , I think if he can shed that frat boy persona that goes hand in hand with his look, which and ACTOR should be able to do, he might really be in the running for this role.

Henry Cavill: If any of you readers follow internet message boards related to casting or movie rumors, which I would expect you do if you’re reading this, you’ll know that Cavill has been a heavy fan favorite for this role even before Brandon Routh was chosen for Returns. I can’t really disagree here. In my opinion, the decision on casting should be even more dependant on acting ability than looks. Yes, there’s a certain amount of importance riding on a basic resemblance to the character, which Cavill meets, but remember, different artist have portrayed Superman with only similar physical attributes over the years. The real constant is his presence. So, we need an actor that can pull off this god-like being that was raised with the most humble morals of middle America. Watch the Tudors and see what you think.

I’ll just quickly mention two other names that I personally wouldn’t mind. Jim Caviezel, in my opinion, would be perfect. Especially if we were to ever see a team up with Christian Bale’s Batman. I’ve been told it’ll never happen with him. The other name, and I’m probably going to be stoned for this, but if they went with the Alex Ross version, I’d suggest Chris Noth. Hell, Routh could even cameo in a flashback. But that’s really reaching on all parts.

Now, on to Luthor. He’s almost as pivotal as Superman, because the ultimate good guy needs the ultimate bad guy to play off. I was actually really excited, when I heard Kevin Spacey had been cast in Returns. He was just given the wrong material. With that said, I’m going to have to cast my vote for Timothy Olyphant. And no, its not just because he played a bald guy in Hitman. Its more for his performance as the villain in Live Free or Die Hard. He was cold, calculating and collected the entire time he was wreaking absolute havoc to the entire country. Plus, he has a naturally sinister look. Even when he’s smiling, he looks like he’s hiding a secret or an ulterior motive. My back up plan on this one would be Olyphant’s co-star in Die Hard, Bruce Willis. Again, this depends on the version of the characters approached by the writers. Also, Nolan nodded to his intentions to mimic Donner’s approach to casting, in that he would pick an unknown for the lead role and surround him by already established stars.

Lois Lane has always been an easy pick for me. Jennifer Morrison, from Fox’s House just embodies that character. And its not just because I dated a girl by the same name in high school, either. She carries a pouty smirk that’s both adorable and irritating, depending upon which end of the conversation you land. She can play the strong, passionate persona without making it feel forced, too. Please, just don’t even argue.

Keeping with the talent of Fox, I’d put Hugh Laurie in the editor’s chair of The Daily Planet as Perry White. You may remember that he was also my pick for J. Jonah Jameson in the Spiderman reboot. After seeing him as a leader and mentor figure on House for so long, I just picture him as the boss. I’m hoping the new film will portray Perry as a little edgier, more influential character, too.

And finally, if it has to be discussed, there’s Clark’s little buddy Jimmy Olson. I’ve got to say, I thought Lois and Clark got it right with their first casting of Jimmy. There’s no need to make him overly annoying. He’s a good use of comedic relief and a source of respect for both Clark and Superman. For that, I’d choose Ben Feldman. He’s kind of a smaller guy and can work well with sarcasm, which would play well with Perry.

I’ve pretty well covered the main characters that we know will be in the film. As more information about the story and the characters involved is released, I’ll revisit this article and possibly add a few more picks for additional characters. I know that this is a touchy subject for many of you. I, just like you, have been following forums for years. And I’ve seen tons of proposals from different fans. These are my picks, but I always love to hear feedback from the readers. Good or bad. So, the shooting gallery is officially open. Bring it on.

New International Poster for Ironman 2

Due out May 7th, 2010, Ironman 2 is quickly becoming not only one of the most anticipated sequels, but one of the most awaited films of the year. 

You would think with such high expectations, they would have worked on the poster a little more. That's just my opinion, though.

The Monster Squad Returns

It appears that Platinum Dunes isn’t quite finished pillaging the 80’s hit list in lieu of reattaching the chin strap of their thinking caps and actually coming up with an original script. Deadline Hollywood reports that plans are in motion for a re-make of The Monster Squad, a cult classic from 1987.

As a business venture, its probably not a bad idea. Let’s face it, the Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Friday the 13^th movies, along with the upcoming Nightmare on Elm Street, are movie gold for the studios, when you consider how small the budget is compared the return.

The original Monster Squad centered around a group of boys, who learn that Dracula and company (Wolfman, Gillman, Frankenstein and The Mummy) are, in fact real, and in town to take an amulet, which, composed of pure goodness, could destroy the monsters when paired with information from within the diary of Abraham Van Helsing.

Rob Cohen, director of The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, will helm the film, which is only fitting since he served as producer of the original. Platinum Dunes is meeting with writers, but I wouldn’t hold my breath for Shane Black to return as the scribe.

Its another film that I’m up in the air about. Even with the aid of newly developed special effects, movies like this have somehow managed to lose their charm since their reign in the 80’s. Maybe with a different spin on it, they may produce something worthwhile. I’m skeptical about it for now, though. And I'm really worried that the kids of today won't know what nards are. What do you guys think?