Classic and timeless films are extremely rare. What’s even more rare, are classic and timeless franchises. Oh there are some good ones out there, but very few that can fit into that definition of legendary or worthy of the phrase “all time great”. Obviously there is the the greatest of them all, the original Star Wars trilogy. In more recent history a place at the table has to be kept for the Lord of the Ring trilogy and of course the Godfather trilogy (the only trilogies in film history where all 3 films were at least nominated for Best Picture at the academy awards).

Another trilogy belongs up among the company of the mighty… the Indiana Jones trilogy. Arguably the single greatest adventurer in the history of film. Like Star Wars, the Indiana Jones films helped define the pop culture of its time, and captivated a lot of imaginations… helping to perhaps even define our childhoods (at least for those of us old enough). Hell, I still remember going out into the local fields near our neighborhood and digging through the dirt with a gardening spade I took from my dad’s shed looking for ancient relics while pretending I was Indy himself.

The point here is, good movies come and go… the classics are immortal. Indiana Jones is immortal, and as such is more than just another movie or another movie franchise (I mean on a cultural level. Last I checked, watching an Indiana Jones film still doesn’t cure cancer). It’s a part of our cultural fabric. It’s a part of our childhoods. It’s a significant part of what we defined as our imaginations. It is classic.

For that very reason people around the world have waited patiently for years to see some of that immortality on the screen again. The on again / off again nature of a possible fourth Indiana Jones film disillusioned some fanatical fans (like myself) into ultimately believing a 4th Indy adventure would never actually happen. But here we are… less than 10 days away from Indiana Jones hitting the big screen once again. A film that fans and people all over the world have waited nearly 20 years to see. The greatest adventurer of all time is back. Regardless of how good or bad the film ultimately turns out to be… his return to the silver screen is something to be celebrated by not only fans, but by Hollywood itself. Indy picking up the whip once again is an event… it should be (in the immortal words of Darth Vader) a day long remembered.

But hold the phone. If you were 25 or younger… never having seen the original Indiana Jones trilogy (and there are a lot of you out there… you don’t know what you’re missing) and all you had to go by was the marketing for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull that Paramount has been putting out… you’d think that just another action/adventure summer film was opening on the 22nd. Just another movie. Just another film. Because when I see all the marketing for Indiana Jones 4, I get no sense of it being an event, no sense of history, no sense of significance… no sense that we are seeing the return of the greatest adventurer of all time. All I’d be seeing is a bunch of trailers for an adventure movie staring an old guy with a hat.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying the trailers for Indiana Jones 4 have been “bad”. I’ve actually liked them. But all they’ve done is to show me that they’ve got a new movie coming out amongst 40+ other movies also coming out this summer.

I remember when Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith was getting ready to come out. Not only were the trailers amazing… the marketing for that movie was very specifically geared towards giving the public a sense of an event. WE WERE ABOUT TO SEE THE BIRTH OF DARTH VADER! That was the message in almost everything from trailers to poster to commercials to cereal boxes. It wasn’t just the MOVIE being promoted…. it was the EVENT that was being celebrated and we (as movie goers) didn’t feel like we were being pitched too…. we felt like we were being given personal invitations to attend the event! Sure the movie itself may have disappointed a lot of people, but before it opened, it was marketed as an event that shouldn’t be missed (and with $850 million world wide at the box office, not many people missed it).

With Indiana Jones 4, it shouldn’t have been any different. This should have been an event! The marketing for this film should have focused a lot more on the history, the cultural relevance, the legend and the legacy of Indiana Jones and the celebration of his triumphant return! Instead, we’ve got the marketing for just another (although good looking) action movie with Cate Blanchett sporting a Russian accent.

So what has the marketing department at Paramount done wrong here? I think a couple of things:

1) I think (please be clear that this is my own speculation) Paramount presumed that EVERYONE was lining up and dying to see Indiana Jones 4 regardless of how well or poor the marketing was.
They could be forgiven for believing that to a degree since it’s true for many people. But that thinking fails to recognize just how many in the movie going audience have never seen Indiana Jones in action before. It doesn’t take into account those who have, but are now disillusioned with George Lucas after the failings of the most recent Star Wars trilogy. As a political analogy, it’s almost like Paramount thought EVERYONE was going to vote for them in the election anyway, so they didn’t campaign properly…. I think they’re going to discover that was a mistake.

2) They failed to address how today’s audience may have a hard time with an action star that is 66 years old.
Marketing Indiana Jones as “just another action film” in a summer FILLED with great looking action films leaves the age thing open to being a problem. I’ve heard a lot of people 25 or under reference this very fact. Marketing Indiana Jones as a classic, an institution, a legend would have done a lot to counteract that. Indiana Jones is immortal, a character that defies time… it isn’t the PERSON of Indiana Jones you’re going to see… it’s the LEGEND. Age suddenly becomes a non-factor.

3) Forget Cate and Shia, everything should be focused on Indy.
Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE Cate Blanchett and I really like Shia LaBeouf… but I think even casting them in this film was a mistake. The more you bring other big names and big stars into the mix, Indiana Jones 4 becomes more and more “just another action movie”. Anything that takes the focus off Indy (other than a great villain) weakens the “event” feel of the movie in my opinion. Big stars and big names are GREAT in almost any other summer blockbuster… but Indiana Jones should be putting as much of the spotlight on Indiana Jones as possible to highlight the uniqueness of the film as an INDIANA JONES film and not “just another action film”. The marketing should have been keeping that in mind.

There was a time not long ago (just weeks ago really) that I was 100% convinced that Indiana Jones 4 would be the #1 box office movie of 2008. However, I also believed at that time that Paramount would start promoting Indy 4 as the cultural event that it should be instead of just putting in a half assed effort and making it look like just another action film. Now I’m not so sure. I’d still probably bet on it ending up as #1, but my 100% conviction on the matter has dwindled to about 70% certainty.

Now keep in mind, I still think Indiana Jones will be a great movie. This post isn’t about how good or bad i think the movie itself will be… just on how I think the marketing has been mismanaged.

So what do you think? Has Paramount botched the Indiana Jones 4 marketing, do you think it’s been perfect as it is or do you think it’s somewhere in between? Leave your thoughts in the comments.

Beavis is likely the worst name you could possibly be given by your parents. It predestines that you will be a loser and likely find yourself gravitated to someone named Butthead just to make yourself feel better about it.

But you are still a loser.

Anyways, it looks like the king of the underdog is talking about making his classic MTV animated duo into a live action film.

MTV MoviesBlog reveals:

Recently, we were able to get a rare interview with Mike Judge, the creator of such pop-culture goodies as “Beavis & Butt-Head,” “Office Space,” “Idiocracy” and “King of the Hill.” In addition to unearthing major details about his next film “Extract,” Judge told us that Beavis & Butt-head are making their return in a brief intro to Volume 3 of his cartoon festival “Animation Show,” and could soon become a live-action movie.

I went through my post secondary years with an admiration for a lot of “idiot animation”. That silly stuff like Ren and Stimpy that are just so silly that they are funny.

But I was NEVER a fan of Beavis and Butthead. Their entire premise was to pick their noses and make fun of music videos (poorly) and then laugh at each other with that irritating breathy “heh heh heh”. Everything they did bothered me. I just didn’t get it.

Still I found myself imitating them when someone would say ass. Heh heh heh.. you said ass.. heh heh heh.

Sigh.

I honestly do like Mike Judge. He spits out pure genius in his sleep. Maybe he should sleep more. But to see this made into a live action version? Wasn’t the feature length film bothersome enough? I don’t know that I want to see this happen, and its very unlikely that they can get me to go to a theater for it.

But then Meet the Spartans and Jackass were hits. So strike while the iron is hot.

Maybe this is part of his master plan to make the message found in Idiocracy come to fruition.

The Saw franchise has never really impressed me, but then I was never a fan of the Torture Porn style of horror that has become popular in the last number of years. Among that genre of horror, Saw seems to hold itself as the unofficial spokes muppet.

But Saw is moving on with its fifth chapter and the plot synopsis has been revealed. If you haven’t seen the last one, you might want to skip this as it kinda gives away the ending.

Coming Soon says:

The studio says that in the fifth installment, Hoffman (Costas Mandylor) is seemingly the last person alive to carry on the Jigsaw (Tobin Bell) legacy. But when his secret is threatened, Hoffman must go on the hunt to eliminate all loose ends.

I have been told that there is more to these movies than just “guy/gal gets abducted and trapped in a room and is forced to commit horrible acts with the promise that it will save them” but I am going to plead ignorance to the general plot of the series.

However, that being said I would not be in the minority to assume this is all about one room and a muppet issuing ultimatums on a little TV. If anyone had heard much about the franchise but never watched it then they might be making that same jump. So this plot seems to step a little outside of that formula.

With any luck the Heir to the Saw will have to find more creative ways of doing their little torture bit and breath some life into this churned out repetitive grab for money from people who just want to squirm.

Christina Ricci is one of a handful of people who have just signed on for a drama called Long Time Gone.

Coming Soon says:

Christina Ricci, Anjelica Huston, Josh Lucas and Justin Bartha will star in Adam Davidson’s drama Long Time Gone, based on April Stevens’ 1994 debut novel “Angel Angel,” says The Hollywood Reporter.

Ricci will play a mysterious woman who enters the life of a dysfunctional family and turns it upside down, one member at a time.

I really like Christina Ricci. I don’t know that she is Oscar worthy, but perhaps in the right role someday she will. I was a little shocked when the postergirl for babyfat suddenly surfaced as a 60 pound waif, but I really liked her in Black Snake Moan even though it was likely the least attractive she has ever been.

Bartha is a behind the scenes production aide turned actor last seen in National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets. And I haven’t seen Lucas in anything since the Hulk so I can’t really speak to either of these fellas.

However Angelica Houston has always delivered rich characters who are either dead on serious or so over the top that I have no doubt that anything she does will be just fine.

Holy crap, I still remember the first time I saw the 70’s classic horror film “Piranha” way back in the day on my friend’s VCR machine in the mid-80’s. As cheesy as it was to me at the time… it still made me think twice about dipping my toe in the water when I went to the beach.

Well get your bathing suits on on again kiddies, because the Weinstein’s are getting ready to remake the fish horror, only this time it’ll be done in the 3-D format. Variety Magazine gives us this:

Dimension Films is producing “Piranha 3-D,” a remake of Joe Dante’s 1978 cult classic about a school of flesh-eating piranhas released into a summer resort. Alexandre Aja (”The Hills Have Eyes”) will helm the project and co-write the script with “Hills” scribe Gregory Levasseur based on a draft by Peter Goldfinger and Josh Stolberg.

Brining “The Hills Have Eyes” director on board is a mixed blessing I guess. Personally I wasn’t all that thrilled with Hills… but I know a lot of people who loved it, so there you go.

I really dig water based horror flicks. There’s just something really pure about it you know? Man totally out of his element, and in the element of an unknown horror. That’s part of the reason I’m dying to see them finally get a MEG movie going. But in the meantime, I’ll be happy to see schools of little ravenous flesh eaters on the screen.

We learn of the upcoming John Waters picture Fruitcake thanks to the professionals at Variety:

The Wagner/Cuban Cos.’ 2929 Intl. has picked up worldwide sales rights to John Waters’ Johnny Knoxville-Parker Posey topliner “Fruitcake,” and is shopping the project at the Cannes film market. Waters’ Fruitcake is the story of a cheerfully weird ten-year-old boy who gets separated from his loving small-time crook parents on Christmas Eve.

I have to dig through this man’s entire library one day. The man is bizarre, twisted, peculiar and down right fantastic. Waters loves his home town of , warts and all, and uses it as a character in his films. His dedication to the land of his birth is inspiring and makes for a great trademark to his projects.

I will be sure to keep my ear to the ground for further news, and share it with all of you.

I’ve always been told that the story of Ian Fleming (the man who created James Bond) was a fascinating one, but one I confess I’ve never actually heard, so when news hit some time ago that a script was done on the life of Fleming, I was pretty curious. I still remember how much I loved “Finding Neverland” (a movie about Peter Pan creator J.M. Barrie) and thought something like this on the man behind Bond would be great.

Some promising news on the project came out today with word that Leonardo DiCaprio may play the role. The folks over at IESB give us the following:

“It’s the real James Bond,” says the 35-year-old Stevenson, who previously worked as a development executive at Kopelson Entertainment and DreamWorks. “In England, Ian Fleming’s exploits are much better well known. Talking to people out here, no one had any idea that M was based on a real person, Miss Moneypenny was based on a real person.”

Some script time line details are also included, “His latest version of the screenplay begins on the eve of Fleming’s Jamaica wedding in 1952, just before his first Bond novel, “Casino Royale,” was published (a wedding present to his new wife). It then flashes back to Fleming’s years as a Reuters journalist stationed in Moscow and then a Commander of Naval Intelligence (MI6 code name “17F”) during World War II who devised innovative spying plots.”

Dicaprio’s production company is functioning as the producers for the film, so a rumor like this may well be founding in truth. Hard to say at this point, but it would be pretty cool. Dicaprio has evolved into one of the best actors working today, and a project like this one would see to be right up his ally.

There’s another Incredible Hulk trailer out and about. Pretty much everyone agreed that the last one was much better than the first… this one… meh… it’s good, but there really isn’t much (or anything) in there that I haven’t seen in the other two trailers already. Check it out:

We have discovered an unconfirmed report that a younger Beast will be appearing in Magneto. We get the following scoop from Latino Review:

While on a visit today to the creature effects shop for Hellboy II: The Golden Army I noticed some pictures that were lying around for other movies like Land of the Lost and of course, Hellboy II: The Golden Army.

But I also noticed a photograph of a young looking Beast leaping through the air. Not a drawing, although it could have been computer generated, but an actual photo.

“What’s this?”

“This is young Beast from the prequel they’re gonna be doing. Magneto.”

“Oh, ok.” I replied, trying to act calm before my head exploded from seeing this picture. “So Beast is in Magneto, huh?”

“Ya.”

So there you have it folks, from the mouth of Latino Review; Beast will be in Magneto. Please take this with a grain of salt, and understand that we have no way to confirm and/or deny these rumors. But with the amount of “special guests” in Wolverine, I would’ t be surprised if we hear about a slew of cameos before the film is released.

Latino Review also seems to get their hands on a ton of exclusive scoops, and more often than not, they turn out to be true.

It appears hell has frozen over and a 21 Jumpstreet film adaptation has been spotted skating on the ice. We get the following scoop from our friends at comingsoon:

Entertainment Weekly has confirmed that Jonah Hill (Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Superbad) will write the screenplay for and executive produce Sony’s adaptation of “21 Jump Street,” the popular ’80s show starring Johnny Depp. The magazine says that it hasn’t been decided whether Hill will star in the movie.

In the series, which ran from 1987-1990 on Fox, Depp’s Officer Tom Hanson was assigned to an elite squad of young undercover cops - Judy Hoffs (Holly Robinson Peete), Doug Penhall (Peter DeLuise) and Harry Truman Ioki (Dustin Nguyen) - to infiltrate high schools and fight crime.

I am at a loss for words on this one. I remember 21 Jumpstreet being an alright television program, but it was more important as a launching pad for Johnny Depp and Richard Greco more than anything else. This is a show that really doesn’t need a remake in my opinion.

Starsky and Hutch had some laughs, but I really hate the slapstick remake and sincerely hope that this film doesn’t go in that direction. Who knows, Jonah Hill could be the world’s biggest Jumpstreet fan, and really knock this one out of the park. That would be the best case scenario; and one that we should hope for. I am skeptical though, and chalk this up to the current trend of remake madness.

We have a new Righteous Kill poster for you to check out today thanks to our friends over at themoviehole:

Sorry it is such a small image, that is all we were able to get. When I stretched it out - it looked like hell.

I like having these two guys on the poster with the city in the background. For this type of film I think the poster is appropriate, and it hammers home the fact that these two legends will be working together. International friends, what do you think?

Michael Moore is going to lop one more lawn dart into Bush’s face before he leaves office with a follow up to Fahrenheit 9/11. We get news of this film thanks to the fabled caves of Yahoo:

Oscar-winning filmmaker Michael Moore has begun work on a “searing and provocative” follow-up to his 2004 political documentary “Fahrenheit 9/11,” with plans to release it next year, producers said on Tuesday. In keeping with Moore’s penchant for secrecy surrounding his projects, the studios divulged few details of his latest work except to describe it as “a searing and provocative follow-up” to “Fahrenheit 9/11.”

Rosett said Moore’s focus in his new film is a broader look at the United States’ position as an industrialized nation and world power since the attacks of September 11, 2001.

Moore’s documentary style may take too many creative liberties, but his films are always entertaining and are fantastic for igniting debate and discussion. As a person that enjoys arguing a point of view; his films make for excellent fodder. As a Communist sympathizer, I tend to agree with Moore, more often than I will disagree. He is a leftist firebrand that gets the other side all riled up. He is like the anti Hannity.

Even if you hate Moore, you have to appreciate what he is doing for documentary film. He is pulling in record numbers and trying to work deals with theatre chains; fighting for screens dedicated to documentary film. I have had a growing love for documentaries over the past few years, and as a rule I now almost prefer them to fiction. With so many ideas being rehashed, and so many remakes being pumped out, now is as good a time as any to mine the rich and fertile grounds of the documentary.

Canadian horror-smiths have nabbed an AVN performer of the year Sasha Grey to star in Smash Cut. We get the scoop from the caves of Yahoo:

Porn star Sasha Grey, the 2008 Adult Video Network female performer of the year and star of more than 80 porn films, is set to star in the Canadian low-budget horror film “Smash Cut.” Grey will play a TV news personality who goes undercover as an actress in a horror film to discover the killer of her older sister, a stripper.

“Smash Cut” director Lee Demarbre insists his indie movie has no nudity or sex, and Grey will remain fully clothed throughout. “The only penetration is by knives and axes,” he said of the slasher pic, a production of Ottawa-based Zed Filmworks.

Porn actresses are still actresses. Some are better than others, but I have no problem with Sasha Grey crossing over into a Horror film… in fact I am surprised this doesn’t happen more often. Pretty, uninhibited girls are the ones you want involved in a horror production and I think this may be a winning recipe; time will tell.

I hope this film takes place in the legendary strip clubs on Montreal, Quebec. Our blessed francophone province provides more strippers to this country than any other. If you haven’t had the chance to see Montreal strippers - you are missing out on some of the worlds greatest entertainers (Think Cirque Du Soleil, but way more nudity).

I wish Sasha Grey luck, and look forward to her performance in this Canadian production.

McConaughey has scored another beach front adventure in Surfer Dude. We get wind of this project thanks to the fabled caves of Yahoo:

The comedy “Surfer, Dude,” starring Matthew McConaughey as a soul-searching surfer who’s experiencing an existential crisis, is set for a summer release. Starz Media subsidiary Anchor Bay Entertainment has acquired U.S. distribution rights to the film and plans to release it theatrically in late summer.

Anchor Bay, whose primary business is home entertainment, has been moving toward independent theatrical releases with films such as “The Grand” and “Sex and Death 101.” “The acquisition of ‘Surfer, Dude’ underscores where this company is headed,” Anchor Bay president Bill Clark said. “We will continue to acquire strong titles for theatrical and DVD release while maximizing the abilities of the various divisions at Starz, including our global sales team and the premium entertainment channels.”

This looks like another script crafted for the purposes of showing off the fabled torso of McConaughey. I guess Fool’s Gold made enough money to warrant another beach adventure. In time, I can see topless McConaughey films becoming a genre unto them self. They need to get more ridiculous with the plots however, they should have McConaughey stranded on a planet of virgins. After an emergency crash landing, alien unicorn-wolves rip off the top of his spacesuit before chesty virgin warriors come to his rescue - that is a movie that will please everyone. (I saw a film featuring virgin amazon warriors last night and was inspired).

After doing a post about Roger Corman, I cannot help but suggest a Corman directed, topless McConaughey movie. It can be called Torso of Fortune. Surfer Dude sounds like it will suck, Torso of Fortune sounds like a textbook, in the class of macho.

It looks like the B Movie master Roger Corman will be getting a documentary about his life and influence. We get wind of this project thanks to the caves of yahoo:

The man who brought more top-drawer directors and bottom-of-the-barrel schlock to Hollywood than anyone will be profiled in the documentary feature “King of the B’s: The Independent Life of Roger Corman.” Stick ‘N Stone Prods. will finance and produce Alex Stapleton’s docu examining the impact of Corman, who over five decades has directed more than 50 films and produced close to 400.

The docu will look at how Corman has influenced the industry through films like 1960’s “The Little Shop of Horrors” and the auteurs, including Martin Scorsese, he has mentored. Films like Alexandre Aja’s upcoming remake “Piranha 3-D” continue his legacy.

This man directed a host of films, some of which include; Swamp Women, Teenage Caveman and Deathsport. His production list is extremely lengthly and feature films like Attack Of The 60 Foot Centerfolds, Carnosaur 1, 2 and 3. After mulling over his work, one thing is certain; I need to see more Roger Corman films stat!

We were recording the macho movie review yesterday and Wintle brought up Corman during a discussion about Women in prison films, so I was pleasantly surprised to see this documentary mentioned this morning. I love B-Movies and welcome a look behind one of the phenomena’s most important contributors. I look forward to this doc, and will be sure to snoop for updates and other information as they are made available.

Amongst mere mortal men, gods walk. And among those few immortals who dwell in our midst is the Zeus of them all, and his name is Werner Herzog! This man is beyond hard core. He gets shot during an interview… and continues on with the interview. The guy has balls made out of materials so hard that modern science has yet to discover it. (Speaking of Herzog, I just saw him in that new movie “The Grand” and he was just INSANE in it!)
Well in the most odd pairing of Director / Actor I think I’ve ever heard of, it’s being reported that Werner Herzog is about to team up with none other than Nic Cage to remake the film “Bad Lieutenant“. The good folks over at Cinematical give us this:

Werner Herzog is remaking Abel Ferrara’s gritty, NC-17-rated cult classic,Bad Lieutenant, and none other than Nicolas Cage is going to star. Nic Cage! Werner Herzog! Am I the only one who’s completely blown away by this bizarre news? (Though, to be fair, we did kinda see this coming …)

Cage will take on the role originally played by Harvey Keitel; he’ll slip into the part of a drug and sex-addicted corrupt cop, though there’s no word on how far they’ll take this version of the film. However, exec producer Avi Lerner did promise this new take will “deliver as much filth as the original.”

Sometimes you hear stories about actors giving directors a lot of shit on set… I’ll bet you a million dollars that NEVER happens with Werner Herzog. You know why? Because that man will sneak into your hotel room and murder you in your sleep with one hand while he drinks fine Vodka with the other… and everyone knows it.

Count me as one guy who is dying to see how something like this turns out.

I love Point Break. Probably my favorite Keanu Reeves film (not that there are many I like) and to me it’s the definitive Patrick Swayze role. A few years later a cheap disgusting rip off movie called “The Fast and the Furious” basically swept in and completely stole the plot, characters and even ending from Point Break. This past year, “Hot Fuzz” immortalized and paid supreme homage to the great film.

Anyway, there have been whispers about a possible sequel to the 1991 movie, which I personally would be more than pumped to see because I loved the characters so much. Our friends over at IESB give these details about a Point Break 2 project:

There has been no casting news even though the production company is believed to have reached out to both Reeves and Swayze, we also know that the movie will take place Indonesia, hence Point Break Indo, clever. Jan de Bont will be directing and the production company believes that they will be filming the “most extreme action stunts ever caught on camera.”

So what will the story be about? Here is your first look at the sequels’ synopsis. When Billy Dalton, military special ops and star surfer, is disqualified from the pro-surfing tour, he takes off for the coast of Bali looking for the perfect wave. While there he’s recruited by a private security force who are trying to find a gang known as The Bush Administration, surfing outlaws and modern day pirates who work like “The Ex-Presidents,” a bank robbing crew from Malibu twenty years ago.

Ok, since I’m interested in this film because of the characters… my interest in this film would take a MASSIVE nose dive if they didn’t get Swayze even Keanu Reeves back. I can live with it if they didn’t get Reeves and just recast his role with the same character, but I would admittedly have a hard time if it wasn’t “The Swayze” in there as Bodhi.

I can swallow recasting roles… but at least give me the same characters. If there is no Bodhi, then there is no Campea in the theater to watch it. It’s just that simple.

So what did you think of the original Point Break? Are you interested in a sequel? Yes? No? Why or why not?

No this is not another article about Dan Radcliffe’s nude scene on stage. This time a group of aspiring artists paid homage to Michelangelo’s “Creation of Adam,” with Potter as Adam and Professor Dumbledore. Silly as it sounds, the homage was true to its source and Potter’s parts were in full view. This caused the principal to have the offending panel taken down until they reached a compromise.

DailyTidings offers:

Principal Jeff Schlecht had the nearly nude panel of Potter taken down the day the mural was hung, April 11, citing school policies over excessive bareness. Hundreds of students protested on Siskiyou Boulevard two weeks later, and several conferences were held between the artists and administration.

Now even as an artist myself I still struggle with “artistic nudity” in peices. If a teacher was to show hand drawn porn to a school kid they could lose their job. But Michelangelo paints a willie right there, and boom. Its art. But are we to censor these classic works from an era where this was considered acceptable? The debate goes on.

However, in this mural I think it is irresponsible of them to have allowed Harry’s hairy to be exposed to begin with. It is inappropriate and unnecessary. They changed the identity of David and God himself, so why can’t they give Potter some Fruit of the Looms?? Does this somehow affect the integrity of the art if the boy wizard got dressed in the morning?

I can just imagine the “Dumbledore is gay” routine getting abused in light of this imagery.

The funniest part of this story is how the whole thing began over “excessive bareness” in the picture. And now that he is only 99% naked its ok??

That is a really generous margin of what is considered “excessive”.

Sgt. Rock is one of those movies that has been talked about for a long time. We hear about a little progress here and there, but for the most part the project has been sitting in limbo. Movie Blog reader Jared gave me the heads up on an interview the guys over at AICN did with mega producer Joel Silver and the topic of Sgt. Rock came up. Sounds like things are moving along with Guy Ritchie attached:

Moriarty: But you do that with properties. You stick by them, like SGT. ROCK. You have developed that for a long time now…

Joel: I’m going to make that. I’m going to make that very soon. With Guy Ritchie, I think.

Moriarty: Really?!

Joel: I hope so.

I would personally love to see Guy Ritchie take this thing on. His style is one of my favorites amongst all directors working today. I still get a huge idiot grin on my face whenever I even think about “Snatch”.

The one concern I have is that like Silver’s other project, Speed Racer, Sgt. Rock looks on the outside to be a project that will rely on its pre-existing audience… but I don’t know that it has enough of a following (or even people that have heard of it) to make it viable. Hard to say really. Personally I’d love to see it.

Anyone who has been haunting themovieblog for any amount of time knows that The Mighty Thor is my favorite comic book of all time. The best runs of the series were Jack Kirby and Walt Simonson. Kirby is the king of comics, but Simonson took the character and made him shine brightest (in my humble opinion).

When word came out that a Thor film was in the works, I was obviously excited. I fear that it may be shit, but in my heart of hearts I yearn for an excellent Thor film, and my eyes hunger to see it. With Matthew Vaughn recently being removed from project the directors chair currently remains empty and the mind starts to wonder who may fill the seat.

Sir Jig-A-Lot suggested Mel Gibson in a recent post, and my mind was soon aflutter with images of what a Gibson Thor may look like. He did a pretty good job with Jesus; how much better could he do with the Thunder God?
Mel Gibson has been on a streak of extremely violent films, and I hope this trend climaxes in the world of Thor. The viking gods were role-models to some of the most relentless raiders to ever sail the globe. They are war lords that strike fear into all that oppose them; they should wield violence like non other. Mel Gibson could hammer this home better than most. Braveheart showed us his ability at directing large scale battles, and Apocalypto took the violence to the jungle with one on one combat. When Mel is present; violence rules.

Rodney threw up a post today that Brad Pitt may be Thor. That would be a casting befitting the legend and would be an appropriate starring vehicle for the man. Comic Book films make so much money that it makes sense to do them right, and get an A-Lister if you can. Robert Downey Jr. and Christian Bale have showed what a quality casting can do for a comic book film, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this rumor soon turns to fact.

I wouldn’t mind if Mel directed Thor, but he may notbe the best choice. Over the next little while (or until an announcement is made) I will bring up different directors and mull over reasons why they may be a quality choice, and we can discuss the pros and cons together. But for now, I ask you; Do you think Gibson would be a good director for Thor?