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Incredible Hulk: See the Hulk 'Hulk out'!

The pivotal moment in the movie where KGB agent Emil Blonsky (played by Tim Roth) realises that he wants the awesome power of the Jolly Green Giant for himself.

 

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Hancock: Dynamite new trailer

 

Admittedly, it's one of those trailers that leaves you  feeling like you've seen the whole film but clearly the studio thinks we  need that from a superhero that we won't have read about before.

Hancock's not just any superhero though - he's the superhero  that we would be if we were suddenly gifted with incredible powers:  Unreliable, clumsy, irresponsible and frequently a little drunk.

When superhero parodies are done right (as in Mystery Men) they're  fantastic. When they're done wrong (as in My Super Ex-Girlfriend) they're still pretty good.

With Iron Man, Incredible Hulk, and Dark Knight slugging it out for top spot this Summer, Hancock might just be the one that flies in and surprises everyone. Hopefully he won't break anything when he lands.

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The Incredible Hulk: New Trailer

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Amazing movies you'll never see: #1. Green Arrow in jail

Those resourceful young men at Latino Review have got their hands on a David Goyer script for a Green Arrow movie.

Not just any movie though: This one takes the Guardian readers' favourite crime-fighting archer, strips him of his costume and equipment, and dumps him in a maximum-security prison for most of its running time.

Now this is a hero that few outside the comics subculture will recognise, unless they're really devoted to Smallville. As a fourth instalment in an already-established series it might fly, but as an opener? Madness.

Even with a David Goyer script, even with the suggested casting of Matt Damon as Green Arrow, this story will never reach the multiplexes.

I'd pay cash money for the graphic novel though...

Spielberg and Jackson will 'probably' share Tintin helm

Not quite sure if Tintin qualifies as a Comic Book Hero, but he was one of mine when I was a kid, and he was clearly a favourite of Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson's too.

The ET and Jurassic Park director has confirmed that he will "probably" co-direct the third film in the forthcoming Tintin trilogy with the Lord of the Rings supremo.

"We're making three movies back to back", Spielberg said in Los Angeles. "I'll direct the first one, he'll [Peter Jackson] direct the second and we'll probably co-direct the third."

The triology will star King Kong and LotR's Andy Serkis as Captain Haddock, and Thomas Sangster as Tintin.

The Dark Knight: Tim Burton Edition

This marvellous video edit from College Humor takes the current Dark Knight trailer that we know and love and finds matching shots from Tim Burton's 1989 Batman movie. It's beautifully done, cleverly conceived, and demonstrates that a good idea is always worth repeating.

Juxtaposing the two trailers if not side by side then at least cheek by jowl   only serves to heighten the similarities and, surprisingly, gives me a powerful yen to watch Jack Nicholson's spectacularly hammy take on The Joker again.

See more funny videos at CollegeHumor

The Dark Knight: Tim Burton Edition

This marvellous video edit from College Humor takes the current Dark Knight trailer that we know and love and finds matching shots from Tim Burton's 1989 Batman movie. It's beautifully done, cleverly conceived, and demonstrates that a good idea is always worth repeating.

Juxtaposing the two trailers if not side by side then at least cheek by jowl   only serves to heighten the similarities and, surprisingly, gives me a powerful yen to watch Jack Nicholson's spectacularly hammy take on The Joker again.

See more funny videos at CollegeHumor

Iron Man: First UK review

If you’re impatient and don’t have the time to read my whole review, here are the bullet points:

 

It’s great.

 

It’s the ultimate geek movie: Extraordinary computer aided design skills trump brute strength, and there's (almost) no romantic sub-plot.

 

There are two bona-fide ‘Indiana Jones vs Cocky Swordsman’ moments.

 

There is NO Nick Fury cameo*.

 

There isn’t QUITE ENOUGH Black Sabbath.

 

It’s notable that the name Iron Man is only used once in the movie, right at the very end and the name of his rival, Ironmonger, is only mentioned once in a throwaway comment. There’s also the subtlest of hints that we might see the ‘other’ Iron Man, War Machine, in the inevitable sequel.

 

'That guy that sneaked onto the set' didn't make the final cut.

Continue reading for the full Iron Man review, which will inevitably contain some plot spoilers.

Dark Knight Viral: London Bound?

The complex online viral campaign for new Batman movie The Dark Knight had an entirely understandable pause after the untimely death of Joker actor Heath Ledger but seems now to be gathering momentum again. This Gotham-themed Drudge clone is my current favourite. The latest development is the mysterious Clown Travel website which is currently displaying a cryptic photo (see above) but may well be doing something altogether different tomorrow.

Most of the existing campaign has involved events in the US, but note the stickers on the suitcase (while trying to ignore the slightly shaky perspective work). Could the Clown Prince of Crime be on his way to London?

We'll find our on April Fools' day. Or maybe we won't. It depends on who exactly the Joker is setting out to fool.

Outlook bleak for Fantastic Four 3, says Evans

Chris Evans, who played flammable airhead Johnny Storm in the two recent Fantastic Four movies, says that if there was going to be another installment in the franchise he would know about it by now.

In an interview with MTV, he says that he was notified of Fox's intention to shoot Rise of the Silver Surfer came within a couple of weeks of the first movie's release. Both movies opened in the US with box office of around $57,000,000.

It's a shame: much as I enjoyed 'darker' comic book adaptations like Batman Begins and Blade, the two  Fantastic 4 movies came closest to evoking the colour and exuberance of the Silver Age comics that I (and many of today's Hollywood screenwriters) grew up with.

Green Lantern headed for cinemas after all?

After the collapse of Jack Black's rather unlikely attempt at Green Lantern it looked as if the property might be dead, at least until after George Miller's Justice League movie completed its interminable gestation.

Now, though Comicology suggests that Greg Berlanti, writer of neo-Dallas Dirty Sexy Money is currently working on the script for a live-action Green Lantern movie. Maybe that sneaky poster in I am Legend that hinted at a live action movie about the interplanetary peacekeeper wasn't such a red herring after all..

Nevertheless, IMDB is currently displaying an eerily blank page with just a year of release, 2010, for Green Lantern.

The smart money is on any Green Lantern project featuring the John Stewart incarnation of GL, although Comicology offers this intriguing counter-argument:

However, the Justice League movie has John Stewart already set to be their Green Lantern, so Berlanti’s Green Lantern may still be Hal Jordan. And, fortunately for Hal Jordan fans, the direct-to-DVD movie Justice League: New Frontier gave Mr. Jordan a lot of new fans, and has increased his grip on his standing as the Green Lantern among kids and the general public.

It's a tough one: I loved the Hal Jordan Green Lantern books as a young lad, but I can't help thinking that the effects technology to convincingly depict the power of the ring is likely to remain beyond our grasp for a couple of decades yet. What do you think? Does this sound like a great fun movie or a disaster in the making? Sound off in the comments below:

Nick Fury: Definitely in Iron Man. Or not.

Samuel L.Jackson's cameos in (definitely) Iron Man and (probably) The Incredible Hulk have been widely reported around the web and a few shots of the cult favourite actor have escaped the set to be distributed around the globe. The short scene, together with the notion that it might set up a future Avengers movie, is something that has excited the vast legion of Internet-savvy fanboys to an almost fever pitch.

Except now it might not happen. Or it might. There's talk over on Comic Book Resources that it 'may' not:

“Iron Man” will hit theatres on May 2nd. Samuel L. Jackson IS playing Nick Fury but his cameo may not appear in THIS film. They also confirmed that there is a crossover between this movie and “The Incredible Hulk”. [my italics]

Whether the Fury scene is being held back for some sort of DVD extra, or whether Marvel are just trying (quixotically) to restore the element of surprise is hard to say. It seems improbable that Jackson's performance will end up on the cutting room floor. He's still in IMDB's cast list and one look at the Ultimate Avengers incarnation of Fury (see pic) will convince you that Marvel believe in Sam L. as the director of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Dark Knight: "I believe whatever doesn't kill you simply makes you stranger"

The mighty Drudge Report has the hot Dark Knight news today, with a report from AP about a trade screening of new footage from the forthcoming Batman adventure.

With interesting and revealing quotes from the star, the director and (as in our headline) the Clown Prince of Crime himself the piece focuses on Heath Ledger's portrayal of the Joker in the second Christian Bale-led Batman movie.

Director Christopher Nolan said that of all Batman's rogues' gallery the Joker was the one who almost had to feature in the sequel:

"The psychopathic clown, that's an icon to stand with the guy with the ears and cape...it's just a wonderful visual relationship, and it's a terrifying image."

Ledger himself was reportedly astounded by the intensity of his own performance. Add this to the studied crazinesss of Aaron Eckhart's portrayal of doomed DA Harvey Dent and you can't help feeling that, despite the best efforts of Tim Burton, this is going to be the first Batman movie that really explores the magic and the madness of the Batman mythos.

Dave Stevens: 1955-2008

Dave Stevens was a comic book artist rather than a film-maker but he will always be remembered for his brilliant faux-retro creation The Rocketeer.

Like his near-contemporary Indiana Jones The Rocketeer was a loving evocation of the inter-war movie serials that still inspire moviemakers today. Steven’s perfectionism meant that his actual output was frustratingly slow, and that was one of the reasons he never managed to achieve the worldwide acclaim that was accorded to other, lesser talents. Sadly, Dave died of leukaemia earlier this week, aged only 53.

Whenever young men gather to discuss shootouts on top of Zeppelins, and that happens more than you might think, Dave will be remembered. Find out more about Dave, and view some samples of his art, here and here.

Dark Knight: To the Dentmobile!

The Dentmobile is not, as you might have imagined, the dilapidated jalopy that transports impecunious journalists to movie screenings. It's part of the imaginary campaign to make Harvey Dent District Attorney of Gotham City which is currently forming the main thrust of Warners' marketing build towards the release of the next Batman movie Dark Knight. 

If you log in to Harvey's 'campaign site' you can submit video messages of support for the clean-cut young litigator who will eventually be transformed into Batman villain Two-face.

Aaron Eckhart, who plays Dent in the film, has said that he played all his scenes in Dark Knight twice - once as calm, rational Harvey Dent and once as the manic inner personality that manifests itself after the courtroom acid attack that 'kills' Harvey and gives birth to Two-face.

It's an interesting approach and one which the few commentators who have seen the footage describe as powerfully unsettling to watch. Add in the mixed emotions most viewers will feel at seeing Heath Ledger's Joker on screen and you have the makings of one of the strangest, most memorable, comic book adaptations ever.

What If: Tim Burton had directed 'Superman Returns'?

Part of the long, tortuous history of the reborn Superman franchise was a brief period in the late 90s when both celebrity comics nerd Nic Cage and Batman director Tim Burton were attached to the project.

Now, nearly a decade later, Burton's concept art for the movie has surfaced on the Web. It's a 'darker' more edgy Superman, as one might expect from Burton. Braniac in particular has something of the Nightmare Before Christmas about him and there are distinct references to the apocalyptic Kingdom Come comics series.

Go to Bam! Kapow! to see the whole gallery.

Iron Man: On Wheels

Once the Iron Man movie's actually out, there'll probably be Happy Meals and all sorts of other low-end merchandising opportunities. That's months away though (although maybe not as far off as you thought). In the meantime, there's just this rather hip-looking Audi commercial. And you know I like a movie that's a secret Audi commercial.

Who do you trust?

As part of the marketing hullaballoo for their Invasion of the Body Snatchers style 'Who do you trust?' comics series, Marvel have dropped this piece of viral video silliness onto the Internet in the hope that impressionable bloggers will post it and drum up some interest for them.

They must think I'm such a fool. After the near-interminable Civil War series I'm not going to get sucked into another one of those things. Not even if it has a Blair Witch flavoured video to lure me in. Anyway, here it is...

Dark Knight: If you really need to know what happens now, read the New York Times

If you actually want to see this movie as nature intended, with few clues as to the twists and turns of the script, then do not under any circumstances click here. The New York Times ran a major Dark Knight feature over the weekend and in doing so let slip some major plot points for the forthcoming Batman adventure.

It's a great piece of writing but I can't in all conscience recommend that you read it. There's just too much great stuff in there that  people should be gasping at in cinemas, not inadvertently stumbling over on their computers.

There are a couple of lovely stills though, so I've taken  the liberty of running the best one here.

Just who is Black Orchid? And why does Rachel McAdams want to be her?

In an interview with MTV's movie blog Mean Girls and Wedding Crashers actress Rachel McAdams has expressed her enthusiasm to play one of the superhero roles that everyone seems to be playing at the moment.

Not just any superhero though, but an incredibly niche character that only long-time comic book nerds will remember. Black Orchid started out as a filler character in DC comics of the mid Seventies. She had the standard superhero flight and strength tricks, but cracked her cases principally by stealth, often spending an entire story disguised as someone in the villain's household.

The character never really took off and was abandoned by DC after a couple of years only to be resurrected by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean during the great graphic novel boom of the late Eighties.

Gaiman has a magical realist style that seems to work just as well on film or in novels as it does in the funny papers, and  it matched well with his dreamlike tale of a plant based heroine, a sort of sexy Swamp Thing, who budded off her own replacement when  killed by her enemies.

Here's Rachel's explanation of Black Orchid's singular charm:

“I just read this book ‘Black Orchid’ and it’s a really interesting character,” the actress said. “She’s a superhero that’s a flower. I don’t know if that would work or the audiences would be interested in that, but she was kind of cool.”

There's no firm deal to make the movie, and indeed no business action around the property other than McAdams' enthusiasm, but with that one interview she has guaranteed herself a lifelong following of fanboy comics nerds who are thrilled that she seems to be one of their tribe.

Who is the most convincing on-screen superhero?

With Iron Man, Dark Knight and Watchmen all on their way to the cinemas this is a good time for comic book fans to be going to the movies. But bringing comic book heroes to the screen isn't easy. Many a thesp has fallen foul of the tights. Who has made the best showing in spandex so far?

Cast your vote in our poll.

Opinion Polls & Market Research

Sensational new images from Watchmen

With filming wrapped, Warners have today posted on their Watchmen blog five portraits of the main characters in their movie adaptation of Alan Moore's epochal comic book series Watchmen.

Nite Owl looks more like Batman than ever, and Silk Spectre's costume looks, if it were possible even sluttier than Dave Gibbons' original art suggested. Overall though, these pictures have driven my feverish anticipation of this movie completely off the scale. No Dr.Manhattan yet though!

(Thanks to Dave from Dave's Long Box for the hot tip!)

Iron Man Exclusive: New trailer & stills from one of 2008's hottest movies

Our exclusive new Iron Man trailer offers all the joyous moments that US audiences saw in the much-talked-about Superbowl Spot last month, but add more detail that further humanises the Armoured Avenger and fleshes out more of alter ego Tony Stark’s character arc.

It’s even more evident now from the earlier scenes in the trail that our hero starts out as something of an ass. Showboating shamelessly through his Lord of War moment he sips whiskey in a combat zone and generally acts like God’s gift.

He becomes a hero through adversity, as a result of disability, and that’s ultimately why people will love Iron Man. None of us can come from Krypton like Superman, nor (we hope) be bitten by a radioactive bug like Spiderman, but any of us could – in theory – strap on some high-tech armour and accidentally write off a priceless sports car.

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The biggest surprise from Dark Knight yet: Harley Quinn?

UK Management company RDF has added the role of 'Harley Quinn' in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight to the bio for one of their clients, Sarah Jayne Dunn.

Sarah Jayne is best known in the UK as aspiring model Mandy Richardson in the long-running teen soap Hollyoaks

In the DC comics canon, Harley is The Joker's therapist, Harleen Quinn, who gets mixed up in a weird folie a deux love affair with the Clown Prince of Crime and joins his gang.

How much of this story will be included in Dark Knight? Warners aren't saying.

Watchmen: The Black Freighter sets sail

The Dark Knight has its anime-style companion Gotham Knight, and now Watchmen gets an animated satellite in the form of a Black Freighter anime, narrated by 300 star Gerard Butler, that's set to appear on the DVD (or Blu-Ray) release.

Take a look at the full story over at Empire Online. I don't know....this movie isn't out for another year and I already want to buy the DVD.

ShoWest Award for Dark Knight director

And they say the awards go to films that appeal to critics, rather than fans. Well, I say that actually. Because it's true.

It's not true in this case though: Christopher Nolan, director of gems like Batman Begins, The Prestige, Memento and (soon) Dark Knight is to be awarded the coveted ShoWest Director of the Year gong in Las Vegas next month.

Read the full story in Variety's rather exotic language here.

The film that would not die: Justice League still on

Now that the dispute between screenwriters and the major film studio studios has been resolved, a lot of movie projects are being dusted off and reappraised.

The most surprising of these though is Justice League. According to a report in Variety this morning the superhero team up movie is being prepared a Summer '09 release. Writers Kieran and Michele Mulroney are taking another crack at the script while several reliable sources report that principal photography is being relocated from Australia to Canada

 In a comparatively star-free cast OC alumnus Adam Brody will be appearing as the Flash. Every action movie has to have at least one rapper somewhere in the cast and Justice League offers us Common in the Green Lantern role. The rest of the League is made up of relative unknowns like Armie Hammer Jr. (Batman), Megan Gale (Wonder Woman) and DJ Cotrona (Superman). Former Farscape and Mad Max actor Hugh Keays-Byrne is rumoured to be in talks to portray J'onn J'onzz, the Martian Manhunter. Keays-Byrne will of course already know Justice League's director, George Miller.

Arriving as it will a few months after the expected success of Zack Snyder's Watchmen Justice League will need to measure up both in terms of script and effects.

I'm stunned that this project is still alive. Notwithstanding my own rather frivolous views on the casting the JLA are DC Comics' premier asset and to see it limp forward in this fashion, when Marvel are taking an ever more inspired and confident approach with their own properties, makes long-time DC nerds like me very sad indeed.

New Watchmen image online

It's the final day of shooting on Watchmen, and Zack Snyder's production blog offered a special treat for the faithful. A massive new hi-res still of Rorshach to add to the one he sneakily inserted in the 300 trailer. It's an action image this time that is uncannily faithful to the comic, as Watchmen fans might hope. It looks exactly like a frame from Chapter 5, Fearful Symmetry, when the Ginger Avenger is breaking out of master-criminal Moloch's apartment.
This film looks better and better. Colour me excited. In a sepia sort of way.

Heath Ledger as the Joker: Action figure finally revealed

One product range notable by its absence from last month's London Toy Fair was the expected avalanche of Dark Knight swag. The logical inference was that, out of respect for the recently deceased Heath Ledger the heat had been turned down underneath that particular merchandising opportunity.

Business is business however, and as the New York Post reports the first Joker figures are now being exhibited. The paper quotes Cliff Annicelli, editor of toy collector's bible Playthings, as saying that he expected that it will be a hotter collectible than it otherwise would have been before his death.

In the same article, an unnamed family spokesman is quoted as saying: "Heath was very proud of his work in the film, and his family is aware and supportive of Warner Bros. and its partners' plans for the movie" 

Iron Man: Latest trailer

If you haven’t already seen the latest Iron Man trailer, you’re missing a treat. It features at least two elements with the power to make anyone smile; The cocky tone in Tony Stark's (Robert Downey Jr.) voice as he announces ‘Yeah, I can fly’ and the way that he turns dismissively away from the tank that’s been menacing him without a second glance.

Batman Begins demonstrated that superhero movies could still be cool, and Fantastic Four showed us that they can still be fun. Iron Man shows every sign of being both.

 

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Justice League: Still on?

Some news from an unexpected quarter this weekend as MTV’s movie blog quotes rap star/actor Common as saying that he has agreed to play the Green Lantern in George Miller’s 2010 Justice League of America project. It’s by no means poor casting, and the John Stewart character is for most young JLA fans the default Green Lantern, if only because producers of the animated series have seized upon the opportunity to field a more ethnically diverse League then the original, rather monocultural team.

We're watching The Watchmen

The first solid details are starting to emerge about what, for me at least, is the most exciting movie prospect of 2009. Watchmen, an adaptation of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' hugely influential comic book series, was first promised as a Terry Gilliam epic back in the mid-1990s. The melding of Moore's dytopian parallel history and the dreamy alternate world of Gilliam's 'Brazil' looked to be a winner but budgetary constraints consigned the project to development hell. In Gilliam's words, 'I recognised that I was about the only person who could do it well, but then I didn't get the money. So I was 'saved' from that one"

Now helmed by Zack Snyder, who demonstrated his facility with bringing comic book fantasies to life in '300', the movie finally looks to be edging towards completion. Carla Gugino, who plays the original Silk Spectre in Snyder's production, spoke to MTV's movie blog:

“It incorporates real history and the fictitious world of Watchmen, and so it’s very cool,we meet Nixon and all sorts of people.”

Sin City actress Gugino's character ages from her early twenties to her mid-late sixties in the story, which follows the exploits of a superhero team from the 1930s to an apocalyptic Cold War scenario some time in the eighties. It remains to be seen how the effects team will handle radioactive demigod Dr.Manhattan on screen, and diehard fans who have been waiting twenty years for the film version will be desperate to see how the interstitial chapters of Hollis Mason's autobiography and The Black Freighter will fit in.

We'll no doubt find out more over the next twelve long months as we wait for the film that stands a fair chance of being the Best Superhero Movie Ever.

Michael Moran