Babes, Bombs, and Blockbusters Movie News Report 6.09.09

Posted by Mike Gorman on 06.09.2009

Check out this week’s 3Bs News Report for the latest casting news (or un-casting in Steven Seagal’s case!) in Hollywood, a Morgan Webb pictorial and a look at the ten Pixar films that have been released so far.

The week is off to a great start when it comes to the television and movie industries as we have seen Brett Michaels take a hit during the usually demure Tonys and Up and The Hangover have both held the top spot in the box office depending on when you checked. Let's keep that ball rolling here in the 3Bs News Report.







This week's Babe is Morgan Webb, producer and on air host for several shows on the G4 network.










































Check out these latest Hollywood news bombs!

Bardem to hook up with Roberts
According to WENN news, Javier Bardem is in talks to join the cast of Julia Robert's new film, Eat, Pray, Love. He will play Felipe, the man that Julia falls in love with "during a worldwide journey of self-discovery." If I could get a message to Javier I would say run while you can, man! A blandly described film starring one of our nation's blandest actress seems to add up to boring to me. Bardem is a much better actor than this property deserves in my opinion.


No puffy, pony tailed has been for Stallone
Moviehole.net is reporting that Steven Seagal will not be joining the cast of Sylvester Stallone's The Expendables due to a dispute with of the film's producers. They report a source stating, "There's too much bad blood between them." It does appear that the film, which has already cast Mickey Rourke and Dolph Lundgren, may be adding Bruce Willis to the stable of action stars. I have to stay that if this news is true, I am thrilled. I do not think I would event rent the DVD of the film if Seagal was involved. The addition of Willis would also be another boon. I am keeping my fingers crossed on both accounts.


Once a vamp, always a vamp … or at least a vamp again
Cam Gigandet, who most recently portrayed evil vampire James in Twilight, will be putting the fangs on again for his next project. He will be playing a vamped out sheriff in the upcoming film Priest. He will co-star in the film with Paul Bettany, who will play the titular priest struggling to save his niece from a pack of vamps. I love a good vampire film and this time Gigandet seems to be in one. (Sorry Twilighters!)


He did it!
"Heroes" star Masi Oka is doing some business with Dreamworks. The studio is picking up his film concept, The Defenders. The story is described as "a group of mostly teenagers from around the world who are involved in a multiplayer video game, each unaware of who the others are behind the cover of their consoles and avatars. They are forced to come together for a real adventure, becoming inadvertent heroes in the process." Oka says that he came up with the idea while playing MMORPGs (massively multiplayer online role-playing games) himself. He states that in the games, "You can be whoever you want to be. The question came to me: What if you had to live up to the person you created in the virtual world?" Dreamworks will also be developing a companion video game. If handled properly this sounds like it could be in the vein of a modern "Goonies." That is if the fully developed idea focuses more on the game players and less on the games. Getting caught up in the jargon and technicalities would not bode well.



















With the release of Up, Pixar Studios has now produced ten films. And this tenth project seems to be going as strong as many of the previous flicks. It seems to me that this would be a great time to look at all ten films and see how they all stack up now. The magic number ten fitting in with my column didn't hurt either. I present the films here in order of release so that we can see the studio progression over time.

10. Toy Story (1995)
Made for just $30 million dollars, this film brought a revival to animation, though some might say it buried the concept of old school hand drawn animation. Either way this film stands out because of the great attention to character detail and the depth of the story. The one thing you can say about this film is that it truly has heart.







9. A Bug's Life (1998)
Three years later, they went from toys to bugs and in my opinion lost the magic of their first film. Interestingly enough I think that the Disney Parks attraction, "It's Tough to be a Bug" is more entertaining than this film. It was pretty but not that captivating.






8. Toy Story 2 (1999)
Buzz and Woody returned in this 1999 hit that had a tripled budget over the original. They brought with them a film that topped the original in my opinion. Again the story dealt with topics that kids could relate to and also had an underlying layer for the adults that seemed stronger this time around. Toy Story 2 also introduced us to the evil emperor Zurg who would we could battle soon after at both Disneyland and Disneyworld. Disney is the king of cross promotion and the Pixar films definitely filled that need.




7. Monsters, Inc. (2001)
Six years after we met Buzz and Woody, Pixar scored with another on screen duo. This time they were the monsters Mike and Sully portrayed by John Goodman and Billy Crystal. We've all had those moments in our child hood when the bumps in the nights brought us fear and in Monsters, Inc. we learned that the creepy crawlies were doing this on purpose to siphon off the energy our fear generates. Ironically though, it would seem that monsters were just as frightened of us. This film is a roller coaster ride of laughs that appeals to audiences of all ages.




6. Finding Nemo (2003)
I do not think I would be exaggerating to say this is one of the most popular Pixar film of all time. World wide it has grossed almost $865 million dollars. Like many Disney films this one features a tragic death of the mother and an over protective father. This father and son journey introduced us to many interesting characters including the sea turtle Crush who has subsequently in my opinion become the film's most popular star.




5. The Incredibles (2004)
Ever wonder what happens to superheroes once they retire? The Incredibles answered this question and others, like "where do superheroes get their costumes?" and "what would happen if two superheroes had kids?" The great thing about this one was they did not dumb down the story at all and took the material seriously while somehow preserving that joy a fan feels when they see their comic heroes come to life.




4. Cars (2006)
Ok here is a film that I just do not get. It actually took me three viewings to get through Cars and even then by the time it was over I was bored. The story is just not as well fleshed out in my opinion as some of the other Pixar films. That said, they are in process of installing an entire land devoted to this film at Disneyland so there must be some big fans out there.




"align="left">3. Ratatouille (2007)
I will go out on a limb and say this is my favorite of all the films on this list. It combines two of my favorite things, cooking and controlling people by pulling their hair. Heck it always worked on my sister when we were kids. Ratatouille is all about being true to yourself and realizing your potential regardless of the hurdles that stand in your way; in this case those hurdles happen to be health codes and social standards but who really cares about that when you're witnessing such a magical film.




2. WALL-E (2008)
A lot people were not happy with WALL-E because they did not like how much of the film was dialogue-less. Clearly they missed the point of this beautiful crafted story of love, dependence, and in the end independence. WALL-E himself is one of the best characters created in years. He is duty bound by his work but this tiny robot is a hopeless romantic. In following his electronic heart he ends up setting free the human race who had become slaves to convenience. You know it is good film when you leave the theater realizing the lessons you were taught by an animated character and this is definitely the case with WALL-E.




1. Up (2009)
Early buzz on this film was that critics were not sure if this tale would captivate audiences the same way other more "kid friendly" stories have. I think that they were proven wrong once the film was seen as it has garnered excellent reviews and in two weeks of release has earned approximately $137 million. Will it top Nemo's earnings in the end? I'm not sure, but it is taking us all on a fantastic voyage to get there.
















Your Tuesday ‘Tube Bonus Clib

Have you heard that there is a third Toy Story film on the way? Here is the teaser trailer:







That's all for now so watch out for the bombs, catch a good blockbuster and check out a sweet babe or two. Oh, and for goodness sake, bookmark http://www.411mania.com.

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(All information and gossip gathered from Fark.com, Aintitcoolnews.com, Hollywoodreporter.com, Moviehole.net, Reuters.com, Variety.com, MTV.com, IMDB.com, IGN.com WENN news, and Darkhorizons.com)