Babes, Bombs, and Blockbusters Movie News Report 9.29.09

Posted by Mike Gorman on 09.29.2009

Check out the Top Ten Worst Death Scenes this week in the 3Bs News Report. Also get a full dose of Hollywood remake news including who’s been cast in Predators and who will be joining the Night of the Living Dead 3D prequel. Catch a glimpse of this week’s babe too, Misa Campo!

Welcome to this week's edition of Babes, Bombs, and Blockbusters where we bring you the latest word on news in the film and sometimes TV industries that is making Tuesday headlines. I'm your host, Mike Gorman, and you know I can be trusted because I am not a fan of the Cinnamon Brown Sugar Pop Tart.

Twenty two year old model Misa Campo, known as the face of Rocawear in her native Canada, may be best known for her internet following that culminated in her being recognized as one of Maxim Magazine's "Show us Something" girls in 2006.














Check out today's news bombs!

Machete meets the Predators
Robert Rodriguez's reboot of the Predator franchise has landed its first star. Danny Trejo, start of Rodriguez's most recent film Machete, was telling those in attendance at the HorrorFind Weekend that he would be starring in this cosmic thriller. He was not able to share what his role would exactly be in the new film. Predators is set to begin filming soon in the jungles of Hawaii with an expected release date in July of 2010. Trejo is Rodriguez's go to guy and with good reason. Still not convinced this is a remake that we need though.





V remake has issues
There are a few different issues coming up with ABC's redo of the classic 80s alien invasion series that could add up to bad news for fans. Dark Horizons is reporting that the network will only be airing four episodes of the series this fall once it gets started in November. The show will then go on hiatus until after the Olympics in March. Also, an announced two week break in production has been extended to six weeks leading some to speculate that there are more behind the scenes problems going on than are being discussed. What will this mean for the series ability to grab an audience and hold onto it? I am not sure but getting the series started then taking it away for months will most certainly not be a good thing. It would make more sense to save the first episodes and show the series in its entirety so that it is able to build and carry some momentum.





Michael Myer's niece takes on the zombies
Danielle Harris, of Halloweens 4 & 5, is joining the cast of the 3D CGI film Night of the Living Dead: Origins. The feature is described as an origin story directed at bringing out more of the characters backstories without the involvement of George Romero. What the what? Good for Harris to be getting work in this economy but this sounds like a pile of crap. I would say wait and see on this one but let's just not and say we did.















The Fall television is in full swing and many shows are finding their rhythms, while many or not. This week I take a ‘buster or Busted! look at how several are fairing so far. There are a few tiny Spoilers so be warned!


Saturday Night Live: Megan Fox proves she can ruin a show that was damaged to begin with, and did you catch the noob's F-bomb? Busted!

The Office: Dunder Miflin is back at it and this season Pam's preggers, Jim's getting promoted, and Michael is exactly the same… good times!'buster!

Family Guy: The alternate universes were great, especially the Disney dimension. 'buster!

Smallville: Clark Kent is as dark and dour as Bruce Wayne on a bad day. Not really working for me. His humanity is what makes him great.Busted!

Grey's Anatomy: Kathryn Heigl survives after the commercials make us think that she doesn't make it. Boring. Busted!

Community: Chevy Chase is back, Joel McHale gets grand exposure, and the rest of the cast is pretty solid too, not a bad start for a new series. 'buster!

Top Chef: Vegas: Sure it has been on for a while but this season is pretty good. The Voltaggio brothers are awesome, as are Jennifer and Kevin. 'buster!

Dollhouse: Ratings for the premiere were the worst yet. Sadly the show still feels like it hasn't found the right flow. I so want it to be better.Busted!

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: The premiere was weak, very weak, but the second episode of the season was great. Who knew there would be a finish on wicker furniture that may cause you to faint when you burn it in the back of a U-Haul trailer? 'buster!

The Simpsons: Twenty years on the air and they still know how to stretch out a fat joke to fill 30min of air time. They still got it! 'buster!









They say two things in life are inevitable, taxes and death. And nothing makes for a more dramatic big screen moment than a well portrayed death. On the other hand, nothing takes you out of the moment when watching a great film than a horrible death scene. I am talking about death's that make no sense or are played so terribly but you can't help but grown. The kind of deaths that keep you talking after a movie wondering why it happened, what plots holes it left open or why it was meaningless. This week I present you with the Top Ten Worst Death Scenes… (Oh, Spoilers here too!)





10. David in The Lost Boys
If you have read my column before than you know that I am quite literally one of the biggest Lost Boys fans out there. That said the death of David at the film's end has always bothered me. Why kill what is supposedly one of your main villains in such a subtle manor. He hits the horns, rocks for a second, and then is dead… no explosion, no fluids everywhere, no pricey lighting effects. Yes the Frog Brothers do say that all vampires die differently but why give more pomp and circumstance to the "Death by stereo" vamp's kill than your lead vamp. The only hope I held out was that perhaps his quiet passing and disappearance meant he would reappear in a sequel. Twenty years later we got the sequel, lame, and there was no David, lamer.





9. Chev Chelios in Crank
His death was perfect. It had to be the way the film ended. Crank was an adrenaline filled blast which built up to one of the best death scenes ever; Chev falls from a helicopter. So why is it on this list? Because Crank 2 exists. This lackluster sequel negates the impact of the first film's death scene and weakens the narrative. Yes fans may have clamored for more Chev,but should they have gotten it? I am not so sure.





8. Thomas J in My Girl
The death of Macaulay Culkin's Thomas J in My Girl should go down in history as one of the most deceptive deaths in all of film. The trailers for this film made it look like a silly summer kids movie where they would romp around, learn a few life lessons and be better off come the fall. Both of the child stars looked as cute as buttons in all the advertising. No harm, no foul, right? Wrong! Watch the movie, see Macaulay get stung by a bee and die and then watch his friend deal with this tragedy for the remainder of the film. Apparently this is a genre of film now, the "Let's kill the cute kid" flick. Another example of this if you wished to hold a film festival would be Bridge to Terrible things happening… I mean Teribithia.





7. Two-Face in The Dark Knight
Aaron Eckhart's performance in The Dark Knight is often overshadowed by Heath Ledger's Joker for obvious reasons but he really deserves a lot of credit for skillfully crafting a character that epitomized inner conflict. Step by step, choice by choice, he slowly brought us along with him on the journey from Harvey Dent to Two Face. A journey that I believe was ended way too abruptly when Harvey fell to his death during the film's climatic battle. The body doesn't disappear so it would seem that this is a permanent death but one can always hold out hope as it is a comic book movie after all. Either way he was taken from us too soon.





6. Bill in Kill Bill, vol.2
For two films the confrontation between Bill and the Bride is built up. Along the way to that point we see some pretty spectacular deaths: Snake bite to the face, suburban kitchen battles, and poignant snow fatalities. By the time we reach Bill's house it is almost impossible to imagine just what twists and turns we will get as these two foes battle. And yes, the finishing move that the Bride uses is impressive sounding, the Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique, but on screen? Not so much. Bill's death is quiet and quick. Not what one would expect from Tarantino but then maybe that is the point.





5. Greedo in Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope
It is not Greedo dying that brings this scene to the list but instead the way that George Lucas manipulated this scene when he remastered the film. In the original cantina scene, Han Solo suspects that Greedo may attack him so he shoots first. It is an old school move and establishes Solo as a character that walks in the light and shadows whenever it suits him best. When George Lucas remastered his original trilogy this was one of the scenes in which he made a subtle but distinctive change. Now Greedo is the first one to pull a weapon and Han appears to kill him in self defense. It is a minor change but one that certainly takes some of the edge away from Solo's character is a way that was completely unnecessary.





4. Jason Voorhees in any Friday the 13th films
This one tears me up a little inside as I love that we have this machete wielding maniac back for trashy film after trashy film but I do get a little perturbed at how often his death is declared permanent and then wiped away a year later to rehash his story again. I mean for goodness sakes, one of the films was entitled The Final Chapter. I site this example because horror films have taught us that no death is truly final until the franchise cannot make money. Then you put it to sleep for a few years and announce a "Re-imagining of the concept" apparently.





3. Obi Wan Kenobi in Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope
I suppose I could take two different routes in exploring this one. The first would be the long debated question of whether or not Vader's lightsaber actually struck Obi Wan down or did he just disappear as he his robe appears to crumble before contact is made. I will let you all discuss that one while I take the second path, which is why on earth was such an important character taken out so early and easily in this series. This issue got compounded when the new trilogy was released and Kenobi emerged as the central character on the side of good. Is his death just about the passing of the torch or was it a choice that should have been reconsidered? It is not a question I am sure I could answer and the string emotion it evokes is why it earned a spot so high on this list.





2. Professor X in X-Men: The Last Stand
In a movie chock full of terrible moments, the death of Professor X is one of the worst. Does it serve any purpose beyond making us dislike Jean Grey? Oh wait, that ship sailed when she killed Cyclops at the beginning of the film… another death which could have just as easily claimed a spot on this list. What's that you say? If I wait until the end of credits there's hope because Professor X's consciousness has found its way into the body of the comatose man we were introduced to during one of the film's earlier scenes… argh, my head hurts trying to make this ok. It's not. The bright side, if there is one, is that Professor X did not live to see the travesty that rest of the film quickly became.





1. Neo in The Matrix Revolutions
Thinking about this scene makes me want to join Amy Pohler and Seth Meyers on Weekend Update when they do their "Really?!" segment. This is the grand destiny of The One? Really? Three films build up to one moment and it is this? Really? Really! I get the idea of sacrifice, I get the heavy handed Jesus metaphor, I get it. But like an infection, sometimes you get it and you don't want it. What I want is the combined hours of my life back that I devoted to buying into the grand mythology of the Matrix only to have it soured by a weak conclusion that smacked of the writers having a great set up but no idea how it would actually end when they pitched the films. The savior of mankind in this virtual future deserved more.


Did I miss a death scene you love to hate? Let me know about in the comment section below!




Your Tuesday ‘Tube Bonus Clip

The trailer for the upcoming remake of A Nightmare of Elm Street finally hit yesterday and I must say that I think some of it looks pretty great. Take a look for yourself:

A Nightmare on Elm Street in HD



Say goodbye Misa!




Until next week 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. Are you using Twitter? You can follow me and 411mania's zones on these pages:

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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)


Things are not going well, my fudgy faithful! Cinnamon Pop Tarts seem to be available everywhere, even at stores that don't sell food, while our beloved Chocolate Fudge Pop Tarts fight for every inch of shelf space they can get! New tactics are called for and will be revealed soon. Want to help with this toaster pastry war? Drop me a line!