Babes, Bombs, and Blockbusters Movie News Report 11.17.09

Posted by Mike Gorman on 11.17.2009

There’s nothing like a well done trailer, and this week’s 3Bs News Report brings you the Top Ten Trailers that are Better than Their Films, an AnnaLynne McCord pictorial and Hollywood news including potential Hobbit casting, a new Buffy series, and the passing of two TV stars.

Welcome to this week's Babes, Bombs and Blockbusters News Report.

Your Babe of the Week is AnnaLynne McCord, star of the CW's 90210 revival. She has also appeared in shows such as Nip/Tuck and films including the lackluster remake of Day of the Dead.













Check out today's news bombs!

Super Troopers 2 info
While promoting their new film The Slammin' Salmon, the Broken Lizard guys like Movie Cutlists know that the sequel to their hilarious flick Super Troopers is on track. They have secured independent financing and are currently attempting to make a deal with Fox according to Jay Chandrasekhar. Great news in my opinion as the first was funny and the men of BL seem like they would not do a sequel unless they had some great material to produce.





More Buffy but now how you might think
The SyFy channel noted today that there is a series of motion-comic webisodes in production based on Joss Whedon's "Season eight" comic book. They are currently looking for voice actors to simulate the voices of characters from the original series including Faith, Kennedy and Robin Wood. They are also casting several new roles including season eight's big bad Twilight. I think that motion comics are a new medium that definitely could carry the material well. Season eight has taken some very interesting turns so far and anything that promotes this great comic series sounds good to me. I do think that they could probably get some of the original actors for those rolls involved if they wanted to put out the cash. So it is not a TV series but it sounds like better news than that terrible movie idea that was bouncing around a few weeks ago.





Another X-Men villain may join The Hobbit
Calm down, it is not Rebecca Romjin. Instead Ain't It Cool News reports that Brian Cox, aka William Stryker in X-Men 2 may be portraying one of the 13 dwarves who accompany Bilbo Baggins on his adventures. No specific word yet on which role he will be taking on. Nice to hear more Hobbit news though I could not even begin to speculate which character Cox could be playing.





RAW goes nowhere
Because the WWE and the USA Network have inked a deal that will keep the series on the cable network through the Fall of 2014. Raw's recent stint of celebrity guest hosts has bolstered its ratings by 11% and contributes to the network's continued success. Great news for both parties and for the fans. Much better than seeing the show migrate to another network again.





Two passings of note, rule of three calls anyone?
Children of the 80s take note, two TV stars from your youth has passed on this week. First, British actor Edward Woodward died on Monday. Woodward is perhaps best known for his lead role in the TV drama, "The Equalizer." He also starred in the original Wicker Man film. Also on Monday we lost Ken Ober, host of MTV's original game show "Remote Control." RC launched the careers of several stars including Denis Leary, Adam Sandler and Colin Quinn. Both will be missed.













I am sure you have been there before. You see a great trailer for a film and decide to see it. Fast forward a few months and you leave the theater thinking, "Boy, the trailer was better." It has happened to me so often that I have decided to share just ten of the films that evoke this reaction in me.


10. Spiderman 3
The trailer for Spiderman 3 was full of emotional conflict and loaded with what seemed to be a balanced cast of characters. There even seemed to be a clearly developed storyline. If you have seen the film than you know how wrong this assessment actually turns out to be.




9. Speed
The trailer for Speed promised action and suspense. It gave us explosions, screams, and what looked like some pretty good acting. Is that what we got? Not exactly. This film was fun if you took it as a mindless romp but it was by no means a classic action thriller.




8. Where the Wild Things Are
Great book and actually a pretty good film but it was out shown by its well done trailer which truly captured the book's sense of whimsy and wild. The film felt a bit watered down. Perhaps this one fell victim to not living up to all of the hype and excitement its trailer generated.




7. Max Payne
I know, I know. One should not have high expectations for a video game movie, make that a video game movie starring Mark Wahlberg but the trailer for Max Payne had an intense vibe that seemed to say "Don't worry, I'm gonna be awesome, look at that angel there and that sky fire while Mark's yelling, I'm so cool!" I should have remembered that Mark Wahlberg seems to do his best acting in slow motion while dramatic music fills the background.




6. Unbreakable
Now this one is actually a movie I really liked but I have to admit that the trailer was a more suspenseful rendering of the concept than the full film. It is an example of when a trailer can boost up a film.




5. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Now unlike Unbreakable, this trailer did not supplement the film. In this case I feel like the trailer was a big bad bundle of lies that was wrapped up so nicely and snuck into the hands of the viewing public. It struck all the right notes and reminded us of how iconic Indiana Jones is and truly made you want to see the film. Talk about bait and switch because this great trailer lured us into a huge mess that I would like to scrub from my memory. I suppose I should be happy that we got such a good trailer seeing what the end results of the film were.




4. Maximum Overdrive
For this one I am taking you back in time to the 80s. Back to the days when Stephen King's name evoked fear in most people and several of his works had seen great film adaptations. This film was the first directed by King himself and he actually appears in the trailer. It is King's speech in the trailer that makes it great. He grows increasingly insane looking as clips of the film fly by. His intensity makes you feel like you are going to see something special. As we all know now, the film turned out to be something of a train wreck.




3. 300
This was another example of an excellent trailer leading to a great film. The trailers for 300 drew you right into the elaborately crafted world of the film. They built your excitement for its release and did a great job of teasing the film without giving it all away, a problem with many of today's trailers.




2. Watchmen
It had always been said that the Watchmen was a graphic novel that could not successfully be translated to film. Fan boys and girls all over the world awaited their first glimpses at footage with baited breath. When the first trailers were released I felt that many of the concerns I had about the project had been swept away. The visuals were stunning, key moments appeared to be intact, and the music set a perfect mood. I would say that the film delivered about 75% of the promised shown in the trailer. The tight, delicate pacing of the trailer was gone by the time this mammoth hit the screen and as it turns out some of the authentic feel the scenes seemed to possess was also missing. I still enjoy revisiting this trailer and seeing what could have been.




1. Cloverfield
The greatest successes of Cloverfield's existence come from before the film was released. It had great teasers that generated amazing buzz and then we got the trailer. It showed us a lot without giving everything away. We knew there was something attacking New York and that this party people were going to end up in the middle of it, and that felt like enough. Was it a Godzilla remake? Was it Voltron or an adaptation of the works of HP Lovecraft? We didn't know but we wanted to and we were ready to go on an exciting shaky cam ride to get there. I feel like this is the best (or is that worst?) example out there of a trailer eclipsing the film it is promoting.





Your Tuesday ‘Tube Bonus Clip

Are there more entries out there waiting to be added to this week's list? Maybe they haven't happened yet. I leave you with the trailer for New Moon. The Twilight sequel drops this week if you haven't heard and I wonder if it will it turn out to be as good as this trailer? I'll let you decide :



What? You have a problem with hot dogs AnnaLynne? C'mon…




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:

twitter.com/Mykelogan
twitter.com/411mania
twitter.com/411wrestling
twitter.com/411moviestv
twitter.com/411music
twitter.com/411games
twitter.com/411mma


One last note…
This week I want to use this space to promote a new feature I am getting going that allows you to let out your inner fat kid on Twitter. Welcome to:



Have you eaten something particularly bad for you?
Craving a specific snack like it is nobody's business?
Maybe your jeans are tight and you're having a fat day?
Or maybe like me, you a fat guy (or girl) living your life and encountering some unique moments that you know other peeps could relate to?

Post it on Twitter and add the tag "#fatter", then you can check out your post and others from fellow fatties in substance or spirit on my web site at:
http://www.mykelogan.com/fatter

In the next week or so "The Fatter Blog" will also launch on that site as I document the life and times of a not so typical fat guy… me. Ok, so maybe sometimes I fit the stereotypes but what are you gonna do?




(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)