Babes, Bombs, and Blockbusters Movie News Report 5.06.08

Posted by Mike Gorman on 05.06.2008

Marvel Studios is riding Iron Man’s jet stream as they unveil the release dates for many of their upcoming projects, SAG negotiations reach a critical point, and a James Bond theme song tanks in the 3B’s News Report. The photos of Scarlett Johansson grace this week’s column as she breaks exciting news in her own personal life. All of that and a look at some of James Bond’s successful themes from the past round out this Tuesday’s news!



It is a great week if you are a comic book or comic book movie fan. Iron Man is of course dominating the box office taking in over $200 million worldwide since its release. This of course has Marvel Studios (and Warner Bros. too I am sure!) in a rush to get news of their other projects. Check out this week's G Spot for more on that topic. And the summer crossover season is in full effect at the big two comic companies, Marvel and DC. With the Skrulls walking amongst us and a Final Crisis looming there is lots of action to come as the summer progresses.

Of course there is more news than that to explore this week and I will get into it for you. One story of note is Amy Winehouse's involvement or lack thereof in the recording of the next Bond film's theme. Amy may be down an out again but she has inspired me to take a look at some of the iconic songs that have come from the Bond franchise over the years.

Let's not forget our Tuesday Hot Shot. Scarlett Johansson. She's bringing some steamy weather to you this week.



The G Spot
The G Spot is your place for the day's movie news with the occasional cameo from the land of television.

"Marvel"-ous News
Iron Man's box office dominance has opened the floodgates for Marvel Studios to announce their upcoming projects. They're not just listing titles this time around but actual release dates. Sure they are all subject to change but what a slate! Today's announcements included:

* Iron Man II - April 30, 2010
* Thor - June 4, 2010
* The First Avenger: Captain America - May 6, 2011
* The Avengers (Starring Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk and Thor) – Later 2011

Quite the impressive list and it really seems like these movies will happen. Now if we can just wait a few years and see who ends up attached to these other projects it will be exciting!

Today's The Day.
The Screen Actor's Guild (SAG) now enters week four of their contract negotiations with a final session Monday. Today is the deadline for these talks to conclude so trouble could be in the near future for both SAG and the studios. Missing the deadline could lead to a power play with the other actor's union or even a potential strike. We've been down this road before and here's hoping that things will be settled today. I am already getting queasy at the new slate of ads for American Gladiators with the painted green gladiators..



Penn's "The Ditch" Gets Greenlight
Warner Bros. Studios has picked up the rights to Sascha Penn's "The Ditch." Penn is most well known for directing music videos and documentaries including Dave Chapelle's Block Party. The film is set at a prison on Jupiter that holds Earth's worst criminals. There a guard is blackmailed into helping secure the release of a prisoner who faces execution that very day. Sounds like an interesting premise for what could be an action pack flick. On the other hand, just who is giving all these music video directors feature length contracts? I didn't even know there were music videos anymore from the looks of MTV and VH1.

Bollywood wants the "Crashers"!
Warner Bros. Pictures India is in discussions with Bollywood banner Orion Pictures for an official remake of the 2005 comedy Wedding Crashers. If approved this will be the first authorized remake of a Hollywood film in India. It makes me feel kind of bad that such a populous nation wants to redo this film while I still struggle to see the appeal of Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson as comic actors. Can someone help me with this?



Oh Man, "Myspace" Jumps The Shark… Bad!
It has been reported that Tom Hanks has thrown his support behind Barrack Obama's presidential campaign through an announcement on his Myspace page. Tom Hanks has a Myspace page??? Do you think he spends his afternoon doing inane quizzes, posting bulletins, and creating a background layout specifically designed to crash my computer? Because that is what everyone else on there seems to be doing!

Boll Sues Zane
Video Game adaptation directing auteur Uwe Boll is suing Billy Zane for his involvement in the distribution of the Bloodrayne film. Boll claims he is owed at least $700, 000 over the mismanagement of the films promotion. The $25 million film ended up taking in only $4 million during its 2006 release. Now wait one second… there was a Bloodrayne film? Directed by Boll? And the promotion of said film was the real problem? Really now? Really? Sounds like an automatic hit to me. One other question, what is "Blood rayne" and why should it be a movie?

Ronson Cites Winehouse Behavior For Bond Theme Troubles
Music Producer Mark Ronson has stopped production on his collaboration with Amy Winehouse. The duo were to create the new theme song for the upcoming James Bond film, A Quantum of Solace but Ronson is claiming that Winehouse is up to her old tricks stating, "I'm not sure Amy is ready to work on music yet." Winehouse's reps state that there were creative differences between Amy and Mark in what direction the song should go and that she would be open to working with him in the future. Who to believe? Who to believe?




The Trunk



While things have stalled in the production studio with Ronson and Winehouse, there are plenty of great Bond film theme songs out there for us to enjoy. This week I took a look back at all the themes and picked five that I think are still hot tracks to this day. Check them out:

(5) "Nobody Does It Better" - Carly Simon
70s songstress Simon gets right to the core of Bond's perfection with her ballad. With lyrics like, "There's some kind of magic inside you That keeps me from runnin', But just keep it comin', How'd you learn to do the things you do?" she captured the essence of The Spy Who Loved Me.

(4) "Live and Let Die" - Paul McCartney and Wings
Yes, it is Wings, but still this song rocks. There are moments during it where you feel like your speakers will burst. It conveys the urgency of a Bond mission quite well.

(3) "For Your Eyes Only" - Sheena Easton
This one is pure eighties drama. Ask your folks, it might've been their prom song. It sums up the time and mood of its namesake film.

(2) "A View To A Kill" - Duran Duran
This one makes the list for its video alone! Set on the Eiffel Tower with non-stop action this song delivers a great accompaniment to Bond's adventures.

And lastly,

(1) "Diamonds Are Forever" - Shirley Bassey
This is in my opinion the classic Bond theme. On its own it powerful and Bassey's voice delivers. She sang several other themes for Bond films as well and is the quintessential Bond film voice. Today this song lives on sampled by hip hop artists who acknowledge the strength of the beat and the timeliness of her sound.






Come Again?: Your Joke Source!
Because lunch hour has been getting boring again… some jokes:

(1) "Ugliest Women in Heaven"
Three men were waiting at Heaven's Gate. St. Peter says, "OK, guys, pretty much anything goes up here, but whatever you do, never lie, or you will spend the rest of eternity with the ugliest women in the universe."

So they all agree and are admitted in. The first guy makes it a week before he lies about how rich he was on Earth. Bam! Right at his side appears the ugliest woman he had ever seen.

The second guy makes it another couple weeks before he lies about how smart he is. Bam! At his side appears the second ugliest woman in the universe.

So the first two guys are walking around with their monsters of women when they see their third friend walking with the hottest woman ever conceived by man. The first two guys say in unison, "How did you land with that babe when we get stuck with these nasty women?"

He nudges the babe and says, "Tell them." She says to the first two guys, "I lied."

(2) "The Angry Genie"
One day a man was waking along the beach when he tripped over a lamp. He turned around and kicked the lamp out of anger. A few seconds later, a genie popped out of the lamp, but the genie was angry that the man had kicked his lamp.

Reluctantly, the genie said, "Even though you kicked me, I still have to give you three wishes. However because of what you did, I will also give twice what you wish for to the person you hate the most: your boss."

So the man agreed and made his first wish. "I want lots of money", he said. Instantly 22 million dollars appear in the man's bank account and 44 million appeared in his boss' account.

For his second wish, the man wished for a couple of sports cars. Instantly a Lambergini, Ferrari and a Porsche appeared, but at the same time outside his boss' house appeared two of each car.

Finally the genie said, "This is your last wish, you should choose carefully", and so the man replied... "I've always wanted to donate a kidney..."





Tuesday Hot Shot
Scarlett Johansson deserves congratulations for more than her showing in this weeks pictorial. Yesterday she announced that she will be marrying her knew boyfriend, Ryan Reynolds. As she's not married yet, I suppose it is ok to send you off with a few more pics!




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(All information and gossip gathered from Aintitcoolnews.com, Hollywoodreporter.com, Hollywood.com, Reuters.com, Dirtyjokesinc.com, Variety.com, TMZ.com)