Ain’t It Cool News is reporting that Robert Rodriguez has acquired the rights to remake the 1983 animated cult babes-and-barbarians film Fire and Ice, a product of the minds of maverick animator Ralph Bakshi, legendary (and recently deceased) fantasy artist Frank Frazetta, and comic writers Gerry Conway and Roy Thomas. Apparently Rodriguez is planning to make the film live-action, though presumably with heavy use of green screen like he did with Sin City. It sounds like the deal is pretty recent, so there’s no information on casting or release dates, but as a guy who grew up a fantasy nerd (and Fire and Ice fan), I’m pretty excited about this news.

I was actually considering doing a column about Frank Frazetta’s passing a few weeks ago after his death at the age of 82, tying it into movie via Fire and Ice. I picked up Blue Underground’s remastered DVD a few years ago purely for nostalgia reasons (while cheesy as hell, I must admit that the film held up far better than I expected it to), partly because of an awesome documentary on it about Frazetta called Painting with Fire. It’s a really great doc, one of the better DVD extras I’ve seen. Frazetta, in case you don’t know, gained fame in the 60s for his paintings of classic pulp characters like Conan the Barbarian and Tarzan (as well as lesser-known cult characters like John Carter of Mars – soon to be a live-action film itself), and his artwork on the covers is actually credited with the success of the Conan books (if I recall correctly, Conan made his debut in the 1930s, but it wasn’t until the Frazetta-cover paperbacks started coming out decades later that the character really caught on in a major way with readers, and to this day Frazetta’s visual interpretation is the most universally-recognized version of the character). Even if you don’t know him by name, you probably recognize Frazetta’s distinctive style, which has been seen in everything from book and magazine covers to posters to album covers. He was an incredibly talented guy who’s impact on genre fiction in any medium really can’t be overstated. It’s a shame he won’t be able to see Rodriguez’s take on Fire and Ice, but in the AICN story he says he was in discussions with Frazetta about the project right up until his death on May 10.

Anyway, suffice it to say that the more I hear about Fire and Ice, the more you will.

* * *

Warner Brothers is reintroducing its Looney Tunes characters with a new 26-episode animated series set to air on the Cartoon Network in the fall, but unfortunately it has a silly sitcom-y premise (Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck as odd-couple roommates with the other characters their neighbors? Ugh.) The far more interesting piece of information, to me at least, is that WB is also making a series of 3D shorts Road Runner to air in theaters before movies. I grew up a huge Looney Tunes fan (the Road Runner ones were always among my favorites), so this is far more interesting to me. The first short, in which Wile E. Coyote will fall off cliffs and get brained by anvils (in 3D!) will hit cinemas on July 30, ahead of Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore. Naturally, I’d be more excited if these shorts were airing ahead of movies I actually want to see, but sometimes you’re the Louisville Slugger, and sometimes you’re the ball.

previous post

Labels: animation, fantasy, geek alert, Movie news, nostalgia

¶ 10:47 AM 1 Comments

So apparently Matthew Vaughn, who directed the excellent and fun superhero movie Kick-Ass (check out my review here) has signed on to direct the prequel X-Men: First Class for Fox. This is sort of odd news for a couple of reasons, one being that Vaughn was attached to direct X-Men: The Last Stand for the studio for months before bailing, apparently because he wasn’t comfortable with Fox’s budgetary and time restrictions. (Fox has a reputation for less-than-respectful treatment of genre properties like comic book movies, often rushing them into production on unrealistic schedules, and the result is crap like The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine.) And here, again, Fox is rushing First Class into theaters for next summer, despite not having a cast lined up. So it looks like Vaughn has just agreed to the exact scenario he bolted from just a few years ago.

Now, I loved Kick-Ass (see the aforementioned semi-fawning review), and as a lifelong comic book nerd, no property is closer to my heart than the X-Men franchise, so this should be good news. But given that Fox’s filmed mutants peaked with the brilliant 2003’s X2: X-Men United, the two films released since then with the X brand were each worse than the last. I’m confident (hopeful?) that Vaughn has a plan and will bring his considerable game to Marvel’s beloved mutants, but there’s no trend in genre movies right now that annoys me more than prequels, and that’s the other major strike against X-Men: First Class. I, an avid X-Men fan, have absolutely zero interest in a movie about the X-Men in their teen years (especially if, as rumored, Wolverine is involved, which messes up the continuity of the movies; that’s just a cynical money-grab if I’ve ever heard of one), and as dramatically rich as the Professor X/Magento relationship is, I’m nowhere near as fascinated with it as original X-Men and X2 director and First Class producer Bryan Singer seems to be. (Has someone told him that people want to see X-Men movies about the X-Men, as opposed to X-Men movies about two old guys who used to be friends but aren’t anymore?) I don’t need to see an entire movie about how Charles Xavier and Magneto’s friendship fell apart while a bunch of little plastic people from the CW run around in the background pretending to be the X-Men.

I try not to prejudge movies, but really, I should be excited about another X-Men movie, especially one directed by the guy who made an awesome superhero movie that I believe will go down as a major cult classic. But I’m not. Instead I’m getting a rushed prequel (I’m seriously so filled with vitriol about Hollywood’s obsession with prequels that I’ll have to revisit in for a future column) featuring a story that no X-Men fan that I know feels needs to be told in a movie.
More on X-Men: First Class as it develops. If for nothing other than spite.

* * *

One last thing for the day, just so I don’t end it on an angry rant. Here’s the trailer for The American, which stars George Clooney as a withdrawn hitman who crafts his own weapons and takes the infamous One Last Job in a small Italian town. But it’s neither Clooney nor the hitman premise that has me so interested to see this movie, but rather director Anton Corbijn, a brilliant photographer and music video director who made his feature-film debut with 2007’s Control, an excellent biopic about late Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis (check out my review here). That movie was incredible, and showcased Corbijn’s considerable filmmaking talents, so him tackling an intriguing movie like The American, especially with an actor as great as Clooney in the lead, adds up to one movie I am very much looking forward to seeing.

previous post

Labels: geek alert, Movie news, superheroes, trailers

¶ 10:48 AM 0 Comments

Hey! It’s the first picture of Chris Hemsworth as Thor! I’m totally psyched for this movie like you couldn’t believe. I’ve had a soft spot for the character of Thor for a long time (Norse mythology + superheroes = awesome), and while this is easily Marvel’s riskiest movie yet (see the above equation), it’s also easily the Marvel movie I’m the most excited about. I like Hemsworth a lot from what I’ve seen him in, and he looks sufficiently Thor-like in this shot. (Though I assume he wears his little helmet at some point; if he doesn’t, I will be upset.)

Click on over to Yahoo! Movies to have a look at the full-sized pic. Thor is slated to hit theaters a year from now, in May 2011.

* * *

In significantly less awesome news (though I guess a photo doesn’t really constitute “news,” but I’m digressing), director Adam McKay said on Twitter that Paramount “basically” turned down Anchorman 2. You’d think that when the stars align (i.e. agree to cut their salaries) to make a sequel to probably the best comedy in a decade, any studio would happily open the till to make it happen, but that shows how little I understand Hollywood.

I suppose the possibility exists that another studio could swoop in and agree to finance Anchorman 2 (or maybe not, Paramount may have exclusive rights), but it’s a bummer that apparent lack of studio interest seems to have scuttled the project. The first Anchorman was a pretty big hit, and Paul Rudd, Steve Carell and Christina Applegate had all agreed to return alongside Will Ferrell, but it looks like now that won’t happen.

McKay’s and Ferrell’s latest project (along with Mark Wahlberg, an incredibly underrated comic actor), the action-movie spoof The Other Guys, hits theaters August 6. It looks great. Here’s the trailer.

previous post

Labels: geek alert, Movie news, superheroes, trailers

¶ 10:21 AM 0 Comments

Labels: comics, geek alert, Movie news, superheroes

¶ 10:30 AM 0 Comments

in particular).

First things first: the versions of The Lord of the Rings movies included in this set are the shorter theatrical versions, not the Extended Edition versions (which I assume are coming to Blu-ray some time relatively soon) which I, and many other fans, prefer. But still – it’s The Lord of the Rings in high-definition! And it looks fantastic on Blu-ray. But aside from looking extra-sharp, there’s nothing on these discs that wasn’t included in the previous standard-definition releases.

Now, I’m a pretty serious fan of The Lord of the Rings movies, but in my travels I’ve found that I’m something of a curiosity; I grew up reading fantasy novels of questionable quality and playing Dungeons & Dragons, so I have a real nostalgic connection to all things fantasy-related, but I never got around to reading The Lord of the Rings, the novels that pretty much birthed the fantasy genre as we know it, until right before the movies came out. And I was pretty underwhelmed, to be honest, their indisputable historical importance aside. So my love of Middle Earth is essentially purely a cinematic one, as opposed to many diehard fans of the movies, who are also huge fans of the books. And like any self-respecting movie geek, I always try to seek out director’s cuts and extended versions of things, as I usually (but not always; I’m looking at you, Donnie Darko: The Director’s Cut) prefer them. So as much as I’ve watched Peter Jackson’s adaptation of the classic J.R.R. Tolkien fantasy novels over the years (and I’ve watched them many, many times), it’s pretty much always the Extended Edition DVDs. In fact, it’s been so long since I’ve watched the shorter theatrical cuts of the Lord of the Rings movies that watching them again for this review was like seeing them again for the first time. Also a factor: because I am insane and tend to have a lot of free time, I often watch The Lord of the Rings Extended DVDs in a 12-hour marathon, which is actually a fairly serious undertaking I usually reserve fo

Given that these movies are almost a decade old now and they’re among the most popular in recent memory, I won’t spend time reviewing the movies themselves (it’s almost guaranteed you’ve seen them and have an opinion of them). But watching these films again, I was reminded of just how much of a sucker for them I am. I’m not sure what it is exactly, but even the hokiest, borderline-goofiest aspects of these movies, from the earnest emotion on display throughout the trilogy to the multiple endings of The Return of the King, I just buy what Peter Jackson and company are selling every time I watch them. There aren’t too many movies I can say that about.

I was initially a little skeptical about revisiting the theatrical versions on Blu-ray, as I’m so used to the Extended versions by now. I’m in love with a lot of the little details in th

Labels: Blu-ray review, geek alert

¶ 9:52 AM 0 Comments

There's a movie coming out this summer that I've been quietly awaiting a trailer for, and that's Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. There's a number of factors that has this near the top of my Must-See List, among them the fact that it's the third film from director Edgar Wright, who helmed the too-brilliant-for-words Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz (see both immediately if you haven't already), it's based on the incredible graphic novel series by Bryan Lee O'Malley, and it's set in my hometown of Toronto (as is the comic; O'Malley's a Toronto guy as well). It stars Michael Cera as the titular character, a twentysomething dude who falls for the girl of his dreams, the beautiful and mysterious Ramona Flowers, only to learn that in order to win her, he must first defeat her Seven Evil Ex-Boyfriends (who include Jason Schwartzman, Chris Evans and Brandon Routh, among others). The trailer just hit the 'net, and it looks amazing.

Labels: comics, geek alert, trailers

¶ 9:00 AM 1 Comments

I make no secret of my geekiness, and, as I’ve mentioned here numerous times, I’m closely following the production of Marvel Studios’ potential blockbusters set for next summer, Thor, which is about the Norse god of thunder exiled on modern-day Earth, and The First Avenger: Captain America, which is about, well Captain America, and is largely set during World War II (it also apparently ties into Iron Man 2 via Tony Stark’s father, in addition to leading into the planned Avengers movie). I like both characters, and I’m really excited about seeing Thor, Captain America and Iron Man all crossing over in the same movie universe; this is the sort of thing comic book fans have been dreaming about for decades.

On paper, Thor is the more difficult sell, as it combines superhero action and a more Lord of the Rings-like fantasy setting, with frost giants and other mystical creatures, which seems like a tricky balance for a superhero flick. Captain America, on the other hand, punches out Nazis in the Second World War and is frozen in a block of ice until he’s thawed out in the modern day by Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson, introduced in the post-credits scene in Iron Man), which sounds like a relatively easy film to pull off, at least compared to a movie that has to somehow fuse the more real-world vibe of Iron Man with a story, quite literally, of gods and monsters. But somehow Thor is the production that seems to be humming along nicely with a solid team of people behind it (it’s directed by Kenneth Branagh, stars relative unknown Chris Hemsworth as Thor and co-stars Natalie Portman, Anthony Hopkins, Rene Russo, Stellan Skarsgård, Ray Stevenson and Idris Elba), while Captain America seems to be rife with problems: the film starts shooting in June and Marvel is still searching for its lead actor (though casting Hugo Weaving, who’s in final talks to play the evil Red Skull, is brilliant), and director Joe Johsnston, who last helmed the flop The Wolfman (though he came onto that film with a couple of weeks to go before shooting, so he can hardly be held responsible for its performance, and it’s actually quite a good movie), has reportedly been butting heads with Marvel over the casting and the budget, and I’ve heard rumblings that the Captain America script is fairly underwhelming.

A few weeks back I mentioned a list of actors Marvel was bringing in for screen tests, which included Jon Krasinski of The Office (a choice that, as much as I railed against it initially, I have to admit is growing on me a little bit). At the time it was believed that the casting of Cap would be finalized any day, but here we are weeks later and all we know is that there are even more actors apparently being considered for the role, the latest being Ryan Phillipe, Chris Evans and Dear John’s Channing Tatum. Given the parade of actors gunning to fill the Star-Spangled Avenger’s tights, as well as my interest in all things Marvel-related, I thought I’d give my thoughts on some of the actors rumored to be up for Cap.

Channing Tatum. This guy is one of the new additions to the list of people Marvel has apparently approached, and I hate it. Tatum, who I keep hearing is actually a very good actor, has sucked in the stuff I’ve seen him in. He was the dead weight in the otherwise fun G.I. Joe, and given how similar the characters of Duke and Cap are (charismatic soldier and leader of men), I really don’t need to see the Marvel movie universe sullied by a Captain Marblemouth film. I get that someone up high has decided that Tatum will be a star, I just want him to do it as far away from Marvel Studios as possible.

Ryan Phillippe. He seems too physically small to play Captain America (who’s usually portrayed as a tall, beefy guy) but otherwise he has the right look. I have no doubt Phillippe would bulk up for the role, but purely in terms of height his Cap would probably seem tiny, especially next to Hemsworth (who looks massive in everything I’ve seen him in, like A Perfect Getaway and Star Trek), who plays Thor, one of the members, along with Iron Man, of the Avengers. Phillippe also seems a little bland to play a guy who is supposed to be, quite literally, an icon.

Chris Evans. Evans has already been in a Marvel franchise – his Human Torch is the best thing about the utterly the mediocre Fantastic Four movies – and he had powers in the excellent little sci-fi/action film Push (a likely future Under the Radar entry). And despite his good looks, he’s actually a fine actor as well; I thought he was just another pretty face until I saw him in Danny Boyle’s overlooked Sunshine (it’s like Event Horizon, but good), where he actually acts. He’s got the charisma and he looks like a superhero. Of all the actors said to be under consideration, Evans is probably my favorite.

The Supernatural guys. Supernatural co-star Jensen Ackles is reportedly one of the contenders, and he certainly looks the part with his square jaw and Aryan good looks. As much as I think he’d do a fine job (he’s pretty great on from what I’ve seen of that show, and he’s also solid in the fun slasher flick My Bloody Valentine 3D), I actually think it’s his co-star, Jared Padalecki, who would make a better Captain America. He’s taller (he’s almost the same size as the hulking Jason in the Friday the 13th remake), and already solidly built, so he’s essentially just a peroxide bottle away from being Steve Rogers.

Jeremy Renner. The Hurt Locker star was reportedly in talks with Marvel for quite some time (sometimes rumored for Cap, sometimes for Hawkeye in The Avengers; it’s speculated the character turns up either in the Thor film or Captain America in a cameo), but word is the low salary Marvel’s offering, coupled with the apparent nine-picture deal required by the studio, turned off the recent Oscar nominee. I think Renner would probably make a better Hawkeye (the character is traditionally portrayed as a cocky smart-ass, which is right up Renner’s alley), but you could do a lot worse than having an Academy Award nominee and star of the recent Oscar darling playing Captain America. If it were up to me I’d pay Renner what he wants and give him the shield and get to it.

Garett Hedlund. The star of the upcoming Tron Legacy is apparently one of Marvel’s top choices for Captain America, but once again, he’s said to have balked at the studio’s low fee. His name’s still in the mix up though, and between the positive buzz Tron Legacy is building up online (and not just from yours truly) and the fact that he’s still in this discussion, it sounds like Marvel may try to meet Hedlund halfway. I dig the actor’s work (he’s great in Friday Night Lights and is solid enough in the underwhelming Troy), and again, he certainly has the right look. I think he’d make a pretty fantastic Captain America.

Ryan McPartlin. I’ve never seen Chuck, or McPartlin in anything else. All I’ve seen on the Internet are a lot of pictures of this guy with his shirt off, and he’s certainly blond, handsome and ripped. Who knows if he can act, but if I wanted a picture of a guy dressed as Captain America, I’m sure he’d be great.

Jon Krasinski. So a few weeks ago I went on about how I just couldn’t see Jim from The Office as Captain America. Despite conflicting rumors that Krasinski has the inside track and that he’s all but out of the running entirely, he’s been stuck in my brain ever since I first heard his name come up. He sort of has a 1940s look to him, and he’s tall enough that he’s in no danger of being dwarfed by Robert Downey Jr. when standing with the rest of the Avengers. I’m still not sure he has the gravitas to be Captain America, but I’m slowly warming to the idea of Krasinski in the role, even if he’s starting to look like a longshot.

Mike Vogel. The fact that this guy is still being mentioned as a contender despite being something of a nonentity (I’ve seen both the Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake and Cloverfield, and I have literally no memory of Vogel in either of them, which does not bode well for him) suggests to me that he’s Marvel’s Plan B, C or D. I guess if he shaves his permanent 5 o’clock shadow he may look the part, but he seems to lack the onscreen presence to pull off a character as important as Captain America.

Dane Cook. This one, is probably nonsense (or maybe that’s just wishful thinking on my part). The only guy rumored to be in talks (the “rumor” seems to be generated by Cook’s own Twitter feed, so take it with the requisite amount of salt) that will make me, a dyed-in-the-wool Marvel geek, not go see a Captain America movie. I can think of few people worse for this role, and I don’t want to dignify the concept of Dane Cook playing Captain America any more than I already have, so I’ll just stop writing now, lest I get too worked up and give myself a stroke.

Labels: comics, geek alert, Movie news, superheroes

¶ 8:15 AM 0 Comments

Labels: geek alert, superheroes, trailers

¶ 8:52 AM 0 Comments

Labels: geek alert, Movie news, nostalgia

¶ 9:45 AM 0 Comments

I’ve covered the development of the new Spider-Man movie here recently, and touched on the Thor movie due next summer from Marvel. But there’s another huge superhero movie coming from Marvel in summer 2011, and that’s The First Avenger: Captain America. The movie starts preproduction March 1 in London, and director Joe Johnston has said he wanted to have his lead in place by then. Given that it’s late February, there’s been a surge in casting news, with

Labels: geek alert, Movie news, superheroes

¶ 9:13 AM 0 Comments

Labels: comics, geek alert, Movie news, superheroes

¶ 10:03 AM 0 Comments

In related news, they started shooting the Thor movie this month. Thor is a character I didn’t really get into until I got older and began to appreciate the awesome madness in combining ancient Norse with a sci-fi design sensibility that artist/co-creator Jack Kirby dreamed up for the character in the 1960s (not to mention the idea of mythological characters in what was up until then a very science-based universe; the classic Marvel books were very much artifacts of the Atomic Age), and ever since then I’ve had a soft spot for the hammer-wielding hero. The idea that they’re shooting a big-budget Hollywood Thor movie– directed by Kenneth Branagh no less! – is a serious trip. I sort of never thought I’d live to see the day, you know?

Thor stars Chris Hemsworth in the title role (I’ve only seen him in a couple of things, like the excellent little thriller A Perfect Getaway – full DVD review coming soon – but I think he will be awesome), alongside Tom Hiddleston as his evil half-brother Loki, Natalie Portman as his human love interest, Jane Foster, as well as Anthony Hopkins as Odin, plus Ray Stevenson, Idris Elba, Colm Feore, Stellan Skarsgård and a several other people that I sort of can’t believe are in a Thor movie. Hopefully I’ll have finished picking up the pieces of my mind from the floor in time for the May 6, 2011 release date.

Labels: geek alert, Movie news, superheroes

¶ 9:02 AM 0 Comments

I found G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra to be one of the more pleasant surprises of this past summer. It’s not going to be in my year-end top 10 list or anything, but it’s a solid popcorn blockbuster that entertained the hell out of my inner 12-year-old. It’s big and dumb enough to be fun, but not so much so that it insults viewers’ intelligence. It’s the sort of movie I tend to enjoy on repeat viewings, so I dutifully picked up the Blu-ray when it came out (I actually appreciated it a bit more the second time, though the film obviously has its flaws; Citizen Kane this ain’t).

That sense of fun carries through to just about the entire cast. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, a great young actor, is clearly having a ball as a scarred scientist who evolves into Cobra Commander (one of the DVD featurettes opens with him in full costume reciting Hamlet with the aid of his plastic Cobra Commander mask), and Dennis Quaid is having the time of his life channeling John Wayne to play General Hawk. I even found Marlon Wayans tolerable, and I usually hate that guy. The only real problem in the cast is, unfortunately, the lead: Channing Tatum, who I’ve been told more than once is actually quite a good actor, is wooden and mush-mouthed as Duke, as if he’s the only one in the cast unaware of what kind of movie he’s meant to be in. Hopefully in the sequels (which are coming, as this thing made some pretty decent coin at the box office), he’ll get with the program. The other guy who deserves a shout-out is Ray Park as Snake Eyes; there isn’t really much “acting” here, as Snake Eyes doesn’t talk, but Park, who will be a geek icon forever and ever after playing Darth Maul in Star Wars: Episode I, is a lot of fun to watch in the fight sequences. Snake Eyes gets a lot of the “wow” moments in the movie, and it was the only real aspect of The Rise of Cobra that turned my nostalgia crank (everyone who grew up with G.I. Joe knows that Snake Eyes is the coolest one; its an immutable rule of G.I. Joe.)

The Rise of Cobra looks pretty sweet on Blu-ray; movies with a lot of fast action and quick edits, I find, tend benefit from high-definition, as the sharper images make it a bit easier to follow all the on-screen motion. (Unfortunately, HD is not as kind to some of G.I. Joe’s frequent green-screen shots; some of the scenes look like they're from a movie made in 1997.) And given that the appeal of this movie is essentially purely visual, that counts for quite a bit.

But as much as I dug The Rise of Cobra, it wasn’t even the best G.I. Joe DVD I bought that day. That honor goes to the animated G.I. Joe: Resolute, which began as a web series of five-minute episodes, assembled here on DVD into an hour-long story. The angle of Resolute is that it’s basically the more grown-up interpretation of G.I. Joe geared more towards the hardcore fans of the cartoon and comic series, who are now, like me, in their 30s. Guns fire real bullets, not lasers, and people – including the Joes – die. It's the version of G.I. Joe that grown-up geeks have been waiting for.

G.I. Joe: Resolute was written by British comic writer Warren Ellis (a personal favorite of mine), and he gives the proceedings a sense of near-future realism he injects into a lot of his comics. Ellis is big on research, regularly drawing inspiration from magazines like Scientific American, and Resolute feels far more like it’s set in the real world than Rise of Cobra in terms of the technology used. Resolute still has a sci-fi edge, but nothing here is as out-there as the wacky stuff seen in the feature film. Ellis is great at writing smart, capable, clever characters, and the dialogue in Resolute run circles around the Rise of Cobra script. And Ellis’ take on Cobra Commander, who manages to be both funny and scary at the same time, is probably the best version of that character I’ve seen in any incarnation of G.I. Joe.

It’s a bit odd that the actual cartoon version of G.I. Joe is more realistic and hard-edged – and just all-around better – than the live-action movie, but there you have it. The world of movies (particularly movies based on a cartoon based on a toy line) can be a strange place.

GRADES

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra: B
G.I. Joe: Resolute: A

Labels: animation, Blu-ray review, geek alert

¶ 9:23 AM 0 Comments

Labels: Asian cinema, geek alert, martial arts, Movie news, trailers

¶ 11:24 AM 0 Comments

I've mentioned here before the admiration I have for Pixar, even if many of their movies are a little too kiddie-friendly for my tastes (I love The Incredibles with a passion, but stuff like Cars and Finding Nemo aren't really my cup of tea). They're rightly considered the cream of the animation crop. The cast for their latest project is coming together, and I'm incredibly excited about it for a number of reasons. It's also a pretty significant change of pace for the animation house.

The film is John Carter of Mars, due in 2012, an adapation of the first in a series of novels by Tarzan creator Edgar Rice Burroughs, and the thing that sets it apart from previous Pixar projects is it will star live actors alongside animated characters (not unlike James Cameron's Avatar). The story follows a Civil War veteran mysteriously warped to a Mars populated by all sorts of bizzare creatures, from red-skinned men and women to four-armed, green-skinned monsters called Tharks. Carter finds that in Mars' thinner atmosphere and lower gravity he has superhuman strength, speed and leaping ability (not unlike the original Superman comics which would debut a few decades after Burroughs' stories), and quickly becomes embroiled in the centuries-long conflict between the red men of Barsoom (the Martians' name for their planet) and the green Tharks, eventually wooing the beautiful red-skinned princess of Mars, Deja Thoris.

One reason I'm so excited about John Carter of Mars is that I've read the first three books in Burroghs' Barsoom series, and they're a blast. Pure, pulpy fun, with swashbuckling adventure, romance, crazy monsters and airship battles. They're quite similiar to Star Wars in the way Burroughs fuses fantasy adventure with science fiction. The story is decidely more grown-up than Pixar's previous movies – the books get quite violent, though I suspect the movie will be toned down at least a bit – but I can't think of a better group of creators to bring the 15-foot-tall Tharks to life than Pixar.

Labels: geek alert, Movie news

¶ 8:09 AM 0 Comments