Babylon A.D.
Two-Disc Special Edition
Directed by Mathieu Kassovitz
Starring Vin Diesel, Michelle Yeoh, Mélanie Thierry, Gérard Depardieu, Charlotte Rampling
Fox Home Entertainment
Released Date: January 6, 2009

Sometimes you see a movie and you’re just not sure what to say about it. You’ve got one thousand and one very solid thoughts about it, but you’re not sure how to put them. Sometimes this is a good thing and sometimes it’s bad. None the less, this is what has happened to me for Babylon A.D., so bear with me as best you can.

Babylon A.D. follows Toorop (Vin Diesel), a mercenary who’s living in an anarchy-ridden Russia after being banished from the U.S. for terrorism. While scraping to get by, Toorop is offered a job from an evil mob boss-type named Gorsky (Gérard Depardieu), who offers him the chance to get a fresh, clean slate back in America and a $500,000 payday. The job: deliver a young girl (Mélanie Thierry) along with her mother-figure (Michelle Yeoh) who’s never seen the outside world from a convent full of those who are called Noelites to New York City.

The first thirty minutes or so aren’t bad; you see the very post-apocalyptic-looking Russia where Toorop lives and you’re intrigued enough and even a little eager to see what’s going on and who’s who. Sadly, once Toorop has taken the job and picked up the girl and started on their journey, things get a little shaky. This starts off at some insane night club where dude’s fight in cages (like most futuristic clubs), and from that scene on, it all just crashes and burns with immense force. You can easily see as the movie moves forward, the director completely loses grasp on what he might have been trying to do. The story doesn’t make much sense; the girl starts off as a very quiet and innocent girl who doesn’t know anything about the world, the next minute she’s screaming and flipping out and apparently psychic in a way, but we’re not sure why [...]

While we’ve been more than spoiled with Watchmen goodies over the past few months, it’s always good to get more. This particular day, we have some new images, a link to check out, and our first look at the cover for the Tales of the Black Freighter DVD and Blu-ray editions.

Zack Snyder has officially launched the website for his new production company, Cruel and Unusual Films, and in celebration of, he presented EW with a brand new image from Watchmen. The picture is from the beginning of the movie when Rorschach is going to do a little sleuthing; and what’s the easiest way to get somewhere fast in the world of superheroes? That’s right, grappling hook! Sweet. To see the full image, click above.

Snyder developed the site as a way to keep people up-to-date on what was going on with his projects and anything else that was going on.

Click over to the other side for some other images and a look at the Tales of the Black Freighter DVD and Blu-ray! [...]

Most of you who’ve read me for a while already know that I’m a true metal warrior and have been since childhood. But every so often, I get nostalgic for music that was popular when I was young — stuff I really didn’t listen to at the time. That’s why I just purchased the MP3 version of the Bryan Adams album Reckless, which is available for a limited time for only $.99.

Besides the fact that it’s only a buck, this album, which blazed up the charts in 1985, contained hits like “Heaven,” “Summer of ’69,” “Run To You,” and “Somebody” and you know you know these songs. I mean, in 1985 I was in junior high school already going to see Iron Maiden and even I knew all these songs, even if I didn’t own the album (matter of fact, I didn’t even know the name of the album til just now) — but the songs were always on the radio. I actually got to see Bryan Adams when he played with Def Leppard a few summers ago at the ballpark near my house (a great place to see a show and cheap too!). And you know what, Bryan Adams totally rocked. Who wouldn’t thunk? Anyhow, for 99 cents, you can swing this purchase.

Here’s another steal: The Yes Album by Yes for only $5.94 — that’s less than a buck a song. Yes, it’s only 6 songs, but they go on forever, you’ll really get your money’s worth. This album is up there as one of the best classic rock albums of all time — seriously, there’s not one mediocre song on it. For those of you who know a little Yes, this is the album with “I’ve Seen All Good People” on it; for those of you who only know them from their hit “Owner Of A Lonely Heart,” the songs on The Yes Album are about 1,000 times better than that.

These are great deals, but guess what? Amazon actually has like 500 mp3 songs available for FREE download. Now, I know what you think Free = Shit. But not so! I downloaded like 15 free songs, and I’m really picky about my music. I’m sure the average person would probably like at least 50 of them [...]

Promotion for the new Star Trek prequel has included some partnerships up with top brand names, like Intel/Lenovo. Now, the upcoming Paramount film is hooking up with the auto company Esurance for a Biggest Trekkie Contest.

Check out the Esurance Star Trek site, where you can create a short video explaining what makes you the galaxy’s Biggest Trekkie and then enter it through the site to win a trip for 2 to the film’s Hollywood premiere.

The site also contains exclusive movie content, including video interviews with the filmmakers, games, and downloads like wallpaper for the new Star Trek [...]

Saw V
Unrated Director’s Cut
Directed by David Hackl
Starring Tobin Bell, Betsy Russell, Julie Benz, Scott Patterson, Costas Mandylor
Lionsgate Home Entertainment
Release Date: January 20, 2009

I’ve never been a big fan of the Saw series. After the first two (and the sequel is better than it has any right to be) I tuned out to the phenomenon even though as a horror fan I couldn’t escape it. Ever since 2004 there has been a Saw sequel released every year right around Halloween and the series’ devious mastermind Jigsaw (Tobin Bell) has been elevated to the status of an iconic fright flick maniac. While I may not be his biggest fan, I can certainly understand his enduring appeal. For a generation raised on gruesome tales of masked madmen stalking dumb, nubile teens to their brutal deaths the Saw franchise, initiated in 2004 by writer Leigh Whannell and co-writer/director James Wan, is like a bit of fresh air. I’d hate to admit it but these films are at their best slasher flicks with a brain and a deranged imagination. The tagline for Saw II was “Oh yes, there will be blood” and as Saw V clearly proves, brother you don’t know the half of it.

Saw V begins exactly where the fourth one left off. Despite the fact that he died at the end of Saw III, Jigsaw’s work continues and the latest group of people to play his game are all pretty much dead, with the exception of Detective Mark Hoffman (Costas Mandylor) and the young daughter of one of the hapless participants [...]

On February 17, 2009 Concord Records will release individually the soundtracks to the original three Indiana Jones films: Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

All three feature Oscar-winning composer John Williams’ soundtracks digitally remastered from the original tapes, plus unreleased music from each respective film. Previously available only as part of last year’s highly successful box set release Indiana Jones: The Soundtracks Collection, these reissued CD’s will be available individually for the first time. About the boxed set, Film Music Magazine raved, “It’s a collection on five CD’s that delivers over an hour of unheard Indy music, all with spectacular sound and sleek packaging. The chance to finally hear that minute of Indy toppling the Anubis statue in ‘Raiders’ is like a dream come true. Now with just about every bit of Indiana Jones music on deck here, listing to some of John Williams’ greatest achievements for the popcorn cinema has never sounded more fun, or fresh. Raid this covenant of CD’s immediately.”

Continue reading for more details, plus audio and video clips, and be sure to check back soon for the upcoming Indiana Jones trilogy soundtrack contest from Geeks of Doom! [...]

If this isn’t the coolest thing I’ve heard in a while, I don’t know what is.

Word has come around that author Joe Schreiber has written a little book called Deathtroopers. This book is from LucasFilm and Del Rey Books and takes place in the wonderful world of Star Wars… the only difference here is, this book is a horror story.

On his blog, Mr. Schreiber said that the book is in its final editing stages and that it will be out sometime in November of 2009, though on StarWars.com, there is an October 27, 2009 date set, so that may be the one to look for. They also call this the FIRST horror book, which means with success comes more horror!

StarWars.com is also the source of the image above. If you haven’t clicked it yet, do so immediately to see the full-size book cover. It’s completely insane and will make you want to read the book even more than you already want to.

Also on his blog he had this to say about the project and the book [...]

If you haven’t hear yet, John Carpenter‘s 1982 frozen horror, The Thing is in the midst of a reboot.

First they went and got sci-fi god Ronald D. Moore (writer/executive producer of Battlestar Galactica) to write the script. Now they’ve found themselves a director for the project; it’s being reported that Matthijs Van Heijningen has been signed for the job.

Heijningen is new to the feature game, but has a bunch of commercial work under his belt. He’s also developing a movie called Army of the Dead for Zack Snyder.

The 1982 movie follows the story of an American team that goes to a research station to check on a Norwegian team who we find out had been killed by a shape-shifting alien that over-took the camp.

But the word on the new movie is that this it may be more of a sequel, still taking place in the icy Antarctic and telling the tale of the Norwegian team from the beginning of the Carpenter movie and their imminent demise after the alien arrival. Considering we’ve seen what happened with the American team, it’d be very smart and pretty intriguing to see what went on with that Norwegian team. [...]

After Disney decided to stop co-financing the franchise with Walden Media, it looked like The Chronicles of Narnia was in some big trouble after only two movies. Instead, like Superman appearing from the sky, 20th Century Fox has shown up to save the day, reaching a preliminary agreement to co-finance at least the third movie, The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader with Walden.

This isn’t very much of a surprise as, when it was announced that Disney was disowning the franchise, all signs pointed toward Fox (Read: Disney Breaks Up With ‘Narnia’ Franchise), who had done plenty of work with Walden before. Fox also was trying to obtain the rights to the books before Walden won them, so they obviously didn’t need too much motivation.

Fox and Walden are still working out the dirty details in regard to budget, but when all the papers are signed and people are in place, the hope is to film at the end of the summer and get the movie out by the 2010 holiday season. [...]

There’s been chatter about a movie adaptation for The A-Team for a while now. Most recently it was in the works with John Singleton set to direct and Ice Cube in as B.A. Baracus. It was also said that UFC fighter Quinton “Rampage” Jackson auditioned for the same role. Singleton eventually left the project due to issues with casting. No word on if this is because of auditions by UFC fighters or not, but he apparently didn’t like something.

Now that that recipe didn’t work, a new team is being assembled, starting with negotiations to hire Smokin’ Aces director Joe Carnahan to take the wheel. Because Singleton left due to casting issues, there’s a chance that actors may be still attached, but that’s not confirmed. Considering how chaotic Aces was, I’m thinking this may be a good choice.

The A-Team followed a group of US Army Special Forces soldiers who were wrongly accused of a crime and went on the run from the military. They’re perceived as a team of mercenaries, but in fact do many good deeds [...]

Since this is one of my favorite TV shows of all time, I am so excited to report that today’s Amazon Gold Box spotlight deal of the day is Get Smart – The Complete Series Gift Set for $67.99 (down 66% from the original price of $199.95).

This is the massive 5-volume collection with all 138 original episodes of the Mel Brooks/Buck Henry-created 1960s TV spy comedy, which starred Don Adams as the bumbling secret agent Maxwell Smart and Barbara Feldon as his beautiful, more capable partner Agent 99. The episodes have been digitally restored and remastered and there’s over nine hours of rare footage and bonus features — including episode intros by Feldon and selected-episode commentary by the show’s cast and crew — in this 25-DVD box set, which is housed in a cute little box that opens up like the payphone from the show’s opening credits.

For a detailed rundown of all of this DVD set’s bonus features, along with some video, see the review of this boxed set last February [...]

As expected, almost right after reports were swirling that The Green Hornet was in big trouble, writer/star Seth Rogen has chimed in with where he thinks the project is.

The movie’s issues began when Stephen Chow was announced as being attached to direct and to star as Kato, but then decided he probably wouldn’t direct anymore. As that went on, rumors started to arise that the project was in trouble and that many people close to the project were saying that it was either dead or very unlikely to happen any time soon.

Drew McWeeny from HitFix was the main source who heard these far-from-promising rumors (see The Possible Sad, Sudden Death Of ‘The Green Hornet’), and so it was fitting that Seth Rogen took the time to e-mail him directly and set things straight.

Rogen explains:

‘The Green Hornet’ has many people working for it, including production designers, costume designers and many conceptual artists, office staff, etc. [The studio heads] have every intention on making it, and assuming we’re able to hire a new director in the upcoming weeks, which seems like a distinct possibility, it should still hit the release date. [...]

Now that all that nasty lawsuit stuff is a thing of the past, we can all resume our excitement for the release of Watchmen. To help this along, Warner Brothers has released the latest and apparently final one-sheet for the movie

The poster shows all your favorite faces: Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley), The Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), Ozymandias (Matthew Goode), Nite Owl II (Patrick Wilson), Silk Spectre II (Malin Akerman), and Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup). They’re not doing much; just standing around in the rain, being Watchmen… wet Watchmen.

It’s not the best poster ever, but it’s cool enough to check out for sure. From what I can tell, there is no sneakily-placed tentacle anywhere to try and ignite a fanboy uproar, so you’ll just have to get used to it not happening.

Watchmen is directed by Zack Snyder (300) and adapted from the classic graphic novel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. The script is penned by David Hayter (wrote X-Men and X-2 and is the voice of Snake in most Metal Gear Solid games) and Alex Tse (currently working on The Illustrated Man script). [...]

Dark Horse Comics’ El Zombo Fantasma has been set in motion toward a feature movie adaptation from Death Ray Films and Maya Entertainment.

The comic has been designated as sort of “Latino Hellboy” and tells the story of a Mexican wrestler who is killed, but gets sent from hell to be the guardian angel of a teenage girl. He soon finds out that there’s more to her than initially met the eye and that their lives are connected somehow.

The movie will be written and directed by Kevin Munroe (TMNT) and produced by Chris Patton, Robert Sanchez, and Jose Martinez of Maya Entertainment as well as Kellvin Chavez from fellow movie new website, Latino Review. Maya co-chairman Moctesuma Esparza will be an executive producer.

Death Ray Films was created by El Zombo writer/director Kevin Munroe and producers Chris Patton and Robert Sanchez while they were working on the movie War Monkeys. [...]

The Bourne Trilogy Blu-ray Collection
Directed by Doug Liman & Paul Greengrass
Starring Matt Damon, Joan Allen, Julia Stiles, Franka Potente, Chris Cooper
Universal Home Entertainment
Release date: January 27, 2009

Between the new Daniel Craig James Bond films, and the Bourne trilogy, we’re kind of in a golden age of smart spy movies. And while the Bourne films may not have as long a history when compared to Bond, they’ve made up for it by bringing a new dynamic to the spy film, bringing a darkness and realism to the genre that hasn’t really been seen before. And with a fourth film in the works, it seems will be seeing more of our favorite amnesiac action hero for a while.

The three Bourne films — The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, and The Bourne Ultimatum — each have a similar story: Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) follows various clues to try and discover the secrets of his past, inevitably running into a shadowy government agency, fighting against another deadly assassin, and getting into an action packed car chase.

Each film has enough twists and turns to make each one entertaining by themselves, but the three films really add up to one big story, as by the end we have most of the answers as to who Jason Bourne really is and where he comes from. That might be my biggest complaint about the third film, in that it answers all the questions a bit too definitively [...]