Friday, March 27, 2009

I Have Been Remiss

I've let weeds crop up around the corners, spider-webs breed in the rafters. Sorry. It's been that kind of March. Good busy, to be sure, but busy. Lots of great comic-booky stuff coming down the pike—can't talk about any of it yet, sadly. Hopefully, a decent chunk of it can be announced by San Diego, but the nights have certainly been full of stuff that happily kept me up late.

And as of a week ago, my long distance relationship with Battlestar Galactica has come to an end. I've been writing about that show, in one way or another, for the past four years. And while I can't think of another show as worthy of attention as BSG, I'm glad to get my Friday nights back. I've already written exhaustively on the finale, and where I thought it succeeded and failed, so I'm not gonna get into it here. I just wanna thank BSG for affording me the opportunity to hug Grace Park, swoon over Mary McDonnell, and call Lucy Lawless a man. I will miss it.

So, back to the word mines. See you soon.

Monday, March 16, 2009

Boom goes the dynamite!

From today's Variety:

New gig for 'Mountain' man
Fickman to direct 'Monster' movie for Disney
By MICHAEL FLEMING

Looking to match its Race to Witch Mountain director Andy Fickman with another family adventure film, Walt Disney Studios has attached him to helm Monster Attack Network.

Scott Elder and Josh Harmon have been hired to adapt the AIT/Planet Lar graphic novel, which the studio bought last summer.

The 2007 graphic novel focuses on a team of first-responders who guard the citizens of Lapuatu, a Pacific island that would be a paradise except for frequent attacks by giant monsters that rise from the sea. Marc Bernardin and Adam Freeman wrote the graphic novel, illustrated by Nima Sorat.

Jason Netter is producing through his Kickstart banner. Disney views the film as a visual effects-heavy tentpole. built around an elite government agency's resolve to protect America's coasts from huge, rampaging monsters.

With Witch Mountain and The Game Plan, Fickman has now delivered two family-flavored hits for Disney, both with Dwayne Johnson in the starring role.

The studio is also high on Elder and Harmon, whose script Snow and the Seven was bought in a spec sale by Disney. Script reimagines the Snow White story by making her a British girl raised in 19th century Hong Kong who battles an evil force after she's trained to fight by seven Shaolin monks. Scott Rudin and Andrew Gunn are producing.

The scribes also wrote The Naked Jungle for Paramount.

Wednesday, March 04, 2009

Watchmen

Now that reviews are coming from every quarter—both "official" and non—I no longer feel I need to keep anything under wraps. More later, perhaps, but for now, lemme just say this: I find it both counterintuitive and eminently logical that the Greatest Comic Book Ever Made didn't translate into the Greatest Comic Book Movie Ever made.

There are parts that are very good, bits that just sit there, and elements that make you scratch your head with a "wha-huh?" (Especially the music. I mean, really, "The Sound of Silence" over a funeral scene? Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, and David Chase must've shared a silent shudder.)

Watchmen will not slice your bread, will not pleasure your significant other, and will not alter your views on life, the universe, and everything. Those who say it is the end-all-be-all don't have a firm grasp of the concept of "all."

Simmer down, everyone.