Quick Thoughts

Just a series of quick thoughts on the shared items from my Google Reader.

* UFC megastar official for Dancing with the Stars
Chuck Liddell was announced as one of the contestants on ABC's Dancing With The Stars. Before they announced it, I wondered if there was anyone they could announce that would make me watch it. After they announced it, I thought, "Huh. Well, that's probably another one that Chuck will lose."

* David Anders Joins Jack Bauer in Season Eight of 24
Too awesome. I'm hopeful he's a villain because there are few actors on television that play a better villain than David Anders. And I'm not even counting his stint on Heroes for that analysis. That's purely based off his work on Alias.

* Warner Bros To Remake Brewster’s Millions
Most analysis of this news has focused on how many times the original has been remade. Mine is more concerned with how much I love the Richard Pryor version of this and I've yet been able to wrap my mind over any potential actors that could live up to Pryor and John Candy. Prove me wrong, WB. Prove me wrong.

* Radiohead: We're Not Making Any More Albums
And several million people who like to cry during their music weep tonight. Apparently the album making process is too draining on these delicate geniuses so they're opting to just release singles and EPs for the rest of their lives. My reaction? "Hey, didn't these guys do that Creep song?"

* UFC stunner: "The New York Bad Ass" Phil Baroni announces...
UFC fires a shot in the now fully-on war against Strike Force by signing Phil Baroni who apparently can't fight worth a damn anymore but can still talk a good game and promote the hell out of a fight. Prevailing wisdom says this was just to take away someone with name value from Strike Force. There's more Vince McMahon in Dana White than he'd like to admit.

* McQuarrie to Write Wolverine Sequel!
The writer for the Usual Suspects is going to write the Wolvie sequel. It's hard for me to get excited about this as I still haven't seen the first Wolvie movie and really have no strong desire to do so. By this point, I would expect it to enjoy Fantastic Four status and surpass my sub-basement level expectations for it but I'm not sure that merits a sequel.

* Harry Potter Movies To Get Extended Edition Re-Releases?
Now THIS is exciting news. Except that no one really believes they've shot a ton of extra footage that they didn't use. Maybe somewhere around 7 minutes for Sorcerer's Stone? That does not merit an EE title. If they're really sitting on somewhere north of 15-20 minutes per movie of quality deleted scenes, then count me in.

* Three Studios in the Running for Kick-Ass
This is old news by this point as Liongate locked down the right to distribute this today. The funny thing about Kick-Ass is that it has quickly become the darling of the Internet movie critic community as well as the "hope story" for aspiring filmmakers. Make the movie you want to make, ignore that no one wants to buy it, finish the movie, show it off to your target audience which loses its collective minds, and then be the subject of a bidding war. It may replace Clerks forever as the goal for those looking for their big break.

* Louis Leterrier Dreams Of Epic Avengers Quadrilogy,...
You witty, witty man. In this interview, he talks about an Avengers Quadrilogy where he makes one movie, Favreau makes one, Branagh makes one... and someone else whose name escapes me. He also wants the movies to be released one per month for an entire summer. This kind of out of the box thinking is what could "save" Hollywood but it'll never happen.

* The First Avenger: Captain America Described As “Raiders...
The rest of the quote says the Cap movie is Raiders meets the Rocketeer and Saving Private Ryan. Sounds... good? The worst part of that story though is the news that Leterrier doesn't think he'll be doing a Hulk sequel and the writer speculating that it's unlikely that Marvel is doing a Hulk sequel which I think is a damn shame. I've caught most of the Hulk recently on HBO and was stricken with how awesome it really was. It got swallowed in the Iron Man/Dark Knight hype but it definitely deserves better than it got.