Too lazy to read all the wonderful news our insightful crew scours the globe to bring you every day? Too outmoded to have an MP3 player for the podcast? Shame on you all! However, being the generous lot we are, welcome to news:blended, your weekly guide to the most interesting stories reported on Cinema Blend over the last seven days.
It’s getting close to Christmas time out there. Make sure you dig out your copies of A Christmas Story, Miracle on 34th Street, and Elf. No, Die Hard doesn’t count, neither does Bad Santa. Throw on the “Charlie Brown Christmas” album by Vince Guaraldi while you’re at it. Enjoy the freakin’ season you cynical bastards. No, I’m not kidding.
SATURDAY
Bridges pimps possible Tron sequel.
I Am Legend reshoots done for all the right reasons.
Editor-in-Chief Josh Tyler and I disagree about, well, almost everything. Politics, religion, movies, even sports (he’s a HOCKEY fan) will put us on opposite sides of the fence. His news item on Tron and a possible sequel have us at odds again. He thinks Tron was great and is nervous about a sequel; I don’t think it was great and could really give a shit if it turns into a DVD franchise starring Sean William Scott. I Am Legend won’t have much sequel concern for a few years. It did have some reshoot concern but the director said, in effect, “oh, don’t worry, we only reshot some stuff at the end because it looked like crap.” Or something like that.
SUNDAY
Who’s who in the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
Twenty-six million failures.
I like Frank Marshall. He is constantly toiling behind the scenes to bring some huge movies to the screen but never gets Steven Spielberg type love. He was nice enough to tell us (meaning the world) what the new characters were going to be doing in the next Indiana Jones movie. He also said the unintentionally funny thing that after this movie they will probably have to pass the action film torch on to someone else. Uh, you guys did that in 1989, Frank. They clearly didn’t pass it to The Golden Compass, which bombed by making “only” $26 million this last weekend. It cost $8 bajillion so that’s not so great. Maybe God is having the last laugh after all.
MONDAY
Indy’s poster features…Indy.
Inkheart makes Golden Compass look like Citizen Kane.
You can never have too many pictures and posters of Indiana Jones with a whip. There are probably about 500, but now there is one more. The poster for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull shows Indy, his whip, and one pissed looking skull. I’m gonna love this movie. I won’t love Inkheart, which looks like The Golden Compass, but less so. Considering that The Golden Compass is Harry Potter, but less so and Harry Potter is Lord of the Rings, but less so, things aren’t looking good for Brendan Fraser.
TUESDAY
There will be blood for old men with no country.
Use a real deer, for the love of Jehova.
Katey Rich has been providing interviews and festival coverage to CinemaBlend for awhile, and now she’s writing news, too! That’s good news, since she seems to care about her work and isn’t in it for the big money, like me. She has scoured the critical views of the Oscar race and puts them altogether so you can see which movies you’ve never seen will vie for the golden guy next March. Katey is mostly happy about the Oscar choices, but Josh isn’t happy about special effects look these days. He thinks they look kinda crappy. It’s got him pissed. If only I Am Legend had bothered to use a real deer, this all could have been avoided.
Harry Potter pimps Harry Potter.
Reese Witherspoon goes to Washington…again.
If you bought the Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix DVD this week (and who didn’t, besides me,) you can get a sneak peek at Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. It includes, get this, plot points. Is there anyone interested in Harry Potter who doesn’t know ALL of the plot points? You also get some interviews and a little on set footage. Reese Witherspoon is not involved in any of the Potter movies, but she might be involved in those mediocre Night at the Museum movies. There is going to be a sequel to the Ben Stiller comedy and Witherspoon is going to play Amelia Earhart. Since Earhart is dead, my guess is she will play her statue. I’m guessing it will come to life and interact with Stiller in some way. If this writers’ strike doesn’t end, I could have a new career.
THURSDAY
I like smiling…smiling’s my favorite.
Starting Thursday, we are putting up a great Christmas movie for you to rent every day for 12 days. It’s the….12 Days of Christmas. Maybe we should trademark that, it’s genius. We started off with Elf and why the hell not? Remember when Pia Zadora won a Golden Globe? I just like to think about that every year when the new nominations come out. You can put the pig in a dress, but it’s still a pig. Just hotter.
FRIDAY
Undeclared doufus may go all Lex Luthor on our asses.
Footage, trailers, and posters, oh my.
I’m going to shamelessly use the news that Jay Baruchel, who was in Knocked-Up, may play a villain like Lex Luthor in the Justice League movie to remind everyone to rent Undeclared. It was such a good show and it doesn’t take long to get through all the episodes on DVD. Baruchel and Seth Rogan are great, as is everyone else. It has the girl that danced with Jonah Hill and left her mark in Superbad. Just rent it, please. Finally, on Friday there is a lot of footage and trailers available to watch to get you in the mood for upcoming big budget movies. Watch them while you wait for Undeclared to show up.
That’s all for another week of news blending. It’s like what you get at Jamba Juice, but cheaper and not quite as healthy. If you liked it or didn’t, leave some feedback.
